On the association between college students’ psychological entitlement and their parents’ parenting style

To investigate the relationship in between parents' negative parenting, college students' psychological entitlement, Machiavellianism, and locus of control, 457 college students were subjected to a questionnaire survey by means of the Parenting Style Scale, Powerful Others with Internal Control and Opportunities Scale, Locus of Control Scale, and Machiavellianism IV Scale. The findings show that negative parenting styles positively predict the psychological entitlement among individual college students; Machiavellianism fully mediates the relationship between negative parenting style and psychological entitlement; and locus of control moderates the relationship between negative parenting style and psychological entitlement. The findings further clarify the mechanism by which negative parenting style affects psychological entitlement.