Journal of Adolescence Journal of Adolescence 30 (2007) 297–311 Adolescents’ as active agents in the socialization process: Legitimacy of parental authority and obligation to obey as predictors of obedience $ Nancy Darling a,Ã , Patricio Cumsille b , M. Loreto Martı´nez b a Oberlin College, USA b Pontificia Universidad Cato´lica de Chile, Chile Abstract Adolescents’ agreement with parental standards and beliefs about the legitimacy of parental authority and their own obligation to obey were used to predict adolescents’ obedience, controlling for parental monitoring, rules, and rule enforcement. Hierarchical linear models were used to predict both between- adolescent and within-adolescent, issue-specific differences in obedience in a sample of 703 Chilean adolescents (M age ¼ 15.0 years). Adolescents’ global agreement with parents and global beliefs about their obligation to obey predicted between-adolescent obedience, controlling for parental monitoring, age, and gender. Adolescents’ issue-specific agreement, legitimacy beliefs, and obligation to obey predicted issue- specific obedience, controlling for rules and parents’ reports of rule enforcement. The potential of examining adolescents’ agreement and beliefs about authority as a key link between parenting practices and adolescents’ decisions to obey is discussed. r 2006 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Socialization; Legitimacy of parental authority; Parenting; Obedience; Cross-cultural; Chile ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/jado 0140-1971/$30.00 r 2006 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2006.03.003 $ This study was funded by grants #1010G33 and #7010933 from Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cientı´fico y Tecnolo´gico, Chile. Ã Corresponding author. Psychology Department, Severance Hall, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 044074, USA. Tel.: +1 440 775 8363. E-mail address: Nancy.Darling@oberlin.edu (N. Darling).