Researchers have identified two types of parental control: behavioral and psychological. Studies using European American samples revealed that psychological control is positively associated with adolescents' internalized and externalized problems. Research on African American adolescents, however, presents a more complex picture: Some studies support a negative relation between psychological control and adolescents' desirable developmental outcomes, whereas others support a positive or non-negative relation. In this study, 57 European American and 56 African American adolescents (Mean age = 15.27) completed the Psychological Control Scale (Barber, 1996), Family Obligation Scale (Fuligni, Tseng, & Lam, 1999), Behavior Assessment System for Children-II (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2005), and a demographic form in order to measure the relation between psychological control and adolescents' internalized/externalized problems. Three hypotheses were tested: (a) parental psychological control is positively related to adolescents' internalized/externalized problems, (b) ethnicity moderates the relation between parental psychological control and adolescents' internalized/externalized problems, and (c) adolescents' sense of family obligation moderates the relation between parental psychological control and adolescents' internalized/externalized problems. Results showed that parental psychological control (both maternal and paternal) was positively related to European American adolescents' psychological and behavioral problems, whereas there was no statistically significant relation between maternal psychological control and African American adolescents' psychological and behavioral problems. The results suggested that the familial role of many African American mothers may be qualitatively different from that of many European American parents and African American fathers. Several possible reasons for this result were discussed: (a) African American mothers may be unique in terms of their familial responsibilities and/or authority, (b) The literature suggests that African American families are flexible in how family responsibilities are distributed, and (c) African American adolescents may view maternal psychological control as a sign of parental care and love, not as a sign of parental rejection. With regard to family obligation, the scale's internal consistency was found to be inadequate for further analysis. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.