This study assesses interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory’s (IPARTheory’s) prediction that adults’ (both men’s and women’s) remembrances of parental (both maternal and paternal) rejection in childhood are likely to be associated with adults’ fear of intimacy, as mediated by adults’ psychological maladjustment and relationship anxiety. The study also assesses the prediction that these associations will not vary significantly by gender, ethnicity, language, culture, or other such defining conditions. To test these predictions a sample of 3,483 young adults in 13 nations responded to the mother and father versions of the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (short forms), Adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (short form), the Interpersonal Relationship Anxiety Questionnaire, the Fear of Intimacy Scale, and the Revised Personal Information Form. Results of multigroup analyses showed that adults’ remembrances of both maternal and paternal rejection in childhood independently predicted men’s and women’s fear of intimacy in all 13 countries. However, remembered maternal rejection was a significantly stronger predictor of adults’ fear of intimacy than was remembered paternal rejection. Results also confirmed the prediction in all 13 countries and across both genders that both maternal and paternal rejection independently predicted adults’ psychological maladjustment and relationship anxiety, which in turn predicted fear of intimacy. In addition, psychological maladjustment partially mediated the relation between remembrances of maternal and paternal rejection, and adults’ fear of intimacy in all 13 countries and both genders.
In his article, Brouwers argues that cross-cultural psychologists (CCPs; a term he uses to include cultural psychologists and indigenous psychologists) should be a resource for agencies and organizations that engage in international and developmental aid. His argument is that CCPs can help these agencies and organizations ensure that their interventions become “entrenched”—meaning they become long-lasting aspects of life in the communities receiving the aid. We agree with Brouwers that CCPs can and should be more involved with international aid organizations. However, we argue that CCPs’ primary concern should be ensuring the ethical and cultural appropriateness of the ways in which the aid organizations interact with recipient communities. We believe this can only happen when indigenous psychologists are involved in the intervention in ways that ensure recipient communities are fully engaged with any aid-based intervention. We highlight our argument by utilizing some preliminary analyses from a related project we recently completed in Guatemala.
Despite many studies that address relations between the two major ethnic groups-Indigenous and Ladino-in Guatemala, there are no scales devised specifically to measure ethnic attitudes. Participants (196 university students) indicated agreement or disagreement on a four-point scale with a large pool of items expressing positive and negative attitudes towards the two groups, and, on a line from pure Indigenous to pure Ladino, their own ethnic identification (the label they use to describe their ethnicity). Reliable scales measuring Attitudes toward Indigenous (AIG) and Attitudes toward Ladinos (ALG) were constructed, and 35% of the participants claimed mixed ethnic identification. Ethnic identification was related to attitudes, with groups demonstrating in-group favoritism; that is, participants expressed more positive attitudes toward their own ethnic group. The results imply that the dichotomous categories of Ladino and Indigenous are inadequate for measuring ethnicity in Guatemala. The newly developed attitude scales may be used to advance knowledge about ethnic relations in Guatemala and to test the generality of findings relating to relations between dominant and subordinate groups.
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