A cross-cultural study of the effect of parental bonding on the perception and response to criticism in Singapore, Italy and USA

Abstract

Parents play a primary and crucial role in emotional socialisation processes in children where individuals learn the expression, understanding and regulation of emotions. Parenting practices and dimensions of the parent-child relationship have been associated with social and emotional processes in children. As criticism involves negative emotional reactions and emotion regulation, the parent-child relationship is likely to influence an individual’s perception and response to criticism. Hence, the present study investigated the relationship of parental bonding and the perception and response to criticism in three different countries–Singapore, Italy and USA. Adult participants (n = 444) completed the Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI) and measures of criticism. Parental care, overprotection and country were found to be significant predictors of a tendency to perceive criticism as destructive. Higher levels of parental care predicted a lower tendency to perceive criticism as destructive while higher levels of parental overprotection predicted a higher tendency to perceive criticism as destructive. US American participants were found to have a significantly higher tendency to perceive criticism as destructive compared to Italian and Singaporean participants. The findings align with past research on the role of the parent-child relationship in the socio-emotional development of children as well as providing insight into a specific aspect in social interaction; perception and response to criticism, being affected. Future studies can look to investigate this relationship further in different countries in light of cultural variation in parenting styles and emotion experience, expression and regulation.

Predictors and outcomes associated with the growth curves of self-efficacy beliefs in regard to anger and sadness regulation during adolescence: a longitudinal cross-cultural study

“…Overall, the cultural differences that emerged in the present study support the view that multiple mechanisms (cultural, familial, individual) work together in supporting or obstructing healthy personality and socio-emotional development during adolescence. This perspective is in line with cross-cultural psychologists who have argued that culture affects the way people experience emotions, assess emotions, and cope with situations that elicit emotion ( Markus and Kitayama, 1991 ; Kitayama et al, 2000 ; Mesquita, 2001 ), which in turn might affect their engagement in specific forms of discipline ( Eisenberg et al, 1998 ), their children’s emotion regulation development ( Trommsdorff and Kornadt, 2003 ; Louie et al, 2013 ; Haslam et al, 2020 ; Neoh et al, 2021 ), and youths’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding emotion regulation.…”

“…In addition, Di found cross-cultural similarities in nine different countries in the mediating role of adolescents' irritability in the association between harsh parenting and internalizing and externalizing problems. Despite these similarities, other studies suggest cross-cultural differences in the associations between parenting and emotion regulation-related indicators (Trommsdorff and Kornadt, 2003;Neoh et al, 2021).…”

Negative emotional reactions to criticism: Perceived criticism and source affects extent of hurt and relational distancing

“…As a result of these cultural tendencies, in the context of Singapore where the present study was conducted, criticism from figures of authority such as supervisors or parents may be more common and participants may be less likely to feel hurt or distanced in response to criticism occurring in these relationships. As discussed in the introduction, perceptions and attributions of criticism have been found to differ across cultures [ 3 , 10 , 31 ]. Hence, similar to these findings in [ 3 , 10 ], cultural differences in the attributions and perceptions of warmth may be a possible explanation for the findings in the present study between PC ratings and feelings of hurt and relational distancing.…”

“…Few studies have also investigated the PC construct in Asian contexts [e.g. 30 , 31 ] although cultural differences in the perception and attributions of criticism have also been found [e.g. 10 , 31 ].…”

“… 30 , 31 ] although cultural differences in the perception and attributions of criticism have also been found [e.g. 10 , 31 ]. Previous research indicated (i) correlations between patients’ perceived criticism and observer ratings of criticism from relatives only in White patients but not Black patients [ 32 ], (ii) observer ratings of criticism predicted relapse and poor clinical outcomes only in White but not Black participants and (iii) associations between perceived criticism and poor outcomes in both groups [ 33 , 34 ].…”