The influence of mood on memories of parental rearing practices

Abstract

Parental rearing styles are often found to be related to adult psychological disorders. In general, conclusions are based on the data of retrospective studies, in which patients' memories of their parents' behaviour are investigated. However, it has been widely recognized that memories may be sensitive to current mood states. The possible mood sensitivity of autobiographic memories is a powerful alternative explanation of the relationship commonly found between parental rearing styles and psychopathology, with implications for the hypothesis of early parenting as a vulnerability factor in the aetiology of such disorders. The present study examined whether memories of parental rearing styles are influenced by present mood. To this aim, both mood and memories of parental rearing styles were assessed on two occasions in a sample of 315 healthy subjects from the general community (Study 1) and in a group of 46 socially phobic patients (Study 2). Results showed that memories of early parenting remained quite stable, even in the face of significant and considerable changes in anxiety, depression, and hostility. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Nairobi public secondary schools: association with perceived maladaptive parental behaviour

“…This result is comparable to many other studies which have shown that maladaptive parental behaviours are mediating factors for children to develop depressive disorders and suicidal behaviour. [55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] These maladaptive parental behaviours as documented in these previous studies were shown to form dysfunctional family settings that are associated with high rates of parent-child conflict. Comparable with results of previous studies, children raised in these environments are highly vulnerable to develop psychiatric disorders.…”

“…Comparable with results of previous studies, children raised in these environments are highly vulnerable to develop psychiatric disorders. [55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] …”

Interpersonal Self-Perception and Memories on Parental Rearing in Alcohol Dependent Patients and Outpatient Controls

“…Memories on parental rearing are not necessarily reflections of the actual behavior of the parents [3,4]. Both child and parents can have different perceptions of this parenting behavior.…”

Alexithymia, Emotional Awareness and Perceived Dysfunctional Parental Behaviors in Heroin Dependents

“…Portuguese studies on its psychometric qualities show good estimators of reliability (Cronbach's Alpha of .661 and .542, for mother and father scores, respectively) and validity (confirmatory factor analysis showed that three factors explain almost half of the variance of responses). Researchers have demonstrated the high stability of reported parental rearing behaviors during significant clinical changes in the severity of psychiatric illnesses and, more specifically, of depressive disorders, excluding the hypothesis that the patients' mostly negative reports of their parents' rearing behavior were due to their depression-biased autobiographical memories (Richter and Eisemann 2000;Gerlsma et al 1994). …”