2016 Volume 54 Issue 2 Pages 83-94
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of parental attachment style and parenting behavior on children’s behavior.
Mothers or fathers of 2–3-year-old children completed the questionnaires, which addressed the following three areas: parents’ attachment style, parents’ reactions to children’s displays of negative emotions, and children’s behavior.
The following three results were found. First, parental anxiety was positively related to parents’ negative reactions and to children’s problem behavior, and it was negatively related to children’s social behavior. This suggests that it is important to avoid a parental attachment styles characterized by anxiety. Second, parents with high levels of anxiety tended to demonstrate a minimizing reaction to their child’s negative emotions. Third, such a minimizing reaction reinforced children’s problematic tendencies toward dependent separation and reduced their level of cooperation.
