Elsevier

Psychiatry Research

Volume 165, Issues 1–2, 30 January 2009, Pages 181-186
Psychiatry Research

Brief report
Effects of the “affectionless control” parenting style on personality traits in healthy subjects

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2007.10.018Get rights and content

Abstract

The effects of the affectionless control (AC) parenting style on personality traits were studied in 414 Japanese healthy subjects. Perceived parental rearing was assessed by the Parental Bonding Instrument, which comprises care and protection factors, and personality traits were assessed by the Temperament and Character Inventory, which has seven dimensions. Parental rearing was classified into four types, i.e., optimal parenting (high care/low protection), affectionate constraint (high care/high protection), neglectful parenting (low care/low protection), and AC (low care/high protection). Males with maternal AC showed significantly higher harm avoidance (HA) scores and lower scores of persistence and cooperativeness than those with maternal optimal parenting. Females with maternal AC showed significantly higher HA scores and lower self-directedness scores than those with maternal optimal parenting. Paternal AC was not significantly related to any personality score. In females, the interaction between paternal rearing and maternal rearing was significant; the effect of maternal AC on HA scores was strongest when combined with paternal neglectful parenting. The present study suggests that the AC type parenting by mothers is associated with specific personality traits, especially high HA, in healthy subjects.

Introduction

In his attachment theory, which is a landmark in developmental psychiatry, Bowlby (1977) proposed that the crucial roles of parents were provision of a secure base and encouragement of exploration. Strongly influenced by this theory, Parker et al. (1979) developed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), which has care and protection factors, to assess attitudes and behaviors of parents. The care factor has one pole defined by care and involvement, and the other by indifference and rejection. The protection factor has one pole defined by control, overprotection, and intrusion, and the other by encouragement of independence and autonomy.

The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) developed by Cloninger et al. (1994) has four temperament dimensions, i.e., novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward dependence (RD), and persistence (P), and three character dimensions, i.e., self-directedness (SD), cooperativeness (C), and self-transcendence (ST). NS is the activation of behavior in response to novelty and signals of reward or relief from punishment, HA is the inhibition of behavior in response to signals of punishment or non-reward, RD is the maintenance of behavior that was previously rewarded, and P is perseveration of behavior despite frustration and fatigue. SD is the concept of the self as an autonomous individual, C is the concept of the self as an integral part of humanity or society, and ST is the concept of the self as an integral part of the universe and its source. Cloninger et al. (1994) originally proposed that the temperament dimensions were highly heritable and stable throughout life, while the character dimensions were weakly heritable and influenced by social learning. However, their recent report (Gillespie et al., 2003) has shown that the heritability of the character dimensions (27–45%) is comparable to that of the temperament dimensions (30–42%). On the other hand, two independent studies (Reti et al., 2002, Oshino et al., 2007) have suggested that parenting as an environmental factor influences not only the character dimensions but also the temperament dimensions.

There have been some studies examining the effects of parental rearing on personality traits using the PBI and the TCI. In the studies by Ono et al. (1999) and Kitamura et al. (2002), the care factor and/or protection factor of the PBI influences SD, while in the studies by Reti et al. (2002) and Oshino et al. (2007), these PBI factors affect both the temperament and character dimensions, especially HA and SD. Importantly, Kitamura et al. (2002) and Oshino et al. (2007), have suggested that the associations between dysfunctional parenting and psychiatric disorders such as depression found in the literature are mediated by personality development.

Using the PBI, Parker et al. (1979) classified parental rearing into four types, i.e., optimal parenting (high care/low protection), affectionate constraint (high care/high protection), neglectful parenting (low care/low protection), and affectionless control (AC) (low care/high protection). Parker, 1979, Parker, 1983) has suggested that the AC parenting style is a risk factor for neurotic depression in adulthood. This parenting style has also been associated with suicidality (Martin and Waite, 1994). Meanwhile, depression (Smith et al., 2005) and suicide attempts (Grucza et al., 2005) have been associated with specific personality traits, i.e., higher HA and lower SD. Therefore, the AC parenting style, by influencing personality development, especially HA and SD, may predispose children to some psychiatric disorders such as depression and suicidality in later life. However, there has been no study examining the effect of AC parenting style on personality traits.

The main purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of AC parenting style on personality traits, especially HA and SD, in healthy subjects.

Section snippets

Subjects

The subjects were 414 Japanese volunteers who were medical students or the staff of three hospitals. They had no serious physical diseases. Well-trained psychiatrists confirmed by interviews that they did not have any Axis I or II disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). None had his or her parents divorced or deceased before the age of 16. Gender distribution was approximately equal (males: 209, females: 205). Their ages (S.D. = 10.9).

The study protocol was approved by the Ethics

Effects of AC parenting on personality in males

The two-way ANCOVA showed that in the males maternal rearing styles had significant effects on the dimensions of HA (F = 4.68, d.f. = 3, P = 0.004), P (F = 3.04, d.f. = 3, P = 0.030), and C (F = 4.31, d.f. = 3, P = 0.006), while paternal rearing styles had no significant effect on any personality dimension. The males with maternal AC had the highest HA scores, and the lowest scores of P and C, and the differences from those with maternal optimal parenting were significant (Table 1). The males with maternal

Discussion

Several studies have found significant connections between dysfunctional parenting and psychiatric disorders, e.g., substance use (Gerra et al., 2004) and depression (Heider et al., 2006). Furthermore, Gerra et al. (2007) have recently suggested that low parental care increases the genetic risk for substance use. As to the AC parenting, Parker (1979) demonstrated that the rate of reporting this parenting style was significantly higher in patients with neurotic depression than in controls. He

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