Parental Bonding

Psychopathy is generally considered to be a male adaptation. While studies have elucidated a relationship to freely circulating testosterone, less is known about the role of prenatal testosterone (PT) in the development of primary and secondary psychopathy and how this pertains to sex differences. In this study (N = 148), digit ratio (2D:4D) was used to investigate the relationship between prenatal testosterone and primary and secondary psychopathy. In addition, quality of recalled maternal bonding was measured to see if postnatal experience could affect the influence of PT on psychopathic behaviours. Low LH2D:4D predicted primary and secondary psychop-athy in women. In men, low maternal care predicted primary psychopathy and high maternal protection predicted secondary psychopathy. Low maternal care also predicted primary psychopathy in women. Lower levels of maternal care and higher levels of maternal control contributed to primary psychopathy above and beyond PT. Lower levels of maternal care were also an influential factor for secondary psychopathy above and beyond PT, although higher levels of mother control were not.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of adolescent attachment styles on academic performance in high-cost private secondary schools. The specific objectives were: to establish the attachment styles exhibited by the adolescents, to determine the relationship between attachment styles and academic performance of students in selected high cost secondary schools in Nairobi and to assess the role of parental bonding on adolescent attachment. Descriptive research design was used. The target population was students drawn from high cost private secondary schools in Dagoreti, Langata and Westlands constituencies in Nairobi County, Kenya. Data was collected by aid of a structured questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions. Data was analyzed using correlation technique and Mann-Whitney U test. The results showed that there was a weak positive correlation between academic performance and secure attachment style and a negative correlation between academic performance and insecure attachment style. In overall, securely attached adolescents performed better than their insecure attached counterparts. Parents placed too much expectation on their adolescents which increased their anxiety and stress during exams. The implication of this is that parents unknowingly cause psychological harm by pushing their adolescents too much to excel in their education. Counseling practitioners attached to high cost private secondary schools should adopt a tripartite framework of guidance and counseling that involves the participation of parents through mutual understanding and child-centered engagement. Parents of these children should also be realistic even when they set their well-intended bar high for their adolescent children.

The major thrust of the present venture is to investigate the gender difference in Happiness and Parental Bonding among undergraduate college students. 100 male and 100 female students are chosen for this project and individually administered Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and Parental Bonding Instrument. The present study indicates that the male students are reporting more happiness than female students. In the dimension of parent child relationship, it has been found that males perceive more care by mothers, and less overprotection by both parents over females. While on the other hand, females perceive less care by mothers and high overprotection by both parents over males.

Background
In the present study, we have explored the link among styles of attachment and psychopathology in drug users. We know that insecure attachment predisposes the individuals the development of drug-addiction and psychopathological symptoms. However, we do not know which attachment is more frequent in drug users and which is related to particular psychopathological symptoms. The aim of the present work is to explore the relationship between childhood attachment state of mind, attachment in close relationships, parental bonding and psychopathology in sample of Italian substance users.
Methods
We explored, in a sample of 70 drug users and drug-addicted patients, the childhood attachment state of mind measured by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), the attachment in close relationships by the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) and parental bonding measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). The Symptom Check-List-90-R (SCL-90-R) measured psychopathological symptoms.
Results
We found that parental bonding, rather than state of mind concerning childhood attachment or attachment in close relationships, is related to the psychopathological manifestation of anxiety, hostility, depression and paranoid ideation in the sample. The latter occurs frequently in our sample, independent of state of mind concerning child attachment, attachment in close relationships and parental bonding, suggesting its role either as a factor that favors a bad image of the participants’ own relationships or as a direct effect of consuming drugs.
Conclusion
These results have clinical implications on suggesting ways of interventions that prevent drug addiction, which should include the evaluation of attachment in the prodromic phases of substance use onset or rehabilitation programs to prevent and manage psychotic-like symptoms.

Career choice is a significant issue in the developmental lives of youth. Of all the judgement one makes in life, what could be more important than one makes while seeking and selecting a career? The choice of career is crucial as it shall drive what will be the individual’s daily schedule for the rest of their life. Good career planning leads to life fulfillment however; cultural heritage can conflict with youth’s personal interests. While there are several factors that influence career decisions, relationship with parents, support from friends, family, teachers etc, were some of the factors that were found significant. The present study attempts to establish the hypotheses that there is a relationship between parental bonding, social support and career decision making and there is a difference in the levels of parental bonding, social support and career decision making between Hyderabadis and Mizos.  The sample of this study consisted of 200 college students grouped in two different groups: People living in Hyderabad and people living in Mizoram between the age groups 18-25. In this study, the researcher has used purposive sampling methods and correlational research design. The participants were made to answer three types of questionnaires- Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), Berlin Social Support Scale (BSSS) and Career Decision Making Scale (CDMS). Reliable and valid scales had been used for data collection. The statistical results that there exists a relationship between parental bonding, social support and career decision making, there exists a significant difference in levels of parental bonding, social support and career decision making between two different regions.

Involuntary termination of parental rights is one of the most extreme steps in court can take in intractable child abuse cases. Frequently, the court or the child protection agency requires a psychological evaluation of biological or foster parents under these circumstances. One core component of such evaluations is an assessment of the child's psychological bond with various caretakers, sometimes referred to as a bonding evaluation. This article describes the principles underlying such psychological evaluations and describes accepted methods of conducting these evaluations.

Introduction: Due to its association with emotional distress and deficits in coping, insecure attachment presents a strong risk factor for a variety of psychopathologies, including substance use disorders. This study reports on the relationship between recalled parental bonding, adult attachment patterns and severity of heroin addiction.
Methods: Data were obtained from 54 individuals with heroin use disorder (HUD) and 54 control groups. Participants with HUD were recruited from an outpatient clinic at the hospital in London. Differences between individuals with HUD and control group in recalled parental bonding and adult attachment style and experiences were examined with independent t-test and binary logistic regression. Relationship between severity of heroin addiction, parental bonding and adult attachment style was investigated with Pearson correlation test and multiple regressions.
Results: Groups significantly differed in maternal care (p=0.047), paternal care (p=0.027), paternal protection (p=0.001) and all variables regarding adult attachment style (Close, p<0.0005; Depend, p<0.0005; Anxiety, p=0.0015). Paternal protection (ß=0.096, p=0.009) and Close Score (ß=-0.196, p=0.013) offered a unique and significant contribution to the prediction of heroin addiction. There was significant correlation between addiction severity and father protection (r=0.259, p=0.029), Depend score (r=-0.240, p=0.04) and age (r=-0.25, p=0.034).
Conclusion: The study revealed significant differences between individuals with HUD and control group in recalled parental bonding and adult attachment patterns. These findings carry useful implications for addiction treatment and emphasize the importance of building strong therapeutic alliance to help facilitate change. Further research is needed to investigate sensitive predictors of addiction severity.

Although various conceptual proposals have suggested that disruptions in childhood bonding processes may be linked to the origins of these cognitive structures, little research has tested these proposals. This study assessed the information processing of vulnerable individuals and its relationship to childhood bonding. Formerly depressed (vulnerable) and never depressed (nonvulnerable) individuals participated in a mood induction task followed by an attentional allocation task. Results indicated that vulnerable individuals uniquely diverted attention toward negative stimuli when they were in a negative mood. Furthermore, level of maternal caring was found to be associated with performance on this task for vulnerable individuals in this mood state. These data support the idea that cognitive variables form a pathway between troublesome parental-child/adolescent interactions and depression.

Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment represent stressful events that demand emotional adjustment, thus recruiting coping strategies and defense mechanisms. As parental relations were shown to influence emotion regulation patterns and adaptive processes in adulthood, the present study investigated whether they are specifically associated to coping and defense mechanisms in patients with breast cancer. One hundred and ten women hospitalized for breast cancer surgery were administered questionnaires assessing coping with cancer, defense mechanisms, and memories of parental bonding in childhood. High levels of paternal overprotection were associated with less mature defenses, withdrawal and fantasy and less adaptive coping mechanisms, such as hopelessness/helplessness. Low levels of paternal care were associated with a greater use of repression. No association was found between maternal care, overprotection, coping and defense mechanisms. Immature defenses correlated positively with le...

This study was designed to investigate the effects of global self-esteem, moral self, and parental bonding on youth's delinquency. A sample of young Chinese adults (N=200) were drawn from public areas such as playgrounds and campus. Respondents were to complete a questionnaire consisted of the General Self, Moral Self, Parental Bonding, and Behavior Checklist on an individual basis. As a result, males reported higher delinquency as well as general selfesteem than females. Among the demographic variables, gender was found to significantly predict delinquency. For the self variables, moral self but not global self-esteem was found to predict delinquency significantly, even when the effect of gender was being controlled. Among the parenting aspects (authoritarianism, protectiveness, care), protectionism significantly predicted delinquency, while parental care and authoritarianism did not. These findings confirmed the need of considering multidimensional aspects of self-esteem and the cultural perspective in explaining the parental impacts on delinquency.

Despite the importance of parenting in the development of empathy in children as well as their involvement in bullying behaviours, no study has ever examined the mediating role of empathy in the relationship between parental bonding and bullying and victimization. The present study aims in examining these relationships. Participants included 504 children (255 boys, 246 girls) from different primary schools of Crete. The standard version of the Peer Experiences Questionnaire was used to assess experiences in bullying behaviours, the Parental Bonding Instrument was used to assess self-reported sense of care and overprotection from the mother and father separately, whereas empathy was assessed using the Greek version of Bryant’s Empathy Index. A series of multiple regression analyses were conducted. Results showed that boys scored significantly higher on average with respect to Victimisation of Others, and girls scored higher to specific sub-factors of empathy. It was also found that i...

Among the many variables affecting happiness, there are those that arise from emotional factors. In this study, the hypothesis stating that happiness is affected by emotional self-efficacy, emotional empathy and emotional approach coping has been examined using the path model. A total of 334 university students participated in this study, 229 of whom were females and 105 being males. Oxford Happiness Questionnaire-Short Form, Emotional Self-efficacy Scale, Multi-Dimensional Emotional Empathy Scale, The Emotional Approach Coping Scale and personal information form have been used as data acquisition tools. As a result of path analysis, it was determined that the predicted path from emotional empathy to emotional approach coping was insignificant and thus it was taken out of the model. According to the modified path model, it was determined that there is a positive relationship between emotional self-efficacy and emotional empathy, that emotional self-efficacy positively affects emotional approach coping and happiness, that emotional empathy also positively affects happiness and that emotional approach coping also positively affects happiness.

Much research on school bullying and victimization have outlined several individual, family, and school parameters that function as risk factors for developing further psychosocial and psychopathological problems. Bullying and victimization are interrelated with symptoms of psychological trauma, as well as emotional/ behavioural reactions, which can destabilize psychosocial and scholastic pathways for children and adolescents. The current study explored the various dimensions of psychological trauma (depressive symptoms, somatization, dissociation, avoidance behaviours) associated with school bullying/victimization in relation to parental bonding among 433 students (8-16 years old) from representative large cities in Greece. The following scales were employed: (a) Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, (b) Child Report of Post-traumatic Symptoms (CROPS), and (c) Parental Bonding Inventory instrument (PBI). Pathways analysis extracted a series of models which showed that maternal and paternal overprotection (anxious-controlling/aggressive) had positive association with post-traumatic stress symptoms. Specifically, the quality of parental bonding was related with children's bullying/victimization experiences and post-traumatic symptomology. Conversely, results indicated that maternal and paternal care can reduce the manifestation of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Implications for interventions are discussed.