Rosa Dimitrovska

Research Question: To what extent does authoritarian parenting affect romantic relationships in
adulthood?

1
Link https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/mcnair_journal/vol8/iss1/5/

Citation
Toro, M. D. (2012). The influence of parent-child attachment on

romantic relationships. ScholarWorks. Retrieved February 21, 2022,

from https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/mcnair_journal/vol8/iss1/5/

Aim The aim of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship
between perceived parenting styles, attachment between a parent and a
child, and attachment anxiety in the current/latest romantic relationship of
the participants

Method ➢ Correlational research

➢ An online questionnaire accessed through a link that required
approximately 35 minutes
➢ Participants:
-711 (456 female,255 male)
-Age Range:18-30
-college students at a public university in Boise, Idaho
-498 freshmen, 128 sophomores, 53 juniors, 26 seniors
-593 white, 59 Hispanic, 27 Asian/pacific islander, 9 black/African
American, 6 native American Indian, 2 Arabic/middle eastern, 15
other

Procedure The university students were informed about the questionnaire and then they
gave consent to participate. They were given the link for the questionnaire
and firstly they had to fill out some demographic information. After that,
they had to answer the questions to measure parent-child attachment,
romantic relationship anxiety, and romantic relationship avoidance.
Measures
➢ Parental authority
-Parental Authority Questionnaire
-measures Baumrind’s prototypes (authoritative, authoritarian,
permissive)
-10 questions for each authority model,30 questions for each
 parent→overall 60 questions
-Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
↳higher score=more correspondence with that particular style
➢ Experiences in Close Relationships
-Exepreciences in Close Relationships Scale
-measures levels of relationship anxiety and/or avoidance that an
individual experiences
-36 questions that measure the attachment
-2 scores:attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance
-Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
↳higher results=higher prevalence od attachments anxiety/avoidance
➢ Parent-Child Attachment
-Inventory or Parent and Peer Attachments
-measures how secure the attachment level is between parents and
children
-28 questions
-Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
↳higher scores=more secure attachment level

Results

Conclusions ➢ Authoritative parenting and a secure parent-child attachment are

predictive of an absence of attachment anxiety
➢ Individuals are more likely to have healthy romantic patterns in
future relationships if they have a healthy relationship with their
parents

Link https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/GENP.133.1.5-18
https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.3200/GENP.133.1.5-18

Citation
Dalton III, W. T., Frick-Horbury, D., & Kitzmann, K. M. (2010,

August 7). Young adults' retrospective reports of parenting by mothers

and fathers: Associations with current Relationship Quality. Taylor &

Francis. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/GENP.133.1.5-18
Aim The aim was to explore the association between young adults’ retrospective
reports of mothers’ versus fathers’ parenting and relationship quality in
current relationships as well as views of the self as able to form healthy
relationships.

Method ➢ Correlational Research

➢ Participants:
-75 undergraduate students from a voluntary pool
-65% female,35% male
-98% white
-Age Range:18-27
-all are not married and in a relationship between 3 and 66 months
-all have parents together in their first marriage
-85% described their mothers as the primary caregiver

Procedure The participants were grouped in classrooms with no more than 15 people.
They were given packets with a demographic questionnaire, DPCS and
AORI
Materials
➢ Retrospective reports of parental behavior
-Descriptions of Parental Caregiving Style (DPCS)→modified
-nine sentences (three from each paragraph from the original DPCS)
that describe the parent’s caregiving behavior
-each statement is rated on a Likert scale from 1 (very
uncharacteristic) to 5 (very characteristic)
-the same thing is done for both mother and father
-six summary scores for both parents either warm/responsive,
cold/rejecting or ambivalent/inconsistent
➢ Relationship quality in current relationships
-Attachment and Object Relations Inventory (AORI)
-60 statements rated on a Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5
(strongly agree) that reflect the perception of relationships with
parents, peers, partners and the view of the self as able to form
secure/independent/close relationships with others
-results in 6 subscales
↳higher results=views of others as accessible and responsive,
relationships as meaningful and important, self as able to form close
relationships

Results

Conclusions Compared to previous studies both parents had a significant influence on

relationship quality. Although it was puzzling that fathers had a very large
impact since mothers were mostly identified as the primary caregivers i.e.
mothers spent more time with the child thus having a greater impact on its
development
3

Link https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&conte
xt=honors-theses

Citation
Bogart, S. L. (2009, May 15). Students' Perceived Parenting Styles and

Their Later Romantic Attachment Styles and Preferred Coping

Tendencies. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from

https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&

context=honors-theses

Aim The aim was to study the relationship between the perceived parenting style
and the attachment style of a participant.

Method ➢ Correlational research

➢ Variables: students perceived parenting style (authoritative,
authoritarian and permissive) and attachment style (secure,
avoidant,anxious-ambivalent)
➢ 3 forms:
-demographic form
-attachment style form
-Parental Authority Questionnaire
➢ Participants:
-73 undergraduate students at Coastal Carolina University
↳34 students took psychology and 39 took history/Latin

Procedure The researcher met with the students in different classrooms where she
informed them about consent and the right to withdraw at any time. Then
she gave them packets that included 4 forms: consent form, demographic
form, attachment style questionnaire, and PAQ. After finishing, the
researcher took approximately 15 minutes in each classroom to collect the
packets and she told them that if they wish to get the report then they should
ask.
Measures
➢ Attachment style questionnaire
-3 paragraphs that describe each attachment style
-the participants had to choose which statement best described their
 typical attachment style
➢ PAQ
-Parental Authority Questionnaire
-measures Baumrind’s prototypes (authoritative, authoritarian,
permissive)
-10 questions for each authority model,30 questions for each parent
-Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
↳higher score=more correspondence with that particular style

Results ➢ 65 % classified themselves as secure,32% classified as avoidant,3%

classified themselves as anxious-ambivalent
➢ Authorative:37 secure,12 avoidant,1 a-a
Authoritarian:8 secure,9 avoidant,1 a-a
Permissive:2 secure,2 avoidant,0 a-a
➢ 51% of participants had a secure attachment and authoritative
parenting

Conclusions Authoritative parenting would be a predictor of a secure romantic

attachment.
The highest number of participants that had an authoritarian style had an
avoidant attachment style.

Link The Relationship between parenting styles and Attachment Styles in men
and women with infidelity

Citation
hatamy, A., Fathi, E., Gorji, Z., & Esmaeily, M. (2011, June 10). The

relationship between parenting styles and attachment styles in men

and women with infidelity. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Retrieved February 21, 2022, from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811009128

#:~:text=The%20result%20of%20analyzing%20the,parenting%20style

%20and%20avoidant%20attachment
Aim The aim was to explore the relationship between the parenting and
attachment style of both men and women with infidelity

Method ➢ Correlational Research

➢ Participants:
-90 participants→42 men,48 women
-visited welfare counseling centers in Tehran to deal with the
problem of infidelity
-voluntarily filled out the questionnaires

Procedure The manager of the welfare center was asked to ask the people at the center
whether they want to fill out the questionnaire. Those who did agree to
participate were given two questionnaires.
Materials
➢ PAQ
-Parental Authority Questionnaire
-measures Baumrind’s prototypes (authoritative, authoritarian,
permissive)
-10 questions for each authority model,30 questions
-each part has a maximum score of 50z
-Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
↳higher score=more correspondence with that particular style
➢ AAQ
-Adult Attachment Styles Questionnaire
-Iranian version normed on the students of the Tehran University
-15 question questionnaire

Results

Conclusions ➢ Authoritarian parenting is connected with an avoidant attachment

style and low emotional expression
➢ People with an avoidant attachment style cheat on their significant
others more often
➢ Authoratative parenting yields a more secure attachment style thus
reducing the chances of infidelity

Link https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.1007/s12144-020-00978-9

Citation
Li Ying Cho, P., Shi En Ong, A., & Shan Cheung, H. (2020, August).
 Where authoritarianism is not always bad: Parenting styles ...

ResearchGate. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343429748_Where_authorita

rianism_is_not_always_bad_Parenting_styles_and_romantic_relations

hip_quality_among_emerging_adults_in_Singapore

Aim The aim was to explore the relationship between the parenting style in the
mother and the later romantic relationship quality during young adulthood in
Singapore

Method ➢ Correlational Study

➢ Participants:
- 155 ethnic Chinese Singaporeans→52 males and 103 females
-Age Range:18-25
-recruited from Department of Psychology Research Participation
Program at the National University of Singapore
-98.06% were university students
-84.5% of their mothers completed secondary education and 95.6%
were married
-Romantic relationship duration from 1 to 108 months

Procedure The participants were informed about the research beforehand.They were
given a consent form and then a couple of questionnaires that didn’t take
more than 30 minutes to complete
Measures
➢ Parenting Styles
-Parental Authority Questionnaire→slightly modified to help the
students understand it better
-measures Baumrind’s prototypes (authoritative, authoritarian,
permissive)
-10 questions for each authority model,30 questions
-each part has a maximum score of 50
-Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
↳higher score=more correspondence with that particular style
➢ Commitment
-Relationship Experiences Questionnaire
-used to assess the level of commitment towards a romantic partner
-6 point Likert scale→1=strongly disagree 6=strongly agree
-3 items
➢ Compromise
 -Conflict Resolution Behavior Questionnaire→five-item
compromise sub-scale
-modified statements
-rated from 0 (never) to 4 (almost always)

Results

Conclusions ➢ Young adults that have an authoritative mother were less

committed than those that had an authoritarian mother
➢ Individuals with authoritarian mothers were less likely to
compromise compared to those with authoritative
➢ Authoritarianism can be a way that the parent shows concern
and helps the child adapt to society