Parental child-rearing strategies influence self-regulation, socio-emotional adjustment, and psychopathology in early adulthood: Evidence from a retrospective cohort study

This study examined the association between recollected parental child-rearing strategies and individual differences in self-regulation, socio-emotional adjustment, and psychopathology in early adulthood. Undergraduate participants (N = 286) completed the EMBU – a measure of retrospective accounts of their parents’ child-rearing behaviors – as well as self-report measures of self-regulation and socio-emotional adjustment across the domains of eating disorder symptoms, physically risky behavior, interpersonal problems, personal financial problems, and academic maladjustment. A subset of participants also completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF). Parental warmth was found to be related to overall better self-regulation and improved interpersonal and academic adjustment. In contrast, both parental rejection and overcontrol were found to be related to general deficits in self-regulation as well as adjustment difficulties and psychopathology. Parental rejection was most closely related to internalizing clinical presentations like anxiety, depression, and somatization, whereas overcontrol was most aligned with increased hypomanic activation and psychoticism. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the relationships between parental child-rearing strategies and socio-emotional adjustment and psychopathology were partially mediated by self-regulation. Future directions are suggested, including basic and translational research related to better understanding the roles of parental child-rearing and self-regulation in the development of internalizing symptoms, activation, and psychotic symptoms.

► We evaluated relationships between child-rearing, self-regulation, and adjustment.
► Parental warmth was related to better self-regulation and improved adjustment.
► Parental rejection was associated with hallmarks of internalizing disorders.
► Parental control was associated with hypomanic activation and psychoticism.
► Self-regulation mediated the relationship between child-rearing and adjustment.