Recollections of parental behaviour, adult attachment and mental health: mediating and moderating effects

Background. Attachment theory posits links between early experiences with p arents, adult relationships and adult mental health, but does not specify w hether these are independent, mediating, or moderating effects. Methods. Associations of parent's behaviour on the Parental Bonding Instrum ent, adult attachment styles and three dimensions of mental health were inv estigated in a large sample of women and men. Results. Men and women with secure styles recalled higher levels of care fr om both parents than those with fearful styles. Maternal and paternal contr ol were more consistent predictors of increased distress for men than for w omen. Fearful and preoccupied adult styles were associated with higher leve ls of distress in both men and women. While adult styles had few mediating effects on the association of parental behaviour and mental health, interac tions between the fearful style and parental variables suggested that this form of insecurity sometimes accentuated the impact of high parental care o r low paternal control on mental hearth in both men and women; among women, however, the secure style seemed to buffer somewhat the negative effect of high parental control. Conclusion. Although the amount of variance explained by either parental be haviour or adult styles was modest, patterns of moderating effects of adult styles on associations between parental behaviour and mental health sugges ted that both continuity and discontinuity principles can be applied to und erstanding these links.