Perception of parental rearing when growing up in a single-parent home

This study investigated the perception of parental rearing in a sample of 1 42 non-clinical subjects raised only by a mother in relation to an age- and sex-matched control group raised by both a mother and a father. The sample consisted of two independent series collected in Umea and in Stockholm in Sweden. In order to assess parental rearing the EMBU (a Swedish acronym for 'Own memories of upbringing') was used. The test group perceived their mot hers to be less overprotective, on both the factor and facet level compared to the control group and also to be less emotionally warm on the factor le vel and less 'stimulating' on the facet level. Dividing the test-group into two separate groups showed a few differences in subjects raised by a singl e mother compared with those raised by a mother and a stepfather. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.