C. Gerlsma et al., PARENTING AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY - DIFFERENCES IN FAMILY MEMBERS PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTAL REARING STYLES, Personality and individual differences, 23(2), 1997, pp. 271-282
Psychiatric patients generally report more adverse recollections of th
eir parents' rearing behaviour than individuals from the general commu
nity. II is, however, as yet unclear whether we can infer from this fi
nding that the families of psychiatric patients differ from the famili
es of healthy controls, that is, whether patients' adverse views are s
hared by their family members. This issue bears on the construct valid
ity of reports about parental rearing styles: should these reports be
interpreted to reflect characteristics of the family, of the parent, o
f the parent-child relationship, or of the individual providing the re
ports? In this study, patterns of agreement and variability within fam
ilies with regard to recalled parental behaviour were analysed in orde
r to examine this aspect of the validity of parental representations.
We examined whether families of psychiatric patients report less favou
rable parenting styles than families of healthy controls. Furthermore,
we examined the level of agreement between all family members partici
pating in the study, between the two members reporting on the sane par
ent-child relationship, between parents, and between siblings. Finally
, we examined what factors might be accountable for differences of opi
nion between family members. Results suggested that perceptions of par
ental rearing styles are primarily tales by individuals, and to a much
smaller extent tales about families, parents or relationships. The im
plications of these findings for research with regard to the relations
hip between parental rearing behaviour and adult psychopathology are d
iscussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.