Abstract
Background:
Prior research has partially verified the significance of child temperament and styles of upbringing for schema intensity. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the inter-relations between them.
Aim:
The present study examined how temperament (stable and labile) and style of parenting (positive and negative) are related to each other, and to early maladaptive schemas.
Method:
Participants (395 healthy adults) completed the Young Schema Questionnaire YSQ-S3 and the Retrospective Assessment of Parents’ Attitudes and Formal Characteristic of Behaviour – Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI). Structural equation modelling was used to verify hypotheses.
Results:
Temperament and parental styles together explain more than 59% of the variance of schema intensity. The obtained path coefficients show one-way directions of inter-relations. Stable temperament connects to schemas directly with a negative path coefficient. Labile temperament shows a significant positive association with negative parental attitudes, but not directly with schemas. Negative parenting is positively connected with schemas. A positive style of parenting is not significantly connected with temperament and schemas.
Conclusions:
Results show evidence that negative style of parenting and labile temperament features are more important for schema developing and may be treated as risk factors. Because temperament seems to be a relatively persistent feature, it may play a similar role in adulthood, reinforcing emotions and feelings in the context of environment, and then maintain the schemas.
Predicting Early Maladaptive Schemas Using Baumrind’s Parenting Styles