Parenting Styles and Romantic Attachment: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Well-being in Young Adults

Abstract

Primordial figures and parenting styles are especially relevant to the way that young adults establish relationships and transitions over their emotional  journeys. Satisfactory relations within the parent-child dyad play a leading role in establishing secure romantic relationships and maintaining or increasing the psychological well-being of young adults. This study aims to analyze the effect of parenting styles on the romantic relationships of young adults and to test the mediating role of psychological well-being in the parent-child association. The sample included 787 university students between 18 and 25 years of age. Data collection was performed using the following self-reporting instruments: the Parental Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire: Short Version (psdq), the Romantic Attachment Questionnaire,
and the Psychological Well-being Measurement Scale. The results point to a positive predictor effect of democratic parenting styles in relation to psychological well-being and trust in romantic attachments, as well as a negative effect on ambivalence regarding romantic attachment and dependence on that attachment.
Psychological well-being also functions as a variable mediating the association btween democratic parenting
styles and romantic attachment.

Keywords: Attachment, parenting styles, romantic attachment, psychological well-being.