Parental Acceptance-Rejection in Childhood: A Retrospective Effect on Psychological Status in Early Adulthood

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore the relationship of parental (maternal as well as paternal) rejection in childhood with psychological adjustment, coping strategies and mental well-being of young adults in early adulthood. In order to achieve the goals, the study was conducted on 500 young adults (male=250 and female=250) aged between 20-27 years by using purposive and convenient sampling technique from different educational institutions. Following standard procedures, the measuring instruments using in this study were (1) Demographic and Personal Information Questionnaire, (2) Adapted Bangla version of Adult Parental Acceptance Rejection Questionnaire, (3) Adapted Bangla version of Adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire, (4) The translated and Adapted Bangla version of the Coping Scale , and (5) Adapted Bangla version of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) . Obtained data were analysed by using mean, standard deviation, t-test, correlation co-efficient and regression analysis. Correlation analysis indicates that parental (maternal as well as paternal) rejection has significant positive correlation with psychological mal-adjustment and non-adaptive coping. It also shows that parental (maternal as well as paternal) rejection is negatively correlated with adaptive coping and mental well-being. The beta co-efficient shows that if we increase 1 standard deviation unit in maternal rejection score, .13 and .07 standard deviation unit increase in psychological mal-adjustment and nonadaptive

coping score respectively. Similarly, if we increase 1 standard deviation unit in paternal rejection score, .27 and .20 standard deviation unit increase in psychological maladjustment

and non-adaptive coping score respectively. On the other hand, the value of beta co-efficient shows that if we increase 1 standard deviation unit in maternal rejection score, .12 and .17 standard deviation unit decrease in adaptive coping and mental well-being score respectively. Similarly, if we increase 1 standard deviation unit in paternal rejection score, .07 and .11 standard deviation unit decrease in adaptive coping score and mental well-being score respectively. From the results of R VII

2 , it is observed that maternal rejection can explain 6% of variability in psychological mal-adjustment, 2% of variability in adaptive coping, 2% of variability in non-adaptive coping and 5% of variability in mental well-being score. Similarly, from the results of R 2 , it is also observed that paternal rejection can explain 10% of variability in psychological mal-adjustment, 1% of variability in adaptive coping, 5% of variability in non-adaptive coping and 3% of variability in mental well-being score. These results suggest that parental (maternal as well as paternal) rejection in childhood greatly influences their children’s personalit y development and mental well-being.