Effect of parental authority, parental psychological control and parent attachment on social anxiety of different growth places medical students

Abstract

Objective To explore the relationship between parental authority,parental psychological control, parental attachment and medical students' social anxiety, and to provide theoretical guidance for medical students' mental health.Methods 2105 medical students were assessed with the social phobia inventory (SPIN), Parental authority questionnaire (PAQ), Parental psychological control questionnaire, Inventory of parent attachment (IPA).Results The mean SPIN score of social anxiety was 17.75 ± 10.47.Girls scored higher than boys,but there were no statistically significant differences between them( 17.97±10.44 vs 17.29 ± 10.52, t =1.305, P=0.192).Rural medical students scored higher than urban students,and the difference had statistical significance (19.47 ± 10.60 vs 15.85 ± 10.01, t = 7.478, P ＜ 0.01 ).Stepwise regression revealed that, for urban students' anxiety, father communication and mother authoritative/flexible were protective factors, father unconscionable emotional response, mother alienation, father unconscionable viewpoint and mother communication were risk factors; and for rural students' anxiety father communication was protective factor, mother alienation and mother authoritarian were risk factors.Conclusion Factors such as parental authority, parental psychological control and parental attachment will affect medical students' social anxiety.But the factors are not same between urban and rural.So these factors are considered when carrying out health education for parents. Key words: Social anxiety; Parental authority; Parental psychological control; Parent attachment; Medical students