Influence of Perceived Parental Rearing on Adolescent Self-Concept and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Japan

Abstract

We examined the associations between perceived parental rearing, attachment style, self-concept, and mental health problems among Japanese adolescents. About 193 high school students (143 boys and 50 girls, mean = 16.4) completed a set of self-report questionnaires including EMBU-C (My Memories of Child Upbringing for Children), AQC (Attachment Questionnaire for Children), SDQII-S (Self-Description Questionnaire II-Short) and YSR (Youth Self-Report). There seems to be a unique influence on mental health problems from parent–adolescent relations depending on the gender of parents and adolescents. PLS (Partial Latent Squares Regression) analysis showed that insecure attachments (Avoidant and Ambivalent) and Rejection from parents were predictors of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems among boys, while all dysfunctional parenting (Rejection, Overprotection and Anxious Rearing) were determinants of these problems among girls. Non academic self-concept (social, emotional, and physical) was a predictor of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems. Power of the prediction of these problems was greater for girls than boys.