Mediating Role of Identity Styles between Feeling Recognition and Sense of Belonging: Moderation by Family Support

Abstract

Background. Recognition of feelings of their offspring is an essential characteristic ofparenting. Recognizing feeling of their children may help parents in understanding needs andpreferences of their children. Feeling recognition is an essential component of autonomysupport. It is hypothesized that feeling recognition by parents lead to an increase in sense ofbelonging of children to their parents. The study is aimed to investigate the relationshipbetween feeling recognition by parents and sense of belonging in children. It was hypothesizedthat the relationship is mediated by identity styles and moderated by family support.Method. The study sample includes 500 university students (Male=244, and Female=256),age ranging from 18 to 25 years (Mean=2.35, SD = 1.54). Data was collected from differentuniversities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Mandi Bahauddin. Along with a detaileddemographic sheet, data was collected on Parental Autonomy Support, Identity Styles, Sense ofBelonging, and Social Support.Results. The results showed that the effect of feeling recognition on sense of belonging ismediated through informative, and normative identity (B = .24, p < .01; B = -.13, p < .05)respectively. Further, results showed that indirect effect through both mediators is moderatedby family support.Conclusion. It is concluded that with low level of family support, identity styles have no rolebetween feeling recognition and sense of belongings but as family support increases, feelingrecognition contribute toward both normative and informative identity styles resulting in anincrease in sense of belonging. It is recommended that family support shall be focused oninterventions tailored to increase family bonding of adolescents and young adults.