Abstract
We examined parent-child relationship quality and positive mental well-being using Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development data. Well-being was measured at ages 13–15 (teacher-rated happiness), 36 (life satisfaction), 43 (satisfaction with home and family life) and 60–64 years (Diener Satisfaction With Life scale and Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale). The Parental Bonding Instrument captured perceived care and control from the father and mother to age 16, recalled by study members at age 43. Greater well-being was seen for offspring with higher combined parental care and lower combined parental psychological control (p < 0.05 at all ages). Controlling for maternal care and paternal and maternal behavioural and psychological control, childhood social class, parental separation, mother’s neuroticism and study member’s personality, higher well-being was consistently related to paternal care. This suggests that both mother–child and father–child relationships may have short and long-term consequences for positive mental well-being.
Highlights
Parent–child relationships are central to psychological development and several studies have shown that suboptimal parenting is an important risk factor for psychological disorder in clinical and representative community samples (Blatt & Homann, 1992; Enns, Cox, & Clara, 2002)
We examined whether associations between well-being indicators and the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) scales differed by gender
Combined levels of parental care from both parents were associated with higher well-being throughout adulthood and combined levels of parental psychological control with lower well-being at all ages
Summary
Parent–child relationships are central to psychological development and several studies have shown that suboptimal parenting is an important risk factor for psychological disorder in clinical and representative community samples (Blatt & Homann, 1992; Enns, Cox, & Clara, 2002). The demandingness or control dimension reflects the extent to which the parent demands and monitors standards for their child’s conduct (Baumrind, 1991). There is a need to balance individual autonomy with conformity to social norms and the association between behavioural control and outcomes may be curvilinear (Barber, 1996). Psychological control refers to parenting that is intrusive and manipulates the child’s emotional development (Barber, 1996). A high level of psychological control has been consistently associated with an elevated risk of psychological disorder among the offspring in adolescence and adulthood
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