Parental Rearing Patterns and Interpersonal Skills in Deaf Chinese College Students: The Mediating Role of Theory of Mind.

Yang Wu,Xiping Liu,Shengnan Zhang,Rubo Zhong

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709038

Abstract

This study examined the associations between parental rearing patterns and interpersonal skills via the mediation of Theory of Mind (ToM) in a sample of 369 deaf Chinese college students. The results showed that negative parental rearing patterns were directly and negatively associated with interpersonal skills, and positive parental rearing patterns were directly and positively associated with interpersonal skills. There were also indirectly associated with interpersonal skills via ToM. We also considered whether the mediation of ToM was different for male participants and female participants. The indirect associations between parental rearing patterns and interpersonal skills via ToM existed for female participants, but not for male participants. These results indicated that deaf college students’ perceived parental rearing patterns are associated with their interpersonal skills, and parents of deaf children should incorporate ToM in their everyday rearing patterns to improve their children’s interpersonal skills, especially for girls.

Highlights

Interpersonal skills are an important part of intelligence (Brualdi Timmins, 1996) and were defined as “interpersonal competence” by Klein et al (2006)
Positive parental rearing patterns were positively associated with Theory of Mind (ToM), which in turn was associated with higher interpersonal skills
This study examined the relationship between parental rearing patterns and interpersonal skills and its mechanism via ToM in a sample of deaf Chinese college students

Summary

Introduction

Interpersonal skills are an important part of intelligence (Brualdi Timmins, 1996) and were defined as “interpersonal competence” by Klein et al (2006). Poor interpersonal skills are often associated with negative outcomes, such as loneliness, low self-esteem and confidence, and higher levels of mental health problems (Malaquias et al, 2015; Hamilton et al, 2016; Ranta et al, 2016; Owens et al, 2019). This negative correlation is more evident in deaf college students. With the continuous development of inclusive education, more deaf students live and study with hearing students in colleges Due to their deafness, they have difficulties in both general and interpersonal communications. It is important to study the influencing factors and better understand the mechanisms of interpersonal communication ability in deaf college students

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Conclusion