Perceived Parental Acceptance: Rejection and Conflict Styles of Adults

Abstract

Parents greatly affect their children’s behaviour. Children model everything parents do and incorporate what they see into their own lives. Parenting skills and behaviour play a vital role in development of children’s positive attitude and social behaviour that are essential for healthy living. The way we handles conflict is also significant for a quality living. The present study examined the relationship between perceived parental acceptance-rejection, and conflict styles of adults. For the purpose of the study, a Sample of 250 college teachers (134- male teachers and 116- female teachers) from colleges in and around Dharmapuri were selected systematically. The study adopted survey research design. The Adult Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire (short form) (Rohner, 1984), and Organizational Conflict Inventory (Rahim, 1983) were used to collect the data. The result revealed significant relationship between perceived parental acceptance-rejection and conflict styles of adults. Males reported significantly more use of competing style of conflict than females. Further, no significant difference was noticed between students from rural and urban in perceived parental acceptance-rejection, and conflict styles. Also, there is no significant difference in perceived parental acceptance-rejection, and conflict styles based on birth order and marital status.