Study on the Relationship between Gratitude Consciousness and Parental Rearing Pattern of University Students

Abstract

Objective: To explore the influence of parental rearing pattern on university students’ gratitude consciousness. Methods: A total of 815 undergraduate students were investigated with University Students’ Gratitude Consciousness Questionnaire and EMBU. Results: There were gender differences in gratitude consciousness among university students. The scores in every factor of female university students were higher than those of male university students. There was no significant difference in every factor of gratitude consciousness between the one-child university students and the non-only-child university students. The scores of the one-child female university students were slightly higher than those of the non-only-child female university students. Obvious gender differences were found between university students on factors of parental rearing pattern such as fathers’ severe punishment, excessive interference, rejection and denial. Obvious differences were found between male and female university students on factors such as mothers’ excessive interference, over-protection, severe punishment, rejection and denial. One-child university students got higher scores than non-only-child university students on factors like parents’ emotional warmth and understanding, over-interference, over-protection and mothers’ preference, and their differences were obvious. The factors of university students’ gratitude consciousness had obvious positive correlation with factors like parents’ emotional warmth, understanding, preference and others, and had obvious negative correlation with factors like parents’ punishment, rigor, refusal, denial and others; Obvious differences were found between university students with high gratitude consciousness and those with low gratitude consciousness on factors like parents’ emotional warmth and understanding, rigor, punishment, refusal, denial, fathers’ excessive interference. Conclusion: The gratitude consciousness of university students is significantly related to the factors of parental rearing pattern.