The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders
Parenting styles are considered to have an important influence on the development of individuals and have been associated with empathy. The present study aimed to investigate the self-reported different parenting styles in childhood and adolescence and associated cognitive and affective empathy amon...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-02-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.588993/full |
| _version_ | 1819295882785325056 |
|---|---|
| author | Shaishai Wang Huagang Hu Xinyang Wang Bo Dong Tianyang Zhang Tianyang Zhang |
| author_facet | Shaishai Wang Huagang Hu Xinyang Wang Bo Dong Tianyang Zhang Tianyang Zhang |
| author_sort | Shaishai Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Parenting styles are considered to have an important influence on the development of individuals and have been associated with empathy. The present study aimed to investigate the self-reported different parenting styles in childhood and adolescence and associated cognitive and affective empathy among offenders. Men incarcerated in prison in Jiangsu Province in China were invited to participate. Each consenting participant was asked to complete the Parental Bonding Instrument to collect information regarding the parenting styles they experienced in childhood and adolescence and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to evaluate their empathy. A multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted to explore the associations between different parenting styles and the empathy of offenders, and a one-way multivariate analysis of variance and a t-test were used to explore the differences in cognitive and affective empathy with different degrees of parenting styles. The parental care and control factors in childhood and adolescence were significantly more strongly associated with empathy among offenders than the parental encouragement factor. There were different associations between the parental care and control factors and offenders’ empathy depending on whether the parenting styles were consistent or inconsistent. When the parenting styles were consistent, different degrees of parental care had a significant predictive effect on cognitive and affective empathy, while different degrees of parental control were only significantly associated with affective empathy among the offenders. When the parenting styles were inconsistent, different degrees of paternal and maternal control were associated with cognitive and affective empathy among the offenders. Our findings suggest that not only different parenting styles experienced in childhood and adolescence had different predictive effects on empathy among offenders but also the degrees of parenting styles and whether the paternal and maternal parenting styles were consistent or inconsistent may affect the patterns of parenting styles and empathy. Moreover, the parental control factor had a particular influence on empathy among the offenders. Our findings underscore the pressing need for adopting preventive monitoring measures or developing policies to improve parenting styles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:49:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-064bb3f455844d5bb0fe3010fb2a40f8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:49:17Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-064bb3f455844d5bb0fe3010fb2a40f82022-12-21T17:14:35ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-02-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.588993588993The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among OffendersShaishai Wang0Huagang Hu1Xinyang Wang2Bo Dong3Tianyang Zhang4Tianyang Zhang5School of Public Health, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, ChinaSchool of Nursing, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, ChinaSuzhou Prison, Suzhou, ChinaDepartment of Psychology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, ChinaSchool of Public Health, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, ChinaResearch Center for Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, ChinaParenting styles are considered to have an important influence on the development of individuals and have been associated with empathy. The present study aimed to investigate the self-reported different parenting styles in childhood and adolescence and associated cognitive and affective empathy among offenders. Men incarcerated in prison in Jiangsu Province in China were invited to participate. Each consenting participant was asked to complete the Parental Bonding Instrument to collect information regarding the parenting styles they experienced in childhood and adolescence and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to evaluate their empathy. A multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted to explore the associations between different parenting styles and the empathy of offenders, and a one-way multivariate analysis of variance and a t-test were used to explore the differences in cognitive and affective empathy with different degrees of parenting styles. The parental care and control factors in childhood and adolescence were significantly more strongly associated with empathy among offenders than the parental encouragement factor. There were different associations between the parental care and control factors and offenders’ empathy depending on whether the parenting styles were consistent or inconsistent. When the parenting styles were consistent, different degrees of parental care had a significant predictive effect on cognitive and affective empathy, while different degrees of parental control were only significantly associated with affective empathy among the offenders. When the parenting styles were inconsistent, different degrees of paternal and maternal control were associated with cognitive and affective empathy among the offenders. Our findings suggest that not only different parenting styles experienced in childhood and adolescence had different predictive effects on empathy among offenders but also the degrees of parenting styles and whether the paternal and maternal parenting styles were consistent or inconsistent may affect the patterns of parenting styles and empathy. Moreover, the parental control factor had a particular influence on empathy among the offenders. Our findings underscore the pressing need for adopting preventive monitoring measures or developing policies to improve parenting styles.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.588993/fullparenting styleoffenderscognitive empathyaffective empathysocioemotional well-being |
| spellingShingle | Shaishai Wang Huagang Hu Xinyang Wang Bo Dong Tianyang Zhang Tianyang Zhang The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders Frontiers in Psychology parenting style offenders cognitive empathy affective empathy socioemotional well-being |
| title | The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders |
| title_full | The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders |
| title_fullStr | The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders |
| title_short | The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders |
| title_sort | hidden danger in family environment the role of self reported parenting style in cognitive and affective empathy among offenders |
| topic | parenting style offenders cognitive empathy affective empathy socioemotional well-being |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.588993/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shaishaiwang thehiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT huaganghu thehiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT xinyangwang thehiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT bodong thehiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT tianyangzhang thehiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT tianyangzhang thehiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT shaishaiwang hiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT huaganghu hiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT xinyangwang hiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT bodong hiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT tianyangzhang hiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders AT tianyangzhang hiddendangerinfamilyenvironmenttheroleofselfreportedparentingstyleincognitiveandaffectiveempathyamongoffenders |