Contribution of maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection to the children´s psychological adjustment: clinical versus general population

Abstract

Parental acceptance-rejection has emerged as an important risk factor for a child´s psychological adjustment. The aim was to analyze the predictive capacity of parental behavior as perceived by children inasmuch as belonging to a clinical or a general group of participants. The perceived maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection, and the perceived parental involvement (expressive and instrumental) considering the sex of children were analyzed. The sample consisted of 226 subjects (61.94 % boys) with a mean age of 14.8 years: 113 came from an incidental clinical sample and 113 from the general population. The variable to better predict belonging to the clinical group versus the general group was undifferentiated rejection by both parents. However, the perceived paternal rejection was a better predictor of the clinical condition than the maternal rejection condition, with qualitative components of parent-child relations prevailing over quantitative ones relative to the mere participation of the parents in the life of children.