| The purpose of this research project was to explore the relationship of how parenting style may influence and shape personality. Personality development is a complex mix of genetics, temperament, and interaction with the environment. Parental traits have a significant role in shaping personality through modeling, learning trust, mastering social skills, bolstering confidence, developing even and flexible coping skills, learning to make good decisions, and instilling social interest. This study has been designed to determine if there is a statistical correlation regarding specific (perceived) negative parenting traits, as identified by Millon's theory, contribute to the future development of antisocial, negativistic, paranoid, or schizotypal personality disorders in their offspring. Primary negative parenting traits that were explored included parental neglect, capricious and inconsistent parenting, harsh parenting, and cold detached parenting. It also explored if Adlerian democratic parenting traits influenced healthy personality development in their offspring. These children are nurtured by being taught how to make good choices as well as how to learn from their mistakes. In a joint effort with three other graduate students studying 10 other personality disorders (avoidant, borderline, dependent, depressive, histrionic, narcissist, masochist, obsessive-compulsive, sadistic, and schizoid), an instrument named the Perceived Parenting Style Inventory (PPSI) was developed. This instrument consists of 170 true or false questions based on Millon's and Adlerian theory. This instrument was designed to collected separate mother and father figure responses and was administered to a convenience sample of 330 participants jointly with the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III. With minor adjustments, PPSI scales for mother and father responses were statistically sound reflecting specific and reliable constructs with Cronbach's alpha internal consistencies of .70 or higher. Pearson correlations were run between the PPSI and MCMI-III scales. Overall Millon's theory of certain negative parenting traits that may contribute to the development of antisocial, negativistic, paranoid, and schizotypal personality traits, styles, or disorders was supported but not to the point of exclusion. The PPSI Negativistic scale based on capricious and inconsistent parenting obtained sound statistical results that supported Millon's theory. The results on the Antisocial, Paranoid, and Schizotypal scales obtained moderate correlations supporting Millon's theory but other scales obtained similar results. These findings were relatively consistent with other research and literature. This study also indicates that Adler's Democratic Parenting Style is a protective factor regarding personality pathology and may be helpful in promoting parenting programs to populations that are at significant risk i.e. parents with Axis I (depression, anxiety, or substance abuse) or Axis II (personality) disorders. |
