Empathy, authoritarianism, and aggression in men related to 'good enough parenting' and child abuse in the family of origin: A structural equation modeling approach

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in a study of men in an attempt to seek evidence on aspects of Heinz Kohut's Self Psychology relating to "good enough" parenting (GEP). In the hypothesized model, GEP incorporated three scales of supportive parenting behaviors from the Exposure to Abusive and Supportive Experiences-Parenting Inventory (EASE-PI) to represent "mirroring" and "idealizing" needs. Child abuse was measured by three abuse scales of the EASE-PI: exposure to emotional, physical, and sexual abusiveness. Interparental aggression was measured by the Conflict Tactics Scale. GEP predicted empathy, empathy predicted authoritarianism, and aggression, both negatively related to empathy. Retrospectively reported exposure to emotional abusiveness predicted aggression. Fathers were perceived as more abusive than mothers. Aspects of Self Psychology were generally supported, with the exception of failure to find hypothesized relationship with authoritarianism. Stressed were the importance of positive parenting variables in prediction of empathy and the importance of emotional abusiveness in prediction of aggression. There are implications for the systematic study of therapeutic approaches based on a Kohutian paradigm.