Perfectionism and parenting: The relationships of perceived parenting style of parent, attachment, parent status, and gender to parental perfectionism

This study was an initial attempt to integrate and extend existing research in the areas of attachment and parenting styles using the less studied construct of parental perfectionism. A total of 644 students enrolled in general psychology courses at a Midwestern University participated in this study. Multiple regression analyses and multivariate analyses of variance was performed to investigate the relationships of perceived parenting style of parent, attachment, parent status, and gender to parental perfectionism. Results indicated that both perceived parenting style of parent and attachment with parent was significantly associated with the four dimensions of parenting perfectionism. Also, gender appears to be a significant variable in parenting perfectionism, with males demonstrating greater levels in three of the four dimensions. Finally, results did not show parenting status to be significantly related to parenting perfectionism. Based upon examination of these results, gender differences are present in parenting perfectionism and parenting behaviors appear to contribute to this type of perfectionism in young adults.