Psychological Development and Education ›› 2019, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (4): 411-420.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2019.04.04

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Parental Adult Attachment, Compassion, and Parent-child Relationship Quality: Actor-partner Interdependence Modeling

LAI Xiaolu1, JIANG Yongqiang2, LIU Xuelan1, LI Li1, ZHANG Xiaoying3, ZHANG Caixia1   

  1. 1. School of Psychology/Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631;
    2. Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875;
    3. Humen Foreign Language School, Dongguan 523900
  • Published:2019-08-28

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Abstract: The present study aimed to examine the associations between parental adult attachment and parent-child relationship quality, and further to explore the mediating role of compassion. A convenience sampling method was used to investigate the parents of Grade 2~5 students in a primary school in Guangdong Province. 534 pairs of parents self-reported their adult attachment, compassion, and relationship quality with their child. Data was analyzed by the Actor-Partner Interdependent Model. Results revealed that:(1) both attachment anxiety and avoidance had significant negative actor effect on parent-child relationship quality, but no partner effect; (2) parents' own compassion mediated own actor effects; (3) mothers' compassion had the suppressing effects in the relationship between maternal attachment avoidance and father-child relationship. (4) mothers' compassion mediated the association between the maternal attachment anxiety and father-child relationship. Our results contribute to understand how parental adult attachment impacts parent-child relationship quality from the dyadic interactions. Moreover, the findings indicate that to improve the quality of parent-child relationship, intervention programs can aim at promoting parents' compassion.

Key words: parents, adult Attachment, parent-child relationship quality, compassion, actor-partner interdependence model

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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