Musso,
Giovanna (5/08) The parental bond and adverse childhood experiences as
predictors of maladaptive personality traits in adulthood (Nicholas Papouchis, Ph.D.;
Lisa Samstag, Ph.D.; David Castro Blanco, Ph.D.)
The present study examined the
contribution of an inadequate parental bond and adverse childhood experiences
as predictors of maladaptive personality traits in a non-clinical college
population consisting of 187 student-participants and 126 of their parents. All
measures were self-report questionnaires: the Wisconsin Personality Disorders
Inventory measures personality traits from the 11 personality disorders on a
dimensional scale; the Parental Bonding Instrument measures two factors of the
parental bond, namely care and overprotection; and the Childhood Trauma
Questionnaire measures trauma of different types, such as emotional neglect,
emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. Hierarchical multiple
regression analyses were conducted to test the major hypothesis. Results
indicated that an inadequate parental bond and the childhood trauma factors
were indeed statistically predictive of personality traits in all three
clusters (A, B, and C) as well as a total personality score; after controlling
for covariates, these results were modest. Emotional abuse emerged as the only significant
independent predictor of these personality traits. Correlational analyses
showed that both perspectives of the parental bond--student-participant reports
and parent-participant reports--were significantly consistent. A significant
relationship was also found between a total childhood trauma score and each of
the three personality clusters. These results are discussed in relation to
relevant theoretical and empirical literature and other exploratory analyses
are presented. Given some of the modest results, other possible contributors to
personality dysfunction are explored and recommendations for future research
provided.
