Date
5-16-2024
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)
Chair
Laura Rolen
Keywords
authoritarian, authoritative, childhood trauma, neglectful, parenting style, permissive
Disciplines
Psychology
Recommended Citation
Soulsby, Alita M., "Parenting Styles of Biological Parents with and without a History of Childhood Trauma" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5565.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5565
Abstract
This paper details a survey examining the impact of childhood trauma on the future parenting style of biological parents. This study included 65 parents (58 Mothers, 7 Fathers) with (n=27) and without (n=38) a history of childhood trauma. Parents were surveyed using the Parental Style Measure (Kim, Zang, & Lee, 2015) and the Early Trauma Inventory-Self-Report- Short Form (Bremner 2007) to determine parenting style and whether the participant had a history of childhood trauma. Also, parents were asked to report the number of years from the resolution of the trauma until the commencement of parenting to determine if the demonstrated parenting style was impacted by the length of time. The data showed that parents with a history of emotional childhood trauma were significantly less likely to utilize authoritative parenting. Additional analysis revealed that the longer the length of time from the resolution of the trauma until the commencement of parenting, the greater the likelihood that the participant would use authoritative parenting. These results emphasize the vast impact that trauma can have on an individual’s life, but the hope that comes from healing and time.
