Parenting Styles and Moral Disengagement in Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Attachment Experiences

Abstract

Research on parenting styles and attachment experiences has paid little attention to the dimensions of moral development. It is, therefore, interesting to explore the relationship between parenting styles, internal working models of attachment, and the development of moral skills, in terms of moral disengagement. The study involved 307 young people (aged 19-25 years), and the dimensions examined were: parental styles (measured by the PSDQ: Tagliabue et al., 2014); attachment styles (ECR: Picardi et al., 2002); moral disengagement (MDS: Caprara et al., 2006). Results showed that the authoritative parenting style is negatively correlated with the two measures of attachment styles (anxiety and avoidance) and moral disengagement. The authoritarian and permissive styles are positively correlated with the two measures of attachment styles (anxiety and avoidance) and moral disengagement. Results also revealed a significant indirect effect of the authoritative style (b = −0.433, 95% BCa, CI [−0.882, −0.090]) and authoritarian style (b = −0.661, 95% BCa, CI [.230, 1.21]) on moral disengagement through anxiety. A serial mediation of anxiety and avoidance on the relationship between permissive style and moral disengagement (b = .077, 95% BCa, CI [.0006, .206]) is significant.

Keywords:

• Attachment
• moral disengagement
• parenting style
• young adults

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Lorenza Di Pentima

Lorenza Di Pentima, Assistant Professor of Developmental and Education Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Social Sciences and Economics. Doctor in Clinical Psychology and Phd in Social Psychology by Sapienza University of Rome. Full member of Italian Association of Psychology from 2003. Research interests are: attachment framework, prejudice and interethnic relationships in childhood and adolescence age, normal and pathological roots of development, in particular in the field of eating disorders, the impact of child abuse and maltreatment in terms of locus of control and conduct disorders, moral development, moral disengagement and bullying.

Alessandro Toni

Alessandro Toni, Assistant Professor of Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Social Sciences and Economics. Doctor in Clinical Psychology. His research interests include social and developmental psychology, attachment theory, cognitive processes, leadership, interpersonal communication processes, locus of control, prejudice and interethnic, information processing, attributional styles, moral disengagement, emotions and alexithymia.

Antonio Roazzi

Antonio Roazzi (D.Phil Oxon), Full Professor of the Graduate Program in Cognitive Psychology, Federal University of Pernambuco. Doctor (D. Phil.) In Psychology of Cognitive Development by the University of Oxford obtained in 1988 under the guidance of Prof. Peter E. Bryant (supervisor) and Prof. Donald Broadbent (Adviser). He also holds a degree in ‘Dottore’ in Applied Psychology from the Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’. He has been visiting professor at the University of London, University of Oxford, Istituto di Scienze and Tecnologie della Cognizione, ISTC (Rome, Italy), and Universitá degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’. He was a member of CAPES, ENEM, and FACEPE Evaluation Committees. Full Member (2000-2002) and Coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Psychology of CNPq (CA-PS, 2011-2012). His research interests have been based on Facet Theory and its multidimensional approaches to explore methods and techniques of knowledge production that allow them to generate valuable knowledge for the prediction and/or control of complex phenomena. Lately, he has been working mainly on the following topics: self-awareness and expanded states of consciousness, attachment, mental logic, nudging and decision-making, theory of mind, risk perception, urban violence, and the environmental component, highlighting the cognitive, social, and imagery processes of its inhabitants, between others. He was President of the Brazilian Society of Developmental Psychology (2002-2004) and Facet Theory Association (2011-2013). He is a full researcher at Level 1A at CNPq (The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development).