Retrospective Reports of Perceived ‘Guan’ Parenting: Relationships to Adult Attachment Styles, Emotion Regulation, and Self-Esteem

Abstract

To determine how parental guan is related to social-emotional development in adulthood and how demographic controls might influence the prediction of parental guan on social-emotional development, 176 adults completed a series of questionnaires. We expected that both maternal and paternal guan would be positively related to secure attachment in adulthood, emotion regulation, self-esteem, and social self-esteem, but negatively related to avoidance and anxious attachment in adulthood. Pearson correlations largely supported these expectations. Moreover, the results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that paternal guan was positively related to self-esteem but negatively related to anxious attachment in adulthood. Maternal guan, on the other hand, significantly predicted emotion regulation. Both maternal and paternal guan were significantly related to secure adult attachment and social self-esteem. Age, gender, and family structure contributed additional variance in some variables. We discuss our results in terms of the protective role of guan parenting in a child’s life.

Keywords:

• Adult attachment
• emotion regulation
• guan parenting
• self-esteem
• social self-esteem

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chin-Siang Ang

Chin-Siang Ang is a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Academic Director of Academic Division at TMC Academy, Singapore. His research involves the disciplines of developmental psychology and positive psychology. His research deals with the psychosocial determinants that influence adolescents and young adults’ development and well-being.

Alison Bao-Jin Sin

Alison Bao-Jin Sin obtained her Bachelor’s Degree (Hons) in Psychology from The University of Northampton. She is very keen to apply her gained knowledge into practice. Her area of interest in research includes parenting and the study of human development.