Parental practices predict psychological well-being in midlife: life-course associations among women in the 1946 British birth cohort

Abstract

Background: Certain parenting styles are influential in the emergence of later mental health problems, but less is known about the relationship between parenting style and later psychological well-being. Our aim was to examine the association between well-being in midlife and parental behaviour during childhood and adolescence, and the role of personality as a possible mediator of this relationship.

Method: Data from 984 women in the 1946 British birth cohort study were analysed using structural equation modelling. Psychological well-being was assessed at age 52 years using Ryff's scales of psychological well-being. Parenting practices were recollected at age 43 years using the Parental Bonding Instrument. Extraversion and neuroticism were assessed at age 26 years using the Maudsley Personality Inventory.

Results: In this sample, three parenting style factors were identified: care; non-engagement; control. Higher levels of parental care were associated with higher psychological well-being, while higher parental non-engagement or control were associated with lower levels of psychological well-being. The effects of care and non-engagement were largely mediated by the offspring's personality, whereas control had direct effects on psychological well-being. The psychological well-being of adult women was at least as strongly linked to the parenting style of their fathers as to that of their mothers, particularly in relation to the adverse effects of non-engagement and control.

Conclusions: This study used a prospective longitudinal design to examine the effects of parenting practices on psychological well-being in midlife. The effects of parenting, both positive and negative, persisted well into mid-adulthood.

Fig. 1

Conceptual path diagram of associations between parenting style, personality and psychological well-being. Structural equation model showing latent variables for scores on the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI – maternal or paternal care, non-engagement and control), personality (extraversion and neuroticism) and Ryff’s Psychological Well-being (RPWB) Scale. Each RPWB dimension is associated with nine paths : three direct (—) (one for each of care, non-engagement, control); three indirect (- - -) via extraversion; three indirect via neuroticism. Correlations between the three PBI factors and between the six PWB factors are not displayed due to model complexity. Method factors for RPWB item wording are also not shown. See Abbott et al. (2006, fig. 1) for a complete representation of the RPWB measurement model used here. Two separate models were used, one for maternal parenting style and one for paternal parenting style.

Fig. 2

Plots of standardized structural coefficients. Bars represent the absolute value of the total effect (■, direct; , indirect).