Perceived Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Children's Reported Behavioral Dispositions

Abstract

Drawing from a sample of 316 American and 174 Mexican children in the U.S.A. and in Mexico respectively, the hypothesis was supported that perceived parental acceptance-rejection among 8- to 15-year old school children in Mexico and the U.S.A. was generally related-as predicted by parental acceptance-rejection theory-to a specific constellation of reported behavioral dispositions. Perceived composite rejection was associated with approximately 46% of the variance in American children's self-reported behavioral dispositions, as measured on the Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ); perceived composite rejection was associated with 41% of the variance in Mexican children's self-reported behavioral dispositions as assessed by the PAQ. Supportive evidence was also brought to bear on the postulate within parental acceptance-rejection theory that perceived parental acceptance-rejection and "culture" do not interact appreciably to produce differences in children's reports of their behavioral dispositions in different cultural settings.