Relationship of Parenting Styles and Offspring's Perceived Childhood Traumas with their Attachment Styles in Adulthood

Various studies on attachment show that child-caregiver interaction and caregiver’s reaction to child have momentous role in formation of child’s attachment. The aim of this study was to explain the intergenerational transmission cycle of attachment styles. In this regard the effect of parenting styles and childhood traumas on children’s attachment styles was investigated. This study is an ex post facto with causal design, and 175 Iranian available students were selected from Kharazmi University, Tehran University and Alborz University of Medical Sciences. Participants completed the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and the Adult Attachment Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by ANOVA, mediation analysis, and path analysis. The results indicated that different parenting styles lead to different attachment styles in children. Our results supported the relationship between parent’s care and over-protection factors with avoidance index of attachment, while no significant relationship was observed between these two factors with anxiety index. Moreover, perceived emotional abuse had a mediator roll in the relationship between parenting components and avoidance index of attachment. Finally, we achieved a model of simultaneous effects of two care and control factors on avoidance index, which is mediated by the perceived childhood trauma.