Comparison of Marital Satisfaction, Parenting Styles and Attachment Styles in Parents of Children with and without Nail Biting

Nail biting is a common behavior in children that may be connected to some environmental factors like parental problems or parenting styles. The purpose of this study was to compare marital satisfaction, parenting style, and attachment style in parents of children with and without nail biting. 

This research was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The population consisted of all pre-school and primary school students with nail biting behaviors in Shiraz in 2015. To select a sample (284 parents), 10 schools were selected from each area of Shiraz by cluster sampling and then 40 pre-school and primary school students were selected from each school by convenience sampling. Afterwards, their parents were asked to complete ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale (Olson, 1989), Baumrind's Parenting Styles Questionnaire (Baumrind, 1972), and Revised Adult Attachment Scale (Collins & Read, 1996). Data were analyzed by T-tests and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) by using SPSS Version 24 Software.

Results demonstrated that there was no significant difference between mothers of the nail biting and control groups in terms of marital satisfaction, parenting style, and attachment style at P>0.05. Also, no such a difference was found between the fathers.

Based on the results of this study, it can be suggested that nail biting behavior may be directly or indirectly influenced by some variables that deserve further investigations.