THE EFFECT OF PARENTING FACTORS ON SHAME AND GUILT IN SINGAPOREAN PRE-SCHOOLERS

Abstract

Shame and guilt are self-conscious emotions developed through an understanding of moral contracts, moral reasoning and fairness (Kegan, 1982; Selman, 1980). These emotions emerge early in life and are associated with various forms of psychopathology (Luby et al., 2009). Recent evidence suggests that parental psychopathology and parenting style can predict shame and guilt in young children. This study explored the relationships between the aforementioned parental factors and shame and guilt in a community sample of 80 Singaporean pre-schoolers and their parents via online questionnaires. This study examined different aspects of children’s shame and guilt by distinguishing between maladaptive shame/guilt feelings and adaptive guilt reparations. It was hypothesised that authoritarian and permissive parenting, as well as parental depression and anxiety would predict shame/guilt feelings in pre-schoolers. It was also hypothesised that authoritative parenting would predict pre-schoolers guilt reparations. Further, parental psychopathology was hypothesised to moderate the relationship between parenting styles and children’s shame/guilt feelings and guilt reparations. Results indicated that mothers’ permissive parenting led to a decrease in children’s guilt reparations. Father’s depression was also found to amplify the negative impact of permissive parenting on children’s guilt reparations. The empirical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed. To our knowledge, this study is the first to include both mothers and fathers in examining the relationship between multiple parental factors and shame and guilt in Singaporean pre-schoolers.