Parentalidade, estilo de apego e saúde mental de pais e mães: uma integração ao modelo de processamento da informação social

Abstract

The social information processing model has been used to understand the factors that contribute to parental behavior with their children. Parents' mental health appears to moderate biases in stages of SIP, and attachment styles interfere with the quality of relationships throughout life. Attachment style, remembered bond with primary caregivers, and presence of psychiatric symptoms are expected to contribute to the adopted parenting practice. Based on this, the present study aimed to identify the relationships between attachment style, remembered parental bond, parenting style and practices, and psychiatric symptoms and how these constructs contribute to SIP. To this end, 135 fathers and mothers of children aged 2 to 11 years answered remotely a sociodemographic questionnaire; Revised Adult Attachment Scale; Parental Bonding Instrument, paternal version and maternal version; Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale; Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire; and Parenting Styles Inventory. Participants were between 28 and 54 years of age (M = 40.7 years, SD = 5.08), and the majority were female (80.7%). To test the hypotheses, at a significance level of p < 0.05, Pearson's bivariate correlation analyses, moderation and mediation analyses were performed. The Parental Bonding Instrument factors were assumed as moderators between attachment styles and parenting practices; and stress as a mediator of the relationship between attachment and parenting styles. Correlation analyses indicated some associations between bonding with primary caregivers and attachment styles; between bonding with primary caregivers and parenting styles; and between stress and parenting styles and practices. Among the moderation models tested, maternal and paternal care, as well as maternal and paternal control, were presented, in some way, as moderators of the relationship between the Revised Adult Attachment Scale factors and parenting practices. In mediation models, stress was shown to be a mediator in most relationships between attachment and parenting style. These results suggest that mental health, the bond built with one's own parents and the current attachment style impact parenting style and the choice of parenting practices adopted.