title: The influence of parenting on maladaptive cognitive schema: a cross-sectional research on a group of adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The literature emphasizes the role of early interpersonal experiences in the development of cognitive vulnerability; in particular, interruptions in early family relationships, parental unavailability and dysfunctional parenting are potential evolutionary precursors to negative cognitive style and emotional disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study measured the relationship of retrospective ratings on parental bonding with cognitive patterns in a group of Italian adults. The objectives of this study were as follows: to analyze the influence of age and education level on cognitive domains; to verify whether being parents and living at home with parents affect both parenting style and cognitive domains; to investigate how the type of the maternal and paternal parenting independently affects cognitive styles; to measure the predictive variables for the use of cognitive dysfunctional patterns and to investigate age as a moderating variable of the relation between parenting styles and cognitive domains in a group of adult men and women. The research involved 209 adults (118 males and 91 females) living in Sicily (Italy) aged between 20 and 60 years (M= 37.52; SD = 11.42). The research lasted for 1 year. The instruments used were the Parental Bonding Instrument to measure the perception of parenting during childhood and the Young Schema Questionnaire-3 to investigate cognitive patterns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data show that being a younger adult male with mother's parenting style characterized by a lower level of nurturance is predictive of the disconnection and rejection domain, whereas, being a younger adult woman, with a higher level of maternal control is predictive of the impaired limits domain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study underlines that because mothers and fathers establish different bonds with their children, care and control by both parents might impact different domains of development.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, "Kore" University of Enna, Enna, Sicily, Italy.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellerone
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, "Kore" University of Enna, Enna, Sicily, Italy.
authors.forename: Calogero
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Iacolino
authors.affiliation: Department of Jurisprudence, "LUMSA" University, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mannino
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive, Psychological, Pedagogical Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Study of Messina, Messina, Sicily, Italy.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Formica
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, "Kore" University of Enna, Enna, Sicily, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona Maria
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Zabbara
keywords: behavioral strategies; emotional responses; maladaptive cognitive domains; parenting