Developmental Antecedents of Proactive and Reactive Rebelliousness: The Role of Parenting Style, Childhood Adversity, and Attachment

Article


Mcdermott, M. and Barik, N. 2014. Developmental Antecedents of Proactive and Reactive Rebelliousness: The Role of Parenting Style, Childhood Adversity, and Attachment. Journal of Motivation, Emotion, and Personality: Reversal Theory Studies. 2 (1), pp. 22-31. https://doi.org/10.12689/jmep.2014.203
AuthorsMcdermott, M. and Barik, N.
Abstract

Adolescence is a time of developmental transition that for one in five young people is characterised by feelings of oppositionality, rebellion, and negativism. Despite the prevalent experience of teen turbulence and despite its significance within the phenomenological framework provided by reversal theory (RT), the childhood antecedents of rebelliousness in adolescence and adulthood have not been given extensive empirical attention within RT, although such work has been carried out using other constructs and theories. We examined recalled parenting style, childhood adversity, and attachment style in adulthood as correlates of proactive and reactive rebelliousness in a sample of 80 participants, aged 18 to 50 years. Each participant responded to a questionnaire package containing the revised Adult Attachment Scale, the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire, and the Negativism Dominance Scale. We found that paternal abusive parenting, followed by paternal parenting style, paternal neglect, and paternal antipathy were independently predictive of scores on proactive rebelliousness, the sensation-seeking form. Maternal and paternal indifferent parenting styles each were found to equivalently and independently predict scores on reactive rebelliousness, the interpersonal disaffection form. The results of this study suggest these two forms of rebelliousness may have distinctly different antecedents. A longitudinal study is needed to examine the potentially causal pathways that are suggested by the results of this cross-sectional research. We consider reversal theory explanations of these results and contrast them with complementary theoretical frameworks.

Keywordsrebelliousness; parenting style; childhood adversity
JournalJournal of Motivation, Emotion, and Personality: Reversal Theory Studies
Journal citation2 (1), pp. 22-31
ISSN2331-2343
Year2014
PublisherReversal Theory Studies
Publisher's version
License
CC BY-ND
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.12689/jmep.2014.203
Publication dates
Print27 Jan 2014
Publication process dates
Deposited04 Feb 2014
Copyright information© The authors. Issued under Creative Commons CC BY-ND-3.0 licence.
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