Predicting Early Maladaptive Schemas Using Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

BACKGROUND: Families play an essential role in maintaining children’s mental, social, and physical health. The family provides the first and the most important social context for human development. OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to predict early maladaptive schemas using Baumrind’s parenting styles (root development). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 357 undergraduate students of Islamic Azad University, Urmia Branch, Iran, were selected through random cluster sampling during 2013 and 2014. The students were assessed using the Schema Questionnaire-Short Form (SQ-SF) and the Baumrind’s parenting styles inventories. RESULTS: The result of regression analysis showed that Baumrind’s parenting styles are significant predictors of early maladaptive schemas (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The authoritative parenting style has some features such as showing high levels of warmth or encouraging kids to express their own possibly divergent opinions. The authoritarian parenting style, however, possesses traits such as heartlessness, impassiveness, strictness, and lack of attention to the children’s developmental needs, which is not acceptable.