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Purpose: To study the determinants of current parenting styles in Japan. Methods: Fathers (n = 312) and mothers (n = 333) of children aged between 0 and 10 attending a paediatric clinic were evaluated with regards to the following: parental attitudes rated by spouses using the Parental Bonding Instrument, current dysphoric mood assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, life time history of Major Depressive Episode (MDE), and perceived parenting styles when the parents themselves were children. Results: Path models showed that current parenting styles were predicted by parents perception of maternal rearing during childhood. Moreover, in mothers only, they were predicted by the manner in which the women were raised by their fathers. This prediction was indirect, occurring via lifetime history of MDE and current dysphoric mood. Conclusion: This study suggests that the way in which parents themselves were raised was no less important than how they currently felt in determining how they were raising their child. Current dysphoric mood or lifetime history of MDE mediated such effects only among mothers.

In order to examine the intergenerational transmission of reported parenting styles (warmth and control) and their mediation by personality traits, a cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted of 396 fathers and 733 mothers of children from less tan 1 to 10 years of age. The participants used the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) to measure their own and their partner's current rearing styles as well as to assess their perception of the parenting they had received before age 16. Parents' personality traits were measured using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). in both fathers and mothers, the correlation of the grandparents' perceived parenting styles were correlated with the current parenting styles reported by parents themselves greater than with the current parenting styles reported by spouse. Thus, we speculated the shared observer bias and used the spouse-report for further analyses. In the fathers, (1) paternal Care was correlated with the grandmothers' Care and grandparents' low Overprotection; and paternal Overprotection was correlated with the grandfathers' Overprotection; (2) Novelty Seeking was correlated with the grandparents' Overprotection and low Care; Harm Avoidance was correlated with the grandparents' Overprotection; Reward Dependence, Self-directedness, and Co-operativeness were correlated with the grandparents' Care and low Overprotection; and Persistence was correlated with the grandparents' Care; (3) Overprotection was correlated with Harm Avoidance and low Self-directedness. In the mothers, (1) maternal Care was correlated with the grandmothers' Care; (2) Novelty Seeking was correlated with the grandmothers' low Care; Harm Avoidance was correlated with the grandfathers' low Care and the grandparents' Overprotection; Reward Dependence, Self-directedness, and Co-operativeness were correlated with the grandparents' Care and low Overprotection; and Self-transcendence was correlated with the grandfathers' Care; (3) maternal Care was correlated with Reward Dependence, Persistence, and Co-operativeness; and maternal Overprotection was correlated with low Self-directedness. The transmission of Overprotection of fathers and Care of mothers from the grandparent generations was found to be mediated by personality traits.

Background: The EASI Survey, a 20-item parent report, was one of the first instruments developed to measure children’s temperament. Methods: We performed an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the EASI items in a randomly halved population of Japanese fathers (n = 237) and mothers (n = 412) of children under four years of age. The factor structure was cross-validated by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Then, parents’ assessments of each temperament were regressed on the other parents’ assessments and then on a variety of intrapersonal and interpersonal variables related to the assessor parents. Results: An EFA yielded a two-factor structure but a four-factor structure according to the original report showed better fit with the data. The new four-factor model (excluding items with low factor loadings) showed in a CFA acceptable goodness-of-fit with the data. This four subscales showed moderate internal consistency. Parental assessment of the EASI subscales was explainable by the assessment rated by the other parent. After controlling it, parents with depression, anger, and less caring attitudes were more likely to rate their child’s Emotionality and Impulsivity higher than their partners. Conclusions: The EASI Survey may be applicable to a Japanese non-clinical child population.

To assess the effects of perceived rearing during childhood on adult trait anger and anger expression, we evaluated parents of young children attending paediatric clinics (N = 1118). Participants rated their trait anger level and anger expression styles using the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory and also rated the rearing patterns of their parents during childhood using the Parental Bonding Instrument. A structural equation model suggested that (1) Anger In and Anger Out were predicted by Trait Anger, while Anger Control was predicted by low Trait Anger; (2) Trait Anger was predicted by the affectionless control rearing style of participants’ fathers during childhood, but not by their mothers’ rearing styles; and (3) none of the anger expression scores were predicted directly by the perceived rearing of the participants’ parents. Results did not differ between male and female participants. Adult trait anger may be explained by people’s perception of their rearing during childhood.