The Effect of Parenting Styles on Adult Self-Handicapping: The Mediating Role of Adult Attachment Styles

Key Points

• Investigate how different parenting styles influence self-handicapping behaviors through adult attachment styles.
• Used the Shortened Brief Parenting Style Scale (S-EMBU-C) to assess parenting styles.
• Administered the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) to evaluate attachment styles.
• Employed the Self-Handicapping Scale (SHS) to measure self-handicapping in 229 adults.
• Self-handicapping scores are significantly higher in the 18-30 age group compared to older age groups.
• Self-handicapping shows a significant positive correlation with rejection, overprotection, intimacy, dependence, and anxiety, and a negative correlation with emotional warmth.
• Rejection accounts for 32.5% of the variance in self-handicapping; anxiety accounts for 29.2%.
• Adult attachment styles partially mediate the relationship between parenting styles and self-handicapping, explaining 31.91% of the total effect.