Father-daughter and mother-son relationships: Parental bonding behaviours and socially prescribed perfectionism in young adults

Theory and research suggest that parental bonding behaviours (i.e., overprotection and care) are important predictors of socially prescribed perfectionism. However, despite evidence suggesting that maternal and paternal behaviours may differ in their effects on children's development and their mental health outcomes, no studies thus far have investigated whether maternal and paternal bonding behaviours differentially influence socially prescribed perfectionism in sons and daughters. Therefore, we investigated the extent to which maternal and paternal overprotection and care predicted socially prescribed perfectionism in young men and women. A total of 456 undergraduate students (228 men and 228 women) completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and Parental Bonding Instrument for both parents. After controlling for self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism, results from hierarchical regression analyses indicated that women's levels of socially prescribed perfectionism were positively predicted by perceived paternal overprotection and negatively predicted by paternal care, but not perceived maternal overprotection or care. In contrast, men's levels of socially prescribed perfectionism were positively predicted by perceived maternal overprotection and negatively predicted by maternal care, but not perceived paternal overprotection or care. This study contributes to the existing perfectionism literature by highlighting possible gender-specific parental behaviours in the development of perfectionism.