Relationships between Parental Socialization Styles, Empathy and Connectedness with Nature: Their Implications in Environmentalism

Interconnected health: A concept analysis of planetary empathy for healthcare professionals

BACKGROUND

Planetary Health emphasizes the interconnectedness of human health and the natural environment. Despite this, human-induced destruction of ecosystems threatens planetary stability. Understanding planetary empathy may offer insights into how healthcare professionals can better live and work with nature.

PURPOSE

This paper presents a concept analysis of planetary empathy, exploring its impact on healthcare and the roles of healthcare professionals.

METHODS

The Walker and Avant eight-stage approach for concept analysis informed this paper. Data were obtained from literature searches, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and relevant international organization websites.

DISCUSSION

Planetary empathy is a cyclical process involving reflection, reciprocal relationships with nature, recognition of biases, responsibility for future generations, and behavioral responses to protect planetary health.

CONCLUSION

Planetary empathy catalyzes prosocial environmental behaviors. Healthcare professionals who embody this empathy are more likely to be engaged in creating a healthier, more equitable world for all people and ecosystems.

Factors that determine the connectedness with nature in rural and urban contexts

Connectedness with nature is considered a key element for the future of conservation. There are both internal and external factors that determine the levels of connectedness with nature. Among these factors are gender, age, knowledge about the environment and place of residence. In the latter case, there may be differences in how urban and rural dwellers perceive nature, based on their experiences and contact with it. The main objective of this research is to evaluate and establish the factors that influence and determine the levels of connection with nature, examining how these factors relate and interact with each other, taking the urban and rural context as starting point. The ABC-CNS scale, which addresses the affective, behavioural and cognitive aspects of the connection with nature, was applied via online questionnaire to a sample of university students from two countries, Spain (496 students) and Ecuador (872 students), who were also clustered according to career, age, gender, and place of residence. The results obtained through four General Linear Mixed Models (ABC-CNS and its dimensions as response variables) and LSD test, demonstrated that the ABC-CNS scale presented significant differences for all the variables analyzed (place of residence, gender, age, and career), also demonstrating which levels influence and interact in higher ABC-CNS values. Finally, the study concludes that the analyzed factors contribute to the development of the connection with nature. In the case of place of residence, attention should be given to the specific settings of the environments under study.

The Founder: Dispositional Greed, Showbiz, and the Commercial Determinants of Health

Marketing unhealthy products by multinational corporations has caused considerable harm to individual health, collective wellbeing, and environmental sustainability. This is a growing threat to all societies and a significant contributor to the rising global burden of non-communicable diseases and early mortality. While there is growing consideration of the commercial determinants of health, this is largely focused on the methods by which unhealthy products are marketed and disseminated, including efforts to manipulate policy. Little attention has been paid to the underlying psychological traits and worldviews that are driving corporate greed. Here, we consider the role of "dispositional greed" in the commercial determinants of health with a focus on the historical attitudes and culture in the ultra-processed food industry-exemplified by "The Founder" of the McDonald's franchise. We argue that greed and associated psychological constructs, such as social dominance orientation and collective narcissism, permeate the commercial determinants of health at a collective level. This includes how a culture of greed within organizations, and individual dispositional greed, can magnify and cluster at scale, perpetuated by social dominance orientation. We also consider the ways in which "showbiz" marketing specifically targets marginalized populations and vulnerable groups, including children-in ways that are justified, or even celebrated despite clear links to non-communicable diseases and increased mortality. Finally, we consider how greed and exploitative mindsets mirror cultural values and priorities, with trends for increasing collective narcissism at scale, recognizing that many of these attitudes are cultivated in early life. A healthier future will depend on navigating a path that balances material prosperity with physical and spiritual wellbeing. This will require cultural change that places higher value on kindness, reciprocity, and mutualistic values especially in early life, for more equitable flourishing.

Analyzing when parental warmth but without parental strictness leads to more adolescent empathy and self-concept: Evidence from Spanish homes

Introduction

Classical research mainly conducted with European-American families has identified the combination of warmth and strictness (authoritative style) as the parenting always associated with the highest scores on developmental outcomes. Additionally, despite the benefits of empathy for prosocial behaviors and protection against antisocial behaviors, most research has considered the contribution of specific practices (e.g., reasoning or power assertion), but not so much the parenting styles. Similarly, family studies tend to study the relationship between parenting and global self-perceptions (self-esteem), but not so much those of each dimension (self-concept).

Methods

In the present study, 600 Spanish adolescents from 12 to 17 years old (M = 15.25, SD = 2.01) were classified within one of the four household typologies (i.e., authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, or neglectful). Adolescent developmental outcomes were cognitive empathy (adopting perspectives and emotional understanding), emotional empathy (empathic stress and empathic happiness), and self-concept (academic, social, emotional, family and physical).

Results

The results showed that the indulgent parenting (warmth but not strictness) was related to equal or even better empathy and self-concept than the authoritative style (warmth and strictness), whereas non-warm parenting (authoritarian and neglectful) was consistently associated with poor results.

Discussion

Overall, the present findings seriously question that parental strictness combined with parental warmth (authoritative style) is always the parenting style related to the greatest outcomes. By contrast, it seems that reasoning, warmth and involvement, without strictness (indulgent parenting) help adolescents to achieve a good orientation toward others in terms of cognitive and affective empathy and a good self-evaluation in terms of self-concept.

Family types and parenting styles for infants in Khon Kaen province

BACKGROUND

The care of infants during their first six months is a significant matter. As there have been shifts in social and economic conditions, families are diverging into several forms. This study aimed to explore parenting styles for infants and the relation between parenting styles for infants and family types.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

This study was a cross-sectional study, focusing on the main caregivers of approximately six-month-old infants. The data was collected from February to July 2021. The research tool employed was an interview form. The collected data was then analyzed.

RESULTS

Two hundred sixty-four families of primary caregivers were included in the study. The family type most frequently found was the skipped generation family, accounting for 119 families (45%). All family types mostly practiced the uninvolved parenting style as the parenting style for infants. Regarding response to infants, most families practiced the permissive parenting style. When investigating relations between parenting style for infants and family type, it was found that skipped generation family caregivers practiced a less authoritative parenting style than the nuclear family, including holding family activities with the infant (0.16, 95%CI: 0.05-0.47); when the infant raises their voice to communicate (0.32, 95%CI: 0.14-0.71); training the infant to roll over (0.21, 95%CI: 0.06-0.69); when the infant cries (0.16, 95%CI: 0.05-0.47); and when the infant does not respond (0.19, 95%, CI: 0.05-0.74).

CONCLUSION

The most practiced parenting style for infants among all the three family types was the uninvolved parenting style. Regarding the response to infants, the permissive parenting style was mostly observed.

Progressing towards Global Citizenship and a Sustainable Nation: Pillars of Climate Change Education and Actions

This systematic review article focuses on the elements of climate change that have been used to create climate change awareness and hence inculcate sustainable literacy among secondary school students as well as actions that have been undertaken to nourish students’ global competencies on climate change. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was adapted for the review of the current research, which utilised two main databases, namely, Scopus and Web of Science. The findings indicate that 35 articles were successfully selected, and were subsequently critically and systematically analysed. The review has successfully formulated three main themes that were commonly used to create climate change awareness among schoolchildren: effects of climate change, factors affecting climate change, and mitigation plans in handling climate change issues. The review has also revealed four major themes and actions that have been used as platforms towards instilling global competencies towards climate actions; indeed, the findings of this systematic review will provide meaningful information, especially to educators as well as decision-makers in developing more effective, efficient, and sustainable strategies that will shape future globally competent citizens in mitigating and adapting climate change issues and problems.

Beyond Parenting Socialization Years: The Relationship between Parenting Dimensions and Grandparenting Functioning

Parental socialization has been studied mainly when is in process, but less is known about its long-term impact on older adults, particularly on one of the most important developmental tasks in later life: being a grandparent. Participants were 313 Spanish grandparents. The present study examined the relationship between parenting and its impacts in the long term, when the child is a grandparent. The variables examined were parenting (parental warmth and parental strictness) and grandparenting functioning (satisfaction with life, meaning of life, parent–adult child relationship quality, emotional closeness with grandchildren, and role overload). The statistical analyses were a correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analyses. A constant pattern between parenting and grandparenting functioning has been found. Warmth was positively associated with grandparenting functioning, as opposed to strictness, which did not show benefits for grandparents and even showed a significant negative relationship with an indicator of grandparenting functioning. Present findings highlight that, during the socialization years, greater parental warmth but not parental strictness might be of benefit for children at the end of their life (i.e., when they are grandparents) but also for their descendants because they have a better relationship with the two following generations (i.e., adult children and grandchildren).

The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders

Parenting styles are considered to have an important influence on the development of individuals and have been associated with empathy. The present study aimed to investigate the self-reported different parenting styles in childhood and adolescence and associated cognitive and affective empathy among offenders. Men incarcerated in prison in Jiangsu Province in China were invited to participate. Each consenting participant was asked to complete the Parental Bonding Instrument to collect information regarding the parenting styles they experienced in childhood and adolescence and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to evaluate their empathy. A multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted to explore the associations between different parenting styles and the empathy of offenders, and a one-way multivariate analysis of variance and a t-test were used to explore the differences in cognitive and affective empathy with different degrees of parenting styles. The parental care and control factors in childhood and adolescence were significantly more strongly associated with empathy among offenders than the parental encouragement factor. There were different associations between the parental care and control factors and offenders' empathy depending on whether the parenting styles were consistent or inconsistent. When the parenting styles were consistent, different degrees of parental care had a significant predictive effect on cognitive and affective empathy, while different degrees of parental control were only significantly associated with affective empathy among the offenders. When the parenting styles were inconsistent, different degrees of paternal and maternal control were associated with cognitive and affective empathy among the offenders. Our findings suggest that not only different parenting styles experienced in childhood and adolescence had different predictive effects on empathy among offenders but also the degrees of parenting styles and whether the paternal and maternal parenting styles were consistent or inconsistent may affect the patterns of parenting styles and empathy. Moreover, the parental control factor had a particular influence on empathy among the offenders. Our findings underscore the pressing need for adopting preventive monitoring measures or developing policies to improve parenting styles.

Protective and Risk Factors for Adolescent Substance Use in Spain: Self-Esteem and Other Indicators of Personal Well-Being and Ill-Being

Although self-esteem has traditionally been considered as an important correlate of psychosocial adjustment, some empirical studies have found a positive relationship between some domains of self-esteem and drug use among adolescents. The present study analyzes self-esteem and other adjustment personal indicators as protective or risk factors for substance use. Participants were 644 Spanish adolescents aged 12–17 years. Substance use (cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs), multidimensional self-esteem (academic, social, emotional, family, and physical), and other indicators of adolescents’ well-being and ill-being (psychological problems, behavior problems, and parenting) were measured. We observed, on the one hand, that substance use had a significant negative relationship with academic, family, and physical self-esteem. On the other hand, we also observed a significant positive relationship between drug use and social self-esteem. However, this significant relationship disappeared after statistically controlling for sex and age, using both partial correlation analyses and covariance analysis. Interestingly, beyond the importance of each factor related to drugs, prevention science should first of all be able to identify whether the main psychological variables (e.g., social or physical self-esteem) are risk or protective factors for drug use.

Parental Socialization and Its Impact across the Lifespan

Classical studies have found that parental warmth combined with parental strictness is the best parental strategy to promote children's psychosocial development. Nevertheless, a growing set of emergent studies has questioned the benefits of parental strictness. The present study examined parental socialization and its short- and long-term impact on the psychosocial development of adolescents and adult children. The sample consisted of 2150 Spanish participants, 623 adolescents (12-18 years), 619 young adults (19-35 years), 502 middle-aged adults (35-59 years), and 406 older adults (60 years or older). Families were classified into one of four typologies (indulgent, authoritative, authoritarian, and neglectful). Psychosocial development was examined with five indicators (physical and family self-concept, nervousness, empathy, and internalization of social values of benevolence). The results show a common short- and long-term pattern between parenting styles and psychosocial development: the indulgent style equaled or even surpassed the authoritative style, whereas the neglectful and authoritarian styles were associated with low scores. The present findings were discussed by considering the importance of the cultural context in family socialization. Additionally, the long-term impact of parental socialization seems to be crucial, even in adulthood.

Self and Nature: Parental Socialization, Self-Esteem, and Environmental Values in Spanish Adolescents

Emergent research seriously questions the use of parental strictness as the best parenting strategy in all cultural contexts. Moreover, previous research on environmental socialization offers inconsistent findings about which specific parenting practices would be the most appropriate for environmental socialization. The present paper aims to examine parents' contribution (i.e., authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, and neglectful) to adolescents' self-esteem and internalization of environmental values. Participants were 308 Spanish adolescents with 171 females (55.5%), between 12 and 17 years old. The four parenting styles were defined using measures of parental warmth and strictness. Self-esteem was captured with global and multidimensional measures. Internalization of environmental values was evaluated by measuring the priority given to biospheric values. Results revealed a consistent pattern between parenting styles and adolescent self-esteem and internalization of environmental values. Overall, adolescents from homes characterized by parental warmth (i.e., indulgent and authoritative) have higher self-esteem and greater internalization of environmental values than their counterparts. These findings clearly contrast with those obtained in other cultural contexts where parental strictness is essential in achieving well-adjusted children with optimal psychosocial development.

Parenting Styles, Internalization of Values and Self-Esteem: A Cross-Cultural Study in Spain, Portugal and Brazil

The present study analyzes the impact of parenting styles on adolescents' self-esteem and internalization of social values in three countries, Spain, Portugal and Brazil. The sample of the study was comprised of 2091 adolescents from Spain (n = 793), Portugal (n = 675), and Brazil (n = 623) from 12-18 years old (52.1% females). The four types of parenting styles, authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian and neglectful, were measured through the warmth and strictness dimensions of the Scale of Parental Socialization ESPA29. The two criteria variables were captured with the five dimensions of the AF5, Five-Factor Self-Concept Questionnaire, and with self-transcendence and conservation Schwartz values. Results confirm emergent research in parenting socialization: the use of parental warmth is evidenced as key for adolescent self-esteem and internalization of social values in the three countries analyzed. Indulgent and authoritative parenting (both characterized by parental warmth) are associated with the highest value internalization in the three countries. Furthermore, indulgent parenting (use of warmth) is associated with the highest adolescent self-esteem, overcoming authoritative parenting (use of warmth and strictness). The influence of parenting over adolescent self-esteem and values internalization is maintained independent of the differences in self-esteem and value priorities observed in the cultural context, the sex and age of the participants.

Parental Socialization, Social Anxiety, and School Victimization: A Mediation Model

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parenting dimensions (involvement/acceptance vs. strictness/imposition) and school victimization, considering the possible mediating role of social anxiety. The sample comprised 887 adolescents (52.3% girls) aged between 12 and 16 (M = 13.84 and SD = 1.22) enrolled at three compulsory secondary education ("ESO" or "Educación Secundaria Obligatoria" in Spanish) schools located in the provinces of Valencia, Teruel and Seville (Spain). A structural equations model was developed using the Mplus 7.4 program. The results obtained indicate that social anxiety mediates the relationship between parenting dimensions (involvement/acceptance vs. strictness/imposition) and school victimization. Finally, the results and their potential theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Effects of Parenting Styles on Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Stress in Spanish Adolescents

Research has repeatedly highlighted the important influence of parental socialization styles on children's psychosocial adjustment. However, previous studies about their effects on school adjustment have traditionally addressed a limited set of indicators, such as academic achievement or self-concept, which should be broadened in order to increase our level of knowledge about this topic. Thus, the aim of the present study was to analyze the relationships between parenting styles and other relevant school adjustment criteria (self-regulated learning and academic stress) in adolescence. The study participants were 437 Spanish adolescents (44.7% men) from 12 to 18 years old (M = 14.55, SD = 1.80) who were enrolled in high school. A multivariate factorial design (parenting × sex × educational level) was used for each set of criteria. The results are consistent with previous research, showing that the indulgent style was related to better school adjustment during adolescence, evaluated through self-regulated learning and academic stress, thus increasing the available evidence about the influence of parenting styles in this setting. Additionally, this relationship remains invariant with regard to sex and the educational level of the participants in the study. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of parenting practices related to high acceptance/involvement for the adequate school adjustment of Spanish adolescents.