The examination of the roles of parenting styles, big-five personality traits, and borderline characteristics on interpersonal dependency in university students

This study aimed to examine the roles of parenting styles, big-five personality traits, and borderline personality characteristics on interpersonal dependency in university students. In the present study, 422 Turkish university students were recruited. Parenting Style Scale, Big-Five Inventory Short Form, Borderline Personality Inventory, and Interpersonal Dependency Inventory were used to test the data. In the first step, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was run to examine the predictors of interpersonal dependency. And then, the interactions of significant predictors (i.e., authoritarian parenting style, authoritative parenting style, neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness) on interpersonal dependency were examined through 2X2 ANCOVAs, controlling for borderline personality characteristics. The findings suggested that there was a significant interaction effect of authoritarian parenting style and neuroticism on interpersonal dependency when borderline personality characteristics were controlled. The main effect of authoritarian parenting style on interpersonal dependency was significant. Moreover, there was a marginally significant interaction effect of authoritarian parenting style and extraversion on interpersonal dependency when borderline personality characteristics were controlled. Both the main effects of authoritarian parenting style and extraversion on interpersonal dependency were also significant. The findings, clinical implications, and limitations of the present study were discussed.