The relationship between early maladaptive schemas, perceived maternal parenting style, emotion regulation difficulties and psyhological well-being

Although many studies have elaborated the relationships between early maladaptive schemas, perceived maternal parenting style and psychopathology regarding Young's Schema Theory, few researches examined the relations of these dynamics with emotion regulation difficulties. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was (1) to examine possible effects of demographic variables on schema domains, maternal parenting style, emotion regulation difficulties and psychological symptoms; (2) to investigate the relationships between perceived maternal parenting style, schema domains, difficulties in emotion regulatory processes and psychological distress level; (3) to determine predictive factors of schema domains, emotion regulation difficulties and psychopathology. The sample of the study consisted of 372 individuals who were mostly recruited from the Doğuş University (285). Young Schema Questionnaire- Short Form 3 (YSQ-SF3), Young Parenting Inventory (YPI), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) were administered to participants. In order to investigate the research question, a separate set of MANOVAs, ANOVAs, t- tests, bivariate correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Results of MANOVA yielded that females had lower scores in Disconnection schema domains while they obtained higher score in Clarity subscale of DERS than males. Besides, younger participants had higher scores in this Clarity subscale, compared to older ones. The zero order correlations indicated a number of significant correlations between measures of the study, which was consistent with the previous findings. The hierarchical analyses revealed that negative maternal parenting behaviors were significant predictor of all schema domains. Regarding Goal subscale of DERS, the negative maternal parenting and Impaired Autonomy positively predicted difficulties in engaging goal-directed behaviors during negative emotional state, whereas Disconnection was negatively predicted difficulties in engaging goal-directed behaviors. In terms of Strategy and Impulse subscales of DERS, the negative maternal parenting and Impaired Autonomy were positively associated with difficulties in using effective strategies and controlling impulsive behaviors when experiencing negative affect, Impaired Limits appeared as negatively associated factor for Strategy and Impulse subscale. The significant predictor of Non-Acceptance subscale of DERS was found as Impaired Autonomy. Regarding Clarity and Awareness subscales, Disconnection was positively predicted difficulties in being clear and aware of negative emotions, whereas Other-Directedness was negatively predicted difficulties in Clarity and Awareness subscales. Finally, perceived negative maternal parenting style, Impaired Autonomy and Disconnection schema domains were positively associated with psychological symptoms, while Impaired Limits was negatively associated with psychological distress level. On the contrary of expectations, emotion regulation difficulties were not appeared as significant predictors of general psychological disturbances in spite of the fact that the zero-order correlation analyses found significant association between them. These results were discussed regarding potential limitations and future suggestions. Keywords: Early maladaptive schemas, perceived maternal parenting styles, emotion regulation difficulties, psychological symptoms.