The effects of parent's attitudes on guilt and shame feelings at University students

Objective: The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between parenting styles, sociodemographic variables and guilt and shame.Methods: The sample of the study is generated by voluntary first year students from Celal Bayar University Medicine Faculty and Health Sciences Institue Department of Nursing and Midwifery at 2011-2012 education year. Sociodemographic Data Form, Shame and Guilt Scale, Parental Attitude Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were applied to participants.Results: Guilt feelings of female students were found to be higher than that of male students? at a statistically significant level. Also it is determined that, guilt feelings are decreasing with increasing levels of mother and father education, but weren?t affected by place of living variable. It is seen that number of siblings have a significant effect on feelings of guilt and the participants with no siblings feel less guilt. Feeling closest to father at childhood is found to increase guilt feelings. It is seen that feelings of shame is not affected by gender, place of living and number of siblings but with increasing education level of mother and father it is been less experiencing. Among the parenting styles it is determined that there is a positive correlation between democratic type of parenting style and guilt but there is a negative correlation between authoritarian and protector parenting styles and guilt . Statistically significant relationship between shame and parenting styles isn?t found. Significant relationship between guilt feelings and depression-anxiety isn?t found. Also significant relationship between shame and depression level isn?t found but it is seen that there is a significant relationship between shame and anxiety. It is also seen that there is significant relationship between feelings of shame and guilt.Conclusions: As a result of this study while feelings of guilt is been affecting by variables like gender, number of siblings, education level of mother and father, person whom is feeled closest at childhood and parenting styles, shame is found to have relationships only with mother and father education and anxiety level. According to those findings it can be thought that feelings of guilt is more prone to be affecting by environmental factors, shame is more resistant to change by the effects of environmental factors and probably its biological aspects are more dominant.