A Study on the Relationships among Children’s Irrational Beliefs, Type A Behavior Pattern and Their Perception of Parenting Styles Author:Jam-Peie Lai, Ching-Fu Chen
Research Article
The purpose of this research was to examine the correlation between different parenting styles, irrational beliefs and Type A behavior pattern. Due to a lack of suitable research measures in this country in assessing children’s irrational beliefs, we consulted the works of Albert Ellis’Rational-Emotive-Behavioral Therapy (REBT ) and other literature both domestic and aboard and developed a Scale of Irrational Beliefs. Fourth and sixth graders were surveyed using the Parenting Style and Degree of Satisfaction Scale, the Child Life Beliefs Scale and the Child Type A Behavior Scale. Based on valid data from 794 participants, the important findings were as follows: (a) Children with different maternal parenting styles and paternal parenting styles had different irrational beliefs, with the mothers influence being stronger; (b) Children with neglectful parenting style scored lowest on the item of Diligent Competition and Achievement; (c) Children’s irrational beliefs had positive correlation with their Time Sense of Urgency and Aggressiveness and Hostility in Type A behavior pattern; Diligent Competition and Achievement in Type A behavior pattern had negative correlation with Avoids Difficulty in irrational beliefs; (d) Mood Disorders in irrational belief was most predictive of Time Sense of Urgency and Aggressiveness and Hostility in Type A behavior pattern; Father Response in parenting style was most predictive of Diligent Competition and Achievement in Type A behavior pattern. These research results may be useful to future studies on parenting education and children’s counseling.