Ronald Preston Rohner

• Ph.D.
• Director Rohner Center at University of Connecticut

This study investigated whether men's memories of parental rejection in childhood affect their ability to recognise facial expressions of six basic emotions, possibly mediated by their current psychological maladjustment. Participants, including 350 men ( M age = 28.29, SD = 5.69) responded to the mother and father short forms of the Adult Parental...

This study investigated relations between emerging adults' memories of parental acceptance–rejection during childhood and the adults' dispositions towards forgiveness and vengeance, as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. South Asian (Pakistani) participants, including 242 (25.6%) men ( M age = 21.69, SD = 2.34) and 704 (74.4%) women ( M age...

Objective This study tested the hypothesis that adults who report having been unloved/rejected in childhood are likely to show greater activation in specific brain regions than adults who report a history of parental love/acceptance. Background Interpersonal acceptance‐rejection theory (IPARTheory) argues that a specific set of effects of perceive...

Six decades of research on parental acceptance-rejection led to the formulation of interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory's personality subtheory (IPARTheory, personality subtheory). The subtheory predicts that interpersonal rejection sensitivity is likely to be one of the personality dispositions resulting universally from the effects of percei...

Six decades of research on parental acceptance-rejection led to the formulation of interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory’s personality subtheory (IPARTheory, personality subtheory). The subtheory predicts that interpersonal rejection sensitivity is likely to be one of the personality dispositions resulting universally from the effects of percei...

Grounded in interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory), this study examined the relationship between recollections of parental rejection during childhood and fear of intimacy during adulthood, as mediated by psychological maladjustment and interpersonal anxiety, and as moderated by intimate partner rejection. A sample of 253 Iranians co...

Prior multicultural meta-analyses have shown that three of the four individual expressions of parental rejection (viz., coldness/lack of affection, hostility/aggression, and indifference/neglect) tend to be significantly associated with all seven of the personality dispositions most central to interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory)....

Findings from data originating in individualist Western cultures, such as the US, generally confirm a significant relation between parental rejection and substance use. However, little is known about individuals raised in patriarchal, collectivist, and predominantly religious non-Western societies. To build on prior research, we drew from Interpers...

Background: Grounded in interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory, this study assessed children's (N=1,315) perceptions of maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States) as predictors of children's externalizing and internalizing behavio...

The present study tested predictions that (a) parental rejection can directly affect media and technology usage, and (b) it can indirectly affect media and technology usage partially through social intimacy. Bangla translated measures including mother and father versions of the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire, the Usage Subscale o...

Interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory) is an evidence-based theory of socialization and lifespan development. It is composed of three subtheories, each of which deals with a separate but interrelated set of issues. IPARTheory’s personality subtheory – which is the most highly developed component of the theory – deals primarily with...

This article is a response to comments by Mercer (2021), who criticized Bernet, Gregory, Rohner, and Reay (2020 Bernet, W. , Gregory, N. , Rohner, R. P. , & Reay, K. M. (2020). Measuring the difference between alienation and estrangement: The PARQ-Gap. Journal of Forensic Sciences , 65 (4), 1225–1234. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14300 [Crossr...

Grounded in interpersonal acceptance–rejection theory, this study examined the relation between recollections of parental rejection during childhood and fear of intimacy (FOI) in adulthood, as mediated by adults’ psychological maladjustment. In Study 1, the Fear of Intimacy Scale (FIS) was adapted for use in Italy. Its psychometric properties were...

Loneliness is a significant public health issue that affects young adults. This investigation drew from interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory to understand how remembrances of parental rejection contributed to psychological maladjustment and loneliness in Bangladeshi college students (N = 300; 50% female). Students reported their remembrances o...

Parental alienation (rejection of a parent without legitimate justification) and realistic estrangement (rejection of a parent for a good reason) are generally accepted concepts among mental health and legal professionals. Alienated children, who were not abused, tend to engage in splitting and lack ambivalence with respect to their parents; estran...

Drawing stimulus from interpersonal acceptance‐rejection theory, this multicultural study examined relations between men's versus women's remembrances of maternal and paternal acceptance‐rejection in childhood and their current level of loneliness, as mediated by adults' self‐reported psychological maladjustment. Adults (N = 899) from five nations...

Researchers and policymakers are engaged in an ongoing debate over the use of corporal punishment and how it potentially leads to short-term and long-term negative developmental consequences for children. In this comment on Gershoff et al. (2018), the authors provide evidence that children’s perceptions of parental acceptance−rejection often partia...

This study assesses interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory’s (IPARTheory’s) prediction that adults’ (both men’s and women’s) remembrances of parental (both maternal and paternal) rejection in childhood are likely to be associated with adults’ fear of intimacy, as mediated by adults’ psychological maladjustment and relationship anxiety. The study...

Extensive cross-cultural evidence supports the conclusion that children and adults everywhere understand themselves to be cared about (accepted) or not cared about (rejected) by the people most important to them (e.g., parents) in four ways. These four ways include the perception of warmth/affection (or coldness/lack of affection), hostility/aggres...

Grounded in interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory), this exploratory study investigated a) major characteristics of affective copers and non-copers, b) the effects of acceptance by one parent insofar as it moderates rejection by the other parent, and c) the mediation effect of intimate partner relationships on the relation between r...

Interpersonal acceptance–rejection theory (IPARTheory) proposes that across cultures and other sociodemographic groups, interpersonal acceptance and rejection consistently predict the psychological and behavioral adjustment of children and adults (Rohner, 1986, 2004). The goals of this article are to provide a description of the major tenets of IPA...

Both clinicians and forensic practitioners should distinguish parental alienation (rejection of a parent without legitimate justification) from other reasons for contact refusal. Alienated children-who were not abused-often engage in splitting and lack ambivalence with respect to the rejected parent; children who were maltreated usually perceive th...

SYNOPSIS Objective. The aims of this article were to test the measurement invariance of the Italian and American versions of the Adult Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire and to compare adults’ remembrances of parental acceptance–rejection across the two nations. Design. The Adult Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire was administered...

This study examined the relation between young adults' age and remembrances of parental acceptance in childhood, and their current self-acceptance. The study was based on a sample of 236 young adults in Turkey (139 women and 97 men). The adult version of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection/Control Questionnaire for mothers and fathers along with the...

Psychometric Properties of a Bicultural Attitude Scale: An Update Abstract The purpose of this paper is to report evidence of psychometric properties of the Bicultural Attitude Scale (BAC) developed by the author. The paper provides evidence of the reliability and validity of the two versions of the BAC (i.e., Parent version and Children versions...

Series of Clinician Handouts

This comprehensive reference analyzes psychological and anthropological studies concerning child and adolescent development across cultures, digging into often-forgotten topics like street children, child soldiers, and parenting in war-torn countries. Traditionally, research on child and adolescent development has focused on American youth, inadver...

The purpose of this study was to explore relations between acculturation patterns of mothers and fathers, and parents and children. The sample consisted of 102 children (52 boys and 50 girls) and 204 parents (102 mothers and 102 fathers) drawn from three cities in the Eastern United States. Children ranged in age from nine through 13 years (M = 11...

This cross-cultural meta-analysis is based on 220 studies involving 33,081 respondents from 23 nations across five continents. The study addressed a major question drawn from the basic postulates of interpersonal acceptance–rejection theory (IPARTheory): Is the psychological adjustment of both males and females universally (i.e., panculturally) ass...

Interpersonal acceptance–rejection theory predicts that the experience of parental rejection in childhood leads to the development of rejection sensitivity that tends to extend into adulthood. This study provides the first test of this prediction within the framework of the theory. Self-report surveys were administered to 271 undergraduates (M age...

This study explores the question: To what extent are Pakistani American children’s perceptions of maternal and paternal rejection related to their parents’ perceptions of spousal rejection? The research draws from a sample of 102 Pakistani families living in the USA. Urdu language versions of the Intimate Partner Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire...

La teoría de aceptación-rechazo interpersonal (IPARTheory) es una teoría basada en la evidencia que trata de predecir y explicar las principales causas, consecuencias y correlatos de la aceptación-rechazo -especialmente parental- a lo largo del ciclo vital. Esta teoría se divide en tres subteorías: subteoría de la personalidad (todos los niños y ni...

This cross-cultural meta-analysis tests the contribution of teachers’ and parents’ acceptance to youth’s psychological adjustment and school conduct. It is based on nine studies involving 2,422 school-going youth in 12 nations. The study addressed two questions drawn from one of the basic postulates of interpersonal acceptance–rejection theory (IPA...

On a sample of 313 nine-through 16-year-old Spanish children this study explored the question: Is the relation between paternal versus maternal acceptance and the psychological adjustment of offspring significantly affected by the level of interpersonal power and/or prestige of each parent within the family? The relationship between perceived paren...

Drawing stimulus from parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory), which postulates a pancultural association between perceptions of parental acceptance-rejection and offspring's (children's and adults') psychological adjustment, this article describes the International Father Acceptance-Rejection Project along with the results of 13 studies i...

This cross-cultural meta-analysis tests the contribution of teachers’ and parents’ acceptance to youth’s psychological adjustment and school conduct. It is based on nine studies involving 2,422 school-going youth in 12 nations. The study addressed two questions drawn from one of the basic postulates of interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPA...

On a sample of 313 nine- through 16-year-old Spanish children this study explored the question: Is the relation between paternal versus maternal acceptance and the psychological adjustment of offspring significantly affected by the level of interpersonal power and/or prestige of each parent within the family? The relationship between perceived pare...

This research explores the effects of parental marital distress on Turkish adolescents’ psychological adjustment, as mediated by adolescents’ perceptions of maternal and paternal acceptance–rejection. This issue has generated considerable interest within the United States, but only recently internationally. The study draws from a sample of 180 12-...

The ethnographic record shows that children in all societies of the world experience at least three essential elements of parenting from their major caregivers. These include varying degrees and expressions of warmth (acceptance-rejection), behavioral control (permissiveness-strictness), and discipline (e.g., corporal punishment and others). Becaus...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on adults' current psychological adjustment of perceived acceptance or rejection by mothers and fathers in childhood and by intimate partners in adulthood. The sample consisted of 1,709 adults (35% male and 65% female), including 1,645 individuals in the multiple acceptance group and 64 in the mu...

This study explores the differential contribution of elder siblings' versus parents' acceptance and behavioral control to the psychological adjustment of younger siblings in Turkey. One hundred eighty younger siblings (M = 12.38 years) in intact nuclear families with at least one older sibling (M = 15.79 years) responded to four self-reports. Resul...

This meta-analysis tests the pancultural generalizability of two central postulates drawn from parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory). The meta-analysis is based on 66 studies involving 19,511 respondents from 22 countries on five continents. All studies used the child and adult versions of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaires...

Limited information is available about the international generalizability of the common conclusion that marital discord tends to be associated with problematic parenting. Pakistan is a sociocultural context known for a high frequency of marital distress. Accordingly, this study draws from a sample of 270 Pakistani families with children between the...

NOTE to READERS References cited in this bibliography use one or a combination of different versions of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) and/or the Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ), the PARQ-Control, or other research instruments developed through the Rohner Center for the Study of Interpersonal Acceptance and Reject...

The research program reported in this article was initiated almost five decades ago in response to claims by Western social scientists that parental love is essential to the healthy social and emotional development of children. After more than two thousand studies, many inspired directly by parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory) described...

This study explored the extent to which perceived maternal, paternal, sibling, best friend, and teacher acceptance each made an independent contribution to the psychological adjustment of both males and females in a sample of 249 Kuwaiti adolescents. The study also assessed the magnitude of the total contribution to psychological adjustment of sign...

This study explored relations among perceived maternal acceptance, behavioral control, and psychological adjustment of youths in three major ethnic groups in the United States. The sample consisted of 375 youths (154 Africa American, 127 European Americans, and 94 Hispanic Americans). The measures used were the child version of the Parental Accepta...

Three questions drawn from parental acceptance-rejection theory were addressed: (a) Are children's perceptions of parental acceptance transnationally associated with specific personality dispositions? (b) Are adults' remembrances of parental acceptance in childhood transnationally associated with these personality dispositions? and (c) Do relations...

This study uses confirmatory factor analysis procedures to examine the factor structure of the mother and father versions of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) and their measurement invariance across ratings provided by 314 Australian adults and 509 adults in the United States. The adult version of the PARQ is a 60-item self-rep...

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to summarize the rich and growing body of research that draws from parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory) and associated measures as used throughout the Arab world. Methodology. This body of work includes more than 100 studies that explore the reliability and validity of Arabic adaptations of severa...

This study explored the relationship between Indian adolescents’ perceptions of their teachers’ and parents’ (mothers’ and fathers’) acceptance and behavioral control, students’ conduct in school, and students’ psychological adjustment. A sample of 217 high school students in India was enrolled in the study. Results showed that the students perceiv...

The goal of this research was to explore the relationship between Kuwaiti students’ perceptions of their teachers’ and parents’ (mothers’ and fathers’) acceptance and behavioral control and students’ conduct in school, and psychological adjustment. A sample of 205 middle school students in Kuwait was enrolled in the study. Results showed that both...

This study addresses relationships between perceived maternal, paternal, and teacher acceptance and behavioral control, and adolescents’ psychological adjustment, school conduct, and academic achievement in Estonia. A total of 224 sixth graders respond to 3 self-report measures. Adolescents’ school conduct and grade point average (GPA) are reported...

Drawing stimulus from parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory) and associated measures, articles in this special issue attempt to assess the relative contribution of perceived teacher and parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance and behavioral control to the psychological adjustment, school conduct, and academic achievement of school-goi...

This study explored the relationship between students’ perceptions of their teachers’ and parents’ (mothers’ and fathers’) acceptance, and teachers’ reports of the students’ conduct in school as well as students’ reports of their own psychological adjustment. The study was conducted on a sample of 200 high school students in Bangladesh. Results sho...

This study investigated the effects of perceived teacher acceptance as well as perceived maternal and paternal acceptance on the academic achievement and school conduct of 362 seventh-grade adolescents in the Mississippi Delta region of the United States. Results showed a significant correlation between perceived teacher acceptance and boys’ (but n...

This meta-analysis addresses the following questions drawing from parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory): (a) Is perceived rejection by an intimate partner in adulthood associated with the same form of psychological maladjustment that perceived parental rejection is known to be in childhood? (b) Are adults' remembrances of parental accept...

A set of procedures is offered for assessing interraler reliability and certain aspects of validity of codes in cross-cultural studies. The method assumes that at least two independent raters have coded more than one trait. Each trait coded by one rater is correlated with each trait coded by a second, and all the codings by a single rater are inter...

The goal was to assess sex differences in career indecision's association with different levels of self-reported psychological adjustment and with different remembrances of maternal and paternal acceptance and behavioral control in childhood. 126 participants responded to the Career Decision Scale, the Adult version of the Parental Acceptance-Rejec...

The studies in this special issue explore three questions drawn from newly formulated postulates in parental acceptance-rejection theory: (a) To what extent is perceived acceptance or rejection by an intimate partner in adulthood associated with the same form of psychological adjustment or maladjustment that perceived parental acceptance-rejection...

This study explored the way in which remembered childhood experiences of maternal and paternal acceptance mediated or influenced in other ways the relation between perceived intimate-partner acceptance and the psychological adjustment of married adults in India. Results of simple correlations based on data from four self-report questionnaires showe...

Parental acceptance—rejection theory postulates that adults' current level of psychological adjustment is affected by a combination of their perception of the love-related behaviors of their current intimate partners and by their mental representations of parents' love-related behaviors toward them in childhood. Accordingly, this research explored...

This study explored gender differences in relationships between perceived partner acceptance and psychological adjustment in relation to remembrances of maternal and paternal acceptance in childhood. Eighty-two Japanese adults (58 women and 24 men) responded to five self-report questionnaires. Results of analyses showed that men's psychological adj...

This study explored relations between perceived partner acceptance and adults' psychological adjustment, as possibly mediated by remembered paternal and maternal acceptance in childhood. The sample was composed of 488 undergraduate and graduate students. Based on data from four self-report questionnaires, results of simple correlations showed that...

This study explored gender differences in relations among perceived parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance and behavioral control, perceived partner acceptance and behavioral control, and psychological adjustment in 166 university students in Finland. Results showed significant positive correlations between men's and women's psychological adju...

Drawing stimulus from a central postulate in parental acceptance-rejection theory, this study explored relations among perceived partner acceptance, remembrances of parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance in childhood, and the psychological adjustment of 681 Turkish adults in ongoing attachment relationships. Five self-report questionnaires wer...

Parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory) and attachment theory evolved independently but along parallel lines, creating many similarities but also significant differences. This article is the first attempt to describe these similarities and differences, and to test expected linkages between theories using attachment theory's Preschool Stran...

This article summarizes concepts, methods, cross-cultural evidence, and implications of parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory). The theory focuses primarily on parental love—its expressions, impact, and origins. Nearly 2,000 studies in the United States and cross-culturally confirm the widely held belief that children everywhere need acce...

The principal goal of this study was to explore the way in which remembered childhood experiences of maternal and paternal acceptance mediated or moderated the relation between perceived intimate-partner acceptance and the psychological adjustment of 79 young adults in India. Results of simple correlations showed a positive relationship between par...

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the relative level of agreement or disagreement between mothers' reports versus children's reports of maternal acceptance-rejection in Finland and Pakistan. Of special interest was the question whether the level of agreement varied significantly in loving families (as defined by children) versus less...

This chapter introduces features of parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory) that can enhance and inform clinical work with couples. The authors describe three questionnaires that clinicians can use to help partners examine their subjective perceptions of the quality of relation-ships they experienced with their mothers and fathers in child...