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Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy and gratitude and parental attitudes

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Background: Despite many studies on parental attitudes, the extent to which parents’ emotional resources of parents, such as empathy and gratitude, are associated with parental behaviours and attitudes towards children remains unclear. Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between the emotional disposition to being grateful and empathetic in parents and their positive parenting attitudes as emotional warmth, autonomy support, and democratic attitude. In addition, the relationship between empathy, gratitude, and negative attitudes such as punitive, permissive discipline and anxious intrusiveness was assessed. Methodology: A sample of 712 Polish parents of children aged between six months and twelve years completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test, and the Parental Behaviours and Dimensions Questionnaire. Results: The two proposed structural equation models (SEM) confirmed that empathy and gratitude are predictors of positive and negative parenting dimensions. In addition, gratitude plays a mediating role between different dimensions of empathy and parenting behaviours. Emotional empathy, personal distress and simple appreciation are the most significant factors for positive parental attitudes. Punitive and permissive attitudes are associated with empathy, but not with gratitude. In contrast, anxious intrusiveness is associated with both empathy and gratitude. Conclusions: These findings contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between parents’ emotional resources and their parental behaviours. The results suggest that parents should enhance the experience of empathy and gratitude in their daily lives, as these emotions strengthen positive parental behaviours and weaken negative parenting.
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Family Forum 2024
DOI: 10.25167/FF/5276
Agnieszka Lasota
Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Institute of Pedagogy
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6128-7859
Toward positive parenting:
Exploring the relationship between
empathy and gratitude
and parental attitudes
W kierunku pozytywnego rodzicielstwa:
Badanie związku między empatią i wdzięcznością
a postawami rodzicielskimi
Abstract
Background: Despite many studies on parental attitudes, the extent to which parents’
emotional resources ofparents, such as empathy and gratitude, are associated with pa-
rental behaviours and attitudes towards children remains unclear.
Purpose: The aim ofthe study was to examine the relationship between the emotional
disposition to being grateful and empathetic in parents and their positive parenting atti-
tudes as emotional warmth, autonomy support, and democratic attitude. In addition, the
relationship between empathy, gratitude, and negative attitudes such as punitive, per-
missive discipline and anxious intrusiveness was assessed.
Methodology: Asample of712 Polish parents ofchildren aged between six months and twelve
years completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Gratitude Resentment and Apprecia-
tion Test, and the Parental Behaviours and Dimensions Questionnaire. Results: The two pro-
posed structural equation models (SEM) conrmed that empathy and gratitude are predictors
ofpositive and negative parenting dimensions. In addition, gratitude plays amediating role
between dierent dimensions ofempathy and parenting behaviours. Emotional empathy, per-
sonal distress and simple appreciation are the most signicant factors for positive parental at-
titudes. Punitive and permissive attitudes are associated with empathy, but not with gratitude.
In contrast, anxious intrusiveness is associated with both empathy and gratitude.
242 Agnieszka Lasota
Conclusions: These ndings contribute to abetter understanding ofthe relationship be-
tween parents’ emotional resources and their parental behaviours. The results suggest
that parents should enhance the experience ofempathy and gratitude in their daily
lives, as these emotions strengthen positive parental behaviours and weaken negative
parenting.
Keywords: empathy; gratitude; parental attitudes; Structural Equation Modelling (SEM).
Abstrakt
Wprowadzenie: Pomimo wielu badań dotyczących postaw rodzicielskich, zakres wjakim
zasoby emocjonalne rodziców takie jak empatia iwdzięczność wiążą się zzachowaniami
ipostawami rodzicielskimi wobec dzieci pozostaje niejasny.
Cel: Celem badania była ocena związku między obecnością emocjonalnej dyspozycji do
bycia empatycznym iwdzięcznym apozytywnymi postawami rodzicielskimi, takimi jak
ciepło emocjonalne, wsparcie autonomii ipostawa demokratyczna. Ponadto, oceniono
również związek między empatią i wdzięcznością anegatywnymi postawami rodziców,
takimi jak postawa autorytarna, pobłażliwa oraz lękowo-ochraniająca.
Metodologia: Próba 712 polskich rodziców dzieci wwieku od 0,6 do 12 lat wypełniła Wskaź-
nik Reaktywności Interpersonalnej, Test Wdzięczności, Urazy iDoceniania oraz Kwestio-
nariusz Zachowań iWymiarów Rodzicielskich.
Wyniki: Dwa zaproponowane modele równań strukturalnych (SEM) potwierdziły, że
empatia iwdzięczność są predyktorami pozytywnych inegatywnych wymiarów rodzi-
cielskich. Dodatkowo, wdzięczność pełni pośredniczącą rolę między różnymi wymiara-
mi empatii azachowaniami rodziców. Największe znaczenie dla postaw pozytywnych
rodziców ma empatia emocjonalna, osobisty dystress emocjonalny oraz docenianie pro-
stych przyjemności. Autorytarna oraz pobłażliwa postawa wiążą się zempatią, ale nie
zwdzięcznością. Postawa lękowego ochraniania wiąże się natomiast zarówno zempatią
jak iwdzięcznością.
Wnioski: Wyniki te przyczyniają się do lepszego zrozumienia związku pomiędzy emocjo-
nalnymi zasobami rodziców aich zachowaniami wobec dzieci. Odkrycia te sugerują, że
rodzice powinni wzmacniać doświadczanie empatii iwdzięczności wcodziennym życiu,
ponieważ emocje te wzmacniają pozytywne zachowania rodziców aosłabiają negatywne
rodzicielstwo.
Słowa kluczowe: empatia; wdzięczność; postawy rodzicielskie; modelowanie równań
strukturalnych (SEM).
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 243
Introduction
Many researchers agree that the social changes that have taken place in
recent decades have had a signicant impact on modern parenting behaviour
(Reid et al., 2015, p. 1). Changes in family structure and composition, less time
spent with children, and a focus on meeting material needs at the expense
of children’s emotional needs are making parenting increasingly ineffective
(Reid et al., 2015, pp. 1–2). Parents look to the internet or television programmes
for ready-made parenting solutions and advice, which often offer many con-
icting opinions on parenting. As a result, there is increasing ambiguity about
the behaviours that dene good parenting.
Furthermore, despite a large body of scientic literature on parenting atti-
tudes and behaviours and their importance for children’s development, there
is still a paucity of research analysing individual factors that support positive
parenting, such as parents’ emotional resources. In particular, the role of par-
ents’ empathy and gratitude in shaping their parenting attitudes remains
under-explored. The present study aims to ll this gap by investigating how
these emotional dispositions are related to parents’ positive and negative atti-
tudes towards their children.
As there are numerous of conceptualisations of parenting attitudes, dimen-
sions and behaviours in the scientic literature, in this research draws on the
conceptualisation of modern parenting attitudes (Reid et al., 2015, pp. 12–17;
Lasota and Mróz, 2023, pp. 122–123), based on D. Baumrind’s (1971, pp. 22–24)
classic theory of parenting styles.
Positive parenting is based on authoritative attitudes and behaviours (e.g.
emotional warmth and involvement, democratic participation of the child in
the family, good communication with the child and support for the child’s au-
tonomy) (Baumrind, 2005, p. 67; Bornstein and Zlotnik, 2008, p. 498; Reid et al.,
2015, p. 16; Liu and Wang, 2021, p. 2). The other extreme is authoritarian parent-
ing (verbal hostility towards the child, corporal punishment, directives, exces-
sive control) (Bornstein and Zlotnik, 2008, p. 498); or a permissive attitude (lack
of control, lack of rules, ignoring misbehaviour, absolute acceptance of all chil-
dren’s behaviours) (Konopka et al., 2018, p. 926). It is also necessary to mention
a very common attitude of parents in recent years, especially of the youngest
children, the anxious and intrusive, overprotective attitude, which is not clear-
ly treated as a negative attitude because, on the one hand, it results from the
parents’ anxiety and intrusiveness and, on the other hand, it indicates a high
level of parental involvement in ensuring the child’s sense of security and hap-
piness (Reid et al., 2015, p. 14; Lasota and Mróz, 2023, p. 137).
244 Agnieszka Lasota
Parental attitudes have ahuge impact on the mental health ofchildren in
the family, so it seems necessary to look scientically for factors in the family
(both in children and parents) that strengthen positive parenting and weaken
negative parental behaviours towards children in everyday life.
1. Empathy and Parental Attitudes
Empathy is most often described as a fundamental human personality
trait. The term refers to the psychological processes that allow a person to
take another’s perspective, identify with them, and experience their feelings
and emotions (Davis, 1983, p. 113; Chen et al., 2020, p. 3). Empathy is thought to
protect against emotional and behavioural problems (Decety et al., 2016, p. 7).
It includes both affective elements, such as empathic care, and cognitive ele-
ments, such as the ability to take another person’s perspective (Davis, 1983,
p. 115). Additionally, empathy plays a key role in developing and maintaining
relationships with others and serves as a precursor to pro-social and moral
behaviour (Decety et al., 2016, p. 4).
As parents play a key role in parent-child interactions, their ability to be em-
pathetic affects both their own mental health and their children’s development
(Jacobs et al., 2015, p. 2346). Recent research indicates that parents of children
with emotional and behavioural difculties are characterised by a lower level
of cognitive empathy (perspective taking and online simulation abilities) than
parents of healthy children. Furthermore, parents’ cognitive empathy is pos-
itively related to children’s social competence (Meng et al., 2020, p. 95), as well
as to children’s attachment security and perception of parental warmth (Stern,
Borelli and Smiley, 2015, pp. 14–15). Highly empathetic mothers have high paren-
tal efcacy because they can respond appropriately to children’s needs; indeed,
as Goleman (1995, p. 122) notes, the better an individual recognises and under-
stands their own feelings, the better they can read those of others. Moreover,
higher levels of empathy in fathers have been associated with a greater likeli-
hood of responding positively to frustration in their children (Ziv, Golbez and
Shapira, 2020, p. 18). Recent studies show that paternal attitudes are predictors
of both empathy and aggression of adolescents (Lasota and Kobylarczyk, 2020,
pp. 57–58). Parental empathy involves sensitivity to children, their condition,
and needs, and the ability to respond appropriately, and difculties in experi-
encing parental compassion often manifest as abuse and neglect. High levels
of parental empathy can protect against overly aggressive behaviour towards
children or an inability to recognise basic needs in the family.
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 245
The effect of parental socialisation, parenting styles and attitudes on em-
pathy development in children has been the subject of numerous studies (van
der Mark, Bakermans-Kranenburg and van Ijzendoorn, 2002, pp. 364–375; Cor-
nell and Frick, 2007, pp. 307–315). Positive parenting behaviours are bene-
cial for the development of empathy in children (da Cunha Motta et al., 2006,
p. 532; Wagers and Kiel, 2019, pp. 392–399), and parenting practices have been
associated with empathy even in toddlers (Wagers and Kiel, 2019, pp. 398–399).
Parents and caregivers who demonstrate an authoritative style are often
warm, sensitive, and supportive, and this can serve as a model for empathic
behaviour and emotional sharing in their charges. An authoritative parent-
ing style, characterised by both high parental responsiveness and control over
child behaviour, is conducive to the development of empathy in children (Guo
and Feng, 2017, p. 9).
As suggested by the above ndings, some researchers have acknowledged
the existence of a potential relationship between parental empathy and chil-
dren’s emotional and social competence. It has also been proposed that there
may be a relationship between parental attitudes and children’s and parents’
levels of empathy; for example, Bi and Keller (2021, pp. 10371–10392) indicate
that parental empathy in the parent- child relationship is negatively correlat-
ed with parental psychological control. Despite these ndings, still relatively
few studies have focused on the relationship between positive sources such as
parental empathy or gratitude and parental attitudes and behaviours towards
children.
2. Gratitude and Parental Behaviours
Gratitude is associated with an individual’s emotional, cognitive, and be-
havioural functioning (Watkins et al., 2003, pp. 446449). It is an adaptive psycho-
logical trait that people exhibit in their daily lives (Yildirim and Alanazi, 2018,
p. 22). It has been conceptualised as a disposition, an emotional state, an attitude,
a habit, and a trait (McCullough et al., 2001, pp. 249–253; McCullough, Emmons
and Tsang, 2002, pp. 112–113; Watkins et al., 2003, p. 432). In a broader sense,
gratitude can be seen as a life orientation based on the perception and apprecia-
tion of positive aspects in one’s life. This appreciation can relate to other people,
things or situations around us and can be associated with a sense of abundance
(Watkins et al., 2003, pp. 432–433; Tomaszek and Lasota, 2018, p. 251).
Gratitude, like altruism (Bowles and Gintis, 2004, pp. 25–27), seems to be
a key element of reciprocity in interpersonal relationships. It has been iden-
246 Agnieszka Lasota
tied with several positive emotions that have benecial consequences for
mental state and personal and social development (Fredrickson, 2001, pp. 3–5).
For example, dispositional gratitude appears to be one of the strongest pre-
dictors of many indicators of well-being, such as life satisfaction, vitality, and
optimism (McCullough, Emmons and Tsang, 2002, pp. 115–119; Valikhani et al.,
2019, p. 41), as well as the building and strengthening of social bonds (Mc-
Cullough et al., 2001, pp. 250–251; McCullough and Tsang, 2004, pp. 123–124).
Gratitude is linked to adaptive psychological outcomes, increased hope, pos-
itive emotions, optimistic thoughts and improved physical and emotional
well-being (Watkins, Uhder and Pichinevskiy, 2015, pp. 5–6; Liao and Weng,
2018, pp. 384–385). Furthermore, Wood, Froh and Geraghty (2010, pp. 891–903)
propose a life orientation conception of gratitude, in which gratitude is seen as
a life orientation for noticing and appreciating the positive in the world. This
includes the gratitude that comes from helping others, but also the general
habit of appreciating the positive in life.
Being grateful has many benets for human mental development and
subjective well-being (Lyubomirsky, 2007, pp. 95–105). The disposition to be
grateful is based on the ability to empathise and promotes reciprocity and
pro-social behaviour; as such, individuals who are more grateful are more
likely to engage in pro-social activities (McCullough, Emmons and Tsang,
2002, p. 119; Tsang, 2006, p. 139; Ma, Tunney and Ferguson, 2017, pp. 601–
635). The existing literature shows that gratitude in adults is part of a larger
network of correlated adaptive personality traits (Wood, Froh and Geraghty,
2010, p. 893; Rothenberg et al., 2017, pp.106–120). Personality traits such as
agreeableness, openness, and extraversion have all been strongly correlated
with a grateful disposition (McCullough, Emmons and Tsang, 2002, p. 118).
Research also suggest that experience of gratitude is a pleasant emotion and
is usually accompanied by other positive emotions (Kristiana, Hyoschamina
and Fatimah, 2018, p. 611). Moreover, people who feel grateful more often
tend to be more resistant to stressful situations (Wood et al., 2008, p. 867)
and have higher levels of resilience (Lasota, Tomaszek and Bosacki, 2022,
p. 6851).
Despite the growing body of research on the relationship between grat-
itude and other aspects of human life, there is little evidence on the links
between parental attitudes and gratitude. Experimental studies have found
that gratitude can reduce maternal stress in early childhood (Kristiana, Hy-
oschamina and Fatimah, 2018, pp. 612–614) and that maternal gratitude is
correlated with life satisfaction and hope (Hoy, 2011, pp. 89–90). Furthermore,
maternal gratitude also appears to be positively related to children’s gratitude
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 247
and life satisfaction (Hoy, 2011, pp. 85–88). Additionally, parents with positive
parental attitudes also have a positive effect on children’s development (Kris-
tiana, Hyoschamina and Fatimah, 2018, p. 613). Research has conrmed that
grateful parents raise grateful children. Rothenberg et al. (2017, pp. 112–115)
suggest that parental gratitude is associated with child gratitude, as grateful
parents are more likely to prioritise the development of gratitude as a sociali-
sation goal and are more likely to engage in parenting practices that promote
gratitude in their children. Their ndings conrm the existence of a positive
relationship between parental and child gratitude, but also that both forms
of gratitude are positively correlated with parental personality traits such as
extraversion and agreeableness.
3. The Purpose of the Study
Despite the extensive literature on parenting attitudes, and the relation-
ship between parental attitudes and positive and negative aspects of child
development, very little research has examined the factors that might sup-
port positive parenting by mothers and fathers (Goeke-Morey and Cum-
mings, 2007, pp. 221–224; Meyer et al., 2014, pp. 164–171; Ziv, Golbez and Sha-
pira, 2020, pp. 3–20). The present study bridges this gap by examining the
relationship between emotional attributes and parental attitudes. It pro-
poses two models of the relationship between empathy and gratitude and
positive attitudes (emotional warmth, democratic discipline and autonomy
support) and negative attitudes (permissive discipline, punitive discipline
and anxious intrusiveness) among Polish parents. The models assume that
empathy and gratitude are directly related to positive and negative paren-
tal behaviours, and that dimensions of empathy are indirectly related to
parental behaviours via different dimensions of gratitude. Six hypotheses
were formulated: H1. The dimensions of empathy are associated with posi-
tive parental attitudes; H2. The dimensions of gratitude are associated with
positive parental attitudes; H3. Gratitude dimensions mediate the relation-
ship between empathy dimensions and positive parental attitudes; H4. The
dimensions of empathy are linked to negative parental attitudes; H5. The
dimensions of gratitude are linked to negative parental attitudes; H6. Grat-
itude dimensions mediate the relationship between empathy dimensions
and negative parental attitudes.
248 Agnieszka Lasota
4. Materials and Methods
4.1. Participants and Procedure
This study used a cross-sectional design with an online survey method-
ology. A quantitative approach was used to collect data from Polish parents.
A total of 712 parents (aged between 21 and 50) with at least one child (aged be-
tween six months and 12 years) participated in the study. Data were collected
using a snowball sampling technique. In this way, results were collected from
parents from all over Poland, with different levels of education and different
places of residence, in order to make the group as representative as possible.
The survey was divided into two parts: the three scales of measurement and
a survey of demographic variables, as shown in Table 1. Before completing the
questionnaires, participants were asked to give their voluntary consent to
participate in this study.
Table 1. Demographic characteristics ofthe respondents
Variables M, SD Min, Max
Age of parents M = 34.6, SD = 3.1 Min = 21 y, Max. = 50 y
Age of children M = 6.1, SD = 3.1 Min = 0.6 y, Max = 12 y
Frequency (N = 712) Percentage (%)
Gender
of parents
Mothers 567 80
Fathers 145 20
Gender
of children
Girls 394 55
Boys 318 45
Education of
Mothers /
Fathers
Higher 300/65 53/45
Secondary 165/55 29/38
Vocational 102/22 18/15
Primary 0/3 0/2
Place
of residence
Large city 246 34.5
Small town 235 33.0
Village 231 32.5
Source: Author’s research.
The procedure was approved by the Ethical Committee ofthe Institute ofPsy-
chology ofthe NEC University in Krakow and conformed with the Declaration
ofHelsinki. Informed consent was obtained from the subjects involved in the
study.
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 249
4.2. Measurement
Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) (Da-
vis, 1980, pp. 10–11). This scale measures two dimensions: cognitive empathy
and affective empathy. The IRI has four subscales: perspective taking (PT) (the
ability to take the perspective of others), empathic concern (EC) (other-oriented
feelings of sympathy and concern), personal distress (PD) (self-oriented feelings
of personal anxiety and discomfort), and fantasy (F) (imagining the feelings
and actions of ctional characters in books or lms). Individuals rate 28 items
on a ve-point Likert scale ranging from A ‘Does not describe me well’ to E ‘De-
scribes me very well’. In this study, Cronbach’s α was 0.72 for the total scale. In
this study, the PT scale was used to measure cognitive empathy, the EC to mea-
sure affective empathy, and the PD to measure personal distress.
Gratitude was measured using The Gratitude Resentment and Apprecia-
tion Scale (GRAT)–short form (Thomas and Watkins, 2003, p. 1) in Polish ad-
aptation (Tomaszek and Lasota, 2019, pp. 86–87). It is a 16-item scale designed
to measure an individual’s dispositional gratitude. The questionnaire con-
sists of 16 statements arranged in three subscales: lack of a sense of depriva-
tion (LOSD), simple appreciation (SA), and appreciation for others (AO). Par-
ticipants rate each item on a nine-point Likert scale (1 ‘I strongly disagree’ to
9 ‘I strongly agree with the statement’). In this study, Cronbach’s α was 0.79
for the total scale.
Parental attitudes – The Polish version (Lasota, 2018, p. 1) of the Parenting
Behaviours and Dimensions Questionnaire (PBDQ) (Reid et al., 2015, p. 10) was
used to assess parenting dimensions and behaviours. It is a self-report mea-
sure of parenting behaviours and consists of 33 items scored on a ve-point
Likert scale, with responses ranging from 1 to 5 (never always). The PBDQ
consists of six factors, three positive: emotional warmth, autonomy support,
and democratic discipline, and three negative: permissive discipline, puni-
tive discipline and anxious intrusiveness. In this study, the reliability analysis
showed a high internal consistency (α = 0.81, ω = 0.85).
4.3. Statistical Analyses
The data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS version 28 software and
AMOS 28 with likelihood estimation. The normality of distributions was ver-
ied using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Levene’s test was used to check the
homogeneity of variance. Pearson’s correlation coefcient was used to deter-
mine the relationships between variables. Finally, Structural Equation Mod-
250 Agnieszka Lasota
elling (SEM) was used to establish the role of gratitude between empathy and
parental attitudes. The basic purpose of SEM is to determine whether a hy-
pothesised model explains the relationships observed between variables in the
sample data. Once a model is specied, the model t is assessed by determin-
ing the extent to which the covariance values in the sample data resemble
those implied by the specied model, as well as by the standardised parameter
estimates for each hypothesised causal path.
5. Results
The rst step was to check the descriptive statistics of empathy, gratitude,
and parental attitudes. Table 2 shows the statistics for three dimensions of em-
pathy, three dimensions of gratitude, and six parental attitudes.
Table 2. Descriptive statistics for empathy, gratitude, and parental attitudes
Variables M SD Skew. Kurt.
Empathy
Perspective Taking (PT) 2.50 0.62 −0.17 −0.02
Empatic Concern (EC) 2.68 0.64 −0.08 −0.25
Personal Distress (PD) 1.96 0.73 −0.19 0.01
Empathy (PT+EC) 2.59 0.53 −0.14 −0.02
Gratitude
Lack of Sense of Deprivation (LOSD) 5.33 1.29 −0.27 −0.33
Simple Appreciation (SA) 7.55 1.40 −1.39 2.03
Appreciation for Others (AO) 6.58 1.68 −0.74 0.26
Gratitude (LOSD+SA+AO) 6.47 .96 −0.70 0.51
Parental atti-
tudes
Emotional Warmth (EW) 5.20 0.66 −1.70 3.82
Autonomy Support (AS) 4.88 0.68 −0.77 1.02
Democratic Discipline (DD) 5.01 0.80 −0.99 1.02
Punitive Discipline (PD) 2.39 0.90 0.62 −0.35
Anxious Intrusiveness (AI) 4.39 0.82 −0.37 −0.28
Permissive Discipline (PerD) 2.78 0.85 0.45 0.20
Note: M – Mean, SD – Standard Deviation, Skew-Skewness, Kurt-Kurtosis.
Source: Author’s research.
In most cases, the distributions of scores for both empathy and gratitude
and for most positive attitudes are left skewed. Emotional warmth and appre-
ciation of simple pleasures (SA) demonstrate the most negative skewness and
the most leptokurtic kurtosis.
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 251
5.1. The Link Between Empathy, Gratitude and Parental Dimensions
The next step was to examine the relationship between empathy, gratitude,
and six parental attitudes.
Table 3. Correlations between empathy, gratitude, and parental attitudes
PT EC PD EMP LOSD SA AO GRAT
EW .20** .32** −.08* .31** −.01 .42** .18** .30**
PD −.18** −.05 .30** −.14** −.07* −.10* −.03 −.10**
AI .07 .25** .13** .19** −.16** .18** .12** .07
AS .24** .25** −.17** .29** .07 .30** .13** .26**
PerD −.17** −.11** .22** −.16** −.08* −.10** .01 −.09*
DD .31** .29** −.13** .35** .00 .41** .18** .30**
Note: EW – Emotional Warmth, PD – Punitive Discipline, AI – Anxious Intrusiveness, AS –
Autonomy Support, PerD – Permissive Discipline, DD – Democratic Discipline,
GRAT – Gratitude (LOSD+SA+AO), EMP – Empathy (PT+EC); *p < .05, **p < .01.
Source: Author’s research.
The correlation results in Table 3 conrm that parental attitudes are asso-
ciated with both the empathy and gratitude of the parents. Positive attitudes,
such as emotional warmth, democratic attitude or autonomy support, demon-
strate moderate positive correlations with cognitive and affective empathy,
as well as with two dimensions of gratitude: SA and AO. No correlation was
found between positive parental attitudes and the lack of a sense of depriva-
tion (LOSD). In addition, personal distress was negatively correlated with pos-
itive parental attitudes, but positively with negative parental attitudes and is
most strongly associated with punitive discipline.
The negative parental attitudes, i.e. permissive and punitive discipline, are
negatively correlated with the level of gratitude. They are also negatively re-
lated to perspective taking and empathic concern. Anxious intrusiveness is
negatively associated with the lack of deprivation, but positively with the oth-
er dimensions of gratitude and empathy (except perspective taking).
Additional correlations between empathy and gratitude were found in the
relationship between LOSD and perspective taking (r = .09, p <.05) and personal
distress (r = .15, p <.00). Simple appreciation correlates at a similar level with
PT and EC (r = .34, p <.00), and with overall empathy (r = .40, p <.00). This di-
mension of gratitude is also positively related to the age of the parent (r = .17,
p <.00) and the age of the child (r = .12, p <.01). Appreciation of others posi-
tively correlates with total empathy (r = .27, p <.00) and its dimensions: per-
252 Agnieszka Lasota
spective taking, affective empathy (EC) and personal distress (r = .25, r = .21, r
= .12, p <.00 respectively). Total gratitude is positively related to total empathy
(r = .37, p <.00), and its dimensions: PT (r = .34, p <.00) and EC (r = .28, p <.00). The
overall gratitude score is also positively related to the age of the parent (r = .12,
p <.00), i.e. older parents tend to be more grateful.
5.2. Goodness of fit of proposed models
Various ways of assessing the t of the data to the model have been pro-
posed. For example, Bagozzi and Yi (1988, p. 82) believe that three indicators
of goodness are sufcient: the preliminary t criteria, the overall model t,
and the t of the internal structure of the model. Hair et al. (2014, pp. 640–644)
state that not all criteria are necessary to know the t of a particular model
and suggest using at least χ2, df, p-value, an absolute index such as RMSEA
or SRMR, and an index of goodness of t such as CFI or GFI. In this study, two
structural models (Table 4) were tested using maximum likelihood estimation
(MLE): one model for positive parental attitudes and another for negative pa-
rental disciplines. Because positive attitudes are interrelated and often co-oc-
cur, it was decided to include in the model a latent variable that is the result
of three positive attitudes: EW, AS and DD. This could not be done for negative
attitudes, as an authoritarian attitude is the opposite of a permissive attitude.
Moreover, Anxious Intrusiveness should not be considered a negative attitude,
especially in the case of parents of the youngest children (Lasota and Mróz,
2023, p. 137). Therefore, it was justied to create a model with observed vari-
ables. Referring to the indicators of the goodness of t of the data to the model
described above, both models were found to t the data well (Hu and Bentler,
1998, pp. 446–449; Bagozzi and Yi, 2012, pp. 28–29).
Table 4. Goodness of t indices for models
Model χ2p df TLI CFI GFI AGFI RMSEA
1. Positive Attitudes 77.0 <.000 27 0.94 0.97 0.98 0.96 0.051
2. Negative Attitudes 42.8 <.003 21 0.94 0.97 0.99 0.97 0.038
Source: Author’s research.
Generally, models 1 and 2, based on data from712 parents, gave a good t
and identied some direct and indirect pathways through which parental at-
titudes were predicted. Indirect effects were calculated within a Structural
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 253
Equation Modelling using the Bootstrap estimation method. 5000 usable boot-
strap samples were obtained.
The rst model (Figure 1) explains the level of positive parental attitudes
based on the two predictors: level of empathy and gratitude of 712 parents of chil-
dren up to 12 years of age. It describes the direct and indirect paths between
the dimensions of empathy, gratitude, and positive attitudes. A detailed analysis
of the direct and indirect effects of all variables showed that parental empathy
and gratitude best explain emotional warmth (26%) followed by democratic disci-
pline (22% of the total variation) and autonomy support (15%).
Figure 1. The full model of empathy, gratitude and positive parental attitudes
Note: Values indicate standardised coefcients; p < .001.
Source: Author’s research.
254 Agnieszka Lasota
The results revealed that personal distress is signicantly negatively relat-
ed to lack ofsense ofdeprivation. Perspective taking is positively related to all
three dimensions ofgratitude. Empathic concern is apositive predictor ofsim-
ple appreciation and appreciation ofothers, but not ofLOSD. Moreover, empathic
concern has the strongest positive eect, directly and indirectly via simple ap-
preciation, on the parental positive dimensions. Perspective taking is only indi-
rectly related to positive attitudes via simple appreciation. Personal distress has
asignicant negative direct eect on positive attitudes. In addition, the results
showed that the child’s age is related to the parent’s emotional warmth. The
younger the child, the more emotional warmth in the parents’ attitudes. De-
tailed results ofthe total and indirect eects are shown in Table 5.
Table 5. Standardised effects of empathy and gratitude on positive parental attitudes
EC PT PD SA Posit. Att. Children
Age
Total effect
SA
β = .24, β = .24
SE = .04, SE = .03,
[.16; .31] [.17; .31]
Posit.
Att.
β = .63 β = .18 β = −.33 β = .73
SE = .06, SE = .03, SE = . 07, SE = .05,
[.51; .74] [.12; .23] [−.46; −.20] [.62; .83]
EW
β = .30 β = .08 β = −.16 β = .35 β = .48 β = .15
SE = .04, SE = .02, SE = .03, SE = .04, SE = .04, SE = .03,
[.24; .37] [.06; .12] [−.22; −.10] [.27; .43] [.41; .56] [−.21; −.09]
AS β = .24
SE = .03,
[.18; .31]
β = .07
SE = .01,
[.05; .09]
β = −.13
SE = .03,
[−.19; −.07]
β = .28
SE = .03,
[.22; .34]
β = .38
SE = .04,
[.32; .45]
DD
β = .30 β = .08 β = .15 β = .34 β = .47
SE = .03, SE = .02, SE = .03, SE = .04, SE = .04,
[.23; .36] [.06; .11] [−.22; −.09] [.27; .42] [.40; .54]
AO
β = .13 β = .19
SE = .04, SE = .04,
[.06; .21] [.12; .26]
LOSD
β = .08 β = .15
SE = .04, SE = .04,
[.01; .15] [−.22; −.07]
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 255
Direct effect
Posit.
Att.
β = .46 β = −.33 β = .73
SE = .0 7, SE = .07, SE = .05,
[.32; .59] [−.46; −.20] [.62; .83]
EW
β = .48 β = .15
SE = .04, SE = .03,
[.41; .56] [−.21; −.09]
AS
β = .38
SE = .04,
[.32; .45]
DD
β = .47
SE = .04,
[.40; .54]
Indirect effect
Posit.
Att.
β = .17 β = .18
SE = .03, SE = .03,
[.11; .24] [.12; .23]
EW
β = .31 β = .09 β = .16 β = .35
SE = .04, SE = .02, SE = .03, SE = .04,
[.24; .37] [.06; .12] [−.22; −.10] [.27; .43]
AS
β = .24 β = .07 β = .13 β = .28
SE = .03, SE = . 01, SE = .03, SE = .04,
[.18; .31] [.05; .09] [−.19; −.07] [.22; .34]
DD
β = .30 β = .08 β = .15 β = .34
SE = .03, SE = .02, SE = .03, SE = .04,
[.23; .36] [.06; .11] [−.22; −.09] [.27; .42]
Note: The 95% condence intervals for bootstrap are given in square brackets. For SA, AO
and LOSD the direct effect has the same values as the total effect.
Source: Author’s research.
Model 2 (Fig. 2) illustrates the relationship between the dimensions of empa-
thy, gratitude, and negative attitudes that parents display towards their children.
A detailed SEM analysis showed that personal distress and child age (positively)
and perspective taking (negatively) had the strongest direct relationships with
punitive attitude. The level of empathy (especially PD and PT) and the age of the
child (the older the children, the more frequent the parents’ attitude) explained
13% of the variation in authoritarian attitude. Gratitude had no signicant direct
or indirect relationship with parent’s harsh upbringing of their children.
A similar relationship was discovered for the permissive attitude. The permis-
sive attitude is directly explained by empathy, but gratitude does not mediate
this relationship. PT, EC, and child age directly negatively and PD positively ex-
plain permissive discipline among Polish parents. The total percentage of vari-
ance explained for permissive discipline by these variables was 9%.
256 Agnieszka Lasota
Figure 2. The full model of empathy, gratitude, and negative parental attitudes
Note: The lines indicate statistically signicant paths p <.001, ** p <.01, * p <.05.
Source: Author’s research.
Anxious intrusiveness appears to have a direct positive relationship with
two dimensions of empathy: empathic concern and personal distress, and one
dimension of gratitude: simple appreciation. A negative signicant relation-
ship was also found between AI and lack of a sense of deprivation and child age.
According to the mediation analysis, empathic concern was signicantly in-
directly related to anxious intrusiveness via simple appreciation. Perspective
taking, although not directly related to AI, has an indirect effect on this atti-
tude via LOSD and SA. Personal distress has a weak positive direct relationship
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 257
with AI and an indirect relationship via LOSD. The total percentage of variance
explained by these variables in Polish parents’ anxious intrusiveness was 13%.
The standardised total, direct and indirect effects are shown in Table 6.
Table 6. Standardised total and indirect effect of empathy and gratitude on negative
parental attitudes
EC PT PD LOSD SA Children
Age
Total Effect
SA
β = .24, β = .24
SE = .04, SE = .03,
[.16; .31] [.17; .31]
LOSD
β = .08 β = .15
SE = .04, SE = .04,
[.01; .15] [−.22; −.07]
AO
β = .11 β = .21 β = .12
SE = .04, SE = .04, SE = .04,
[.03; .19] [.13; .28] [.05; .19]
PD
β = −.17 β = .29 β = .14
SE = .04, SE = .03, SE = .04,
[−.24; −.11] [.22; .35] [.07; .21]
AI
β = .22 β = .02 β = .10 β = −.16 β = .13 β = .15
SE = .034, SE = . 01, SE = .04, SE = .03, SE = .04, SE = .04,
[.15; .29] [−.01; .04] [.03; .17] [−.23; −.09] [.06; .21] [−.22; −.09]
PerD
β = −.11 β = −.10 β = .23 β = .12
SE = .04, SE = .04, SE = .03, SE = .04,
[−.18; −.03] [−.18; −.02] [.17; .30] [−.19; −.05]
DE
AI
β = .19 β = .08 β = −.16 β = .13 β = .15
SE = .04, SE = .04, SE = .03, SE = .04, SE = .04,
[.11; .27] [.01; .15] [−.23; −.09] [.06; .21] [−.22; −.09]
IE
AI
β = .03 β = .02 β = .02
SE = .01, SE = . 01, SE = .01,
[.01; .06] [−.01; .04] [.01; .04]
Note: The 95% condence intervals for bootstrap are given in square brackets. For
SA, AO, LOSD, PD and PerD the direct effect has the same values as the total
effect. DE – direct effect, IE – indirect effect.
Source: Author’s research.
258 Agnieszka Lasota
6. Discussion
This study examined the relationship between empathy, gratitude, and
positive and negative parental attitudes using SEM analysis. The present nd-
ings suggest that the intensity of parental behaviour towards their children
may be due to their level of empathy and gratitude. Empathetic and grate-
ful parents are more likely to present attitudes such as emotional warmth,
democratic discipline, and autonomy support, and less likely to demonstrate
negative attitudes such as permissive or punitive discipline. It should also
be emphasised that effective parenting is essential for a children’s social,
emotional, cognitive and physical development (Phillips, Conners and Curt-
ner-Smith, 2017, p. 10).
With regard to the hypotheses, it should be noted that most of the hypoth-
eses were partially supported. The rst hypothesis regarding a direct rela-
tionship between empathy and positive attitudes was conrmed partially. It
appeared that empathic concern and personal distress were direct predictors
of attitudes, whereas perspective taking was only indirectly related to posi-
tive attitudes. The second and third hypotheses were also conrmed partially.
Only simple appreciation was directly related to emotional warmth, autonomy
support and democratic discipline. Simple appreciation was also a signicant
mediator in the relationship between cognitive and affective empathy and
positive parental attitudes.
The results of this study indicate that, of the variables tested, experienc-
ing gratitude, especially appreciating simple pleasures, has the greatest im-
portance for the intensifying positive parental behaviour towards children.
Affective empathy (EC) is also of great importance for positive attitudes. More
empathetic parents tend to show more warmth, love, and acceptance towards
their children. Moreover, the parents’ ability to take the perspective of oth-
ers and empathise with them is positively related to the appreciation of sim-
ple pleasures in daily life. Numerous studies (Eisenberg and Valiente, 2002,
pp. 117–123; Plopa, 2008, pp. 45–62; Power, 2013, pp. S14–S19) conrm that par-
enting style characterised by warmth, support, communication, and involve-
ment are associated with positive child development.
The detailed analysis of our results conrmed that the different dimen-
sions of empathy are directly related to different attitudes in parents. Affec-
tive empathy seems to be most strongly associated with emotional warmth
followed by democratic discipline and autonomy support, whereas personal
distress weakens all positive parental dimensions. These ndings are in line
with previous studies (Meng et al., 2020, pp. 92 and 96). It has been found
Toward positive parenting: Exploring the relationship between empathy 259
that parents who are better able to recognise their children’s current emo-
tional experiences are able to provide sensitive and exible care and sup-
port, resulting in fewer emotional and behavioural problems in childhood
(Meng et al., 2020, p. 96). Our ndings also indicate that gratitude plays a sig-
nicant role in explaining positive parental attitudes. Appreciating simple
pleasures in everyday life strengthens all three positive attitudes in parents.
Empathic concern and simple appreciation were found to be the strongest
predictors of positive parental attitudes, while personal distress was a neg-
ative predictor. Parental cognitive empathy is not as important as affective
empathy. Children need parental warmth and love for good parenting. On
the other hand, parents’ coping with their own negative emotions and low
levels of personal distress also contribute to better attitudes and behaviour
towards children.
The next three hypotheses assuming a relationship between empathy, grat-
itude, and negative parental attitudes were also partially supported. Cognitive
empathy was not directly related to anxious intrusiveness, and emotional em-
pathy was not a predictor of punitive discipline. Appreciation of others was
not a signicant predictor or mediator of the relationship between empathy
and negative parental attitudes. The other two dimensions of gratitude (SA
and LOSD) were found to be mediators between empathy and anxious intru-
siveness.
The SEM model of negative attitudes showed that both punitive and per-
missive parents were characterised by a high level of personal distress and
a low level of cognitive empathy. These parents nd it difcult to take another
person’s perspective, and are also unable to cope with personal anxiety and
discomfort in response to distress in others. This is consistent with previous
research (Bi and Keller, 2021, pp. 10371–10392) suggesting that parental empa-
thy is negatively correlated with parental psychological control. Furthermore,
difculties in emotion regulation may lead parents to experience more neg-
ative emotions and secondarily contribute to behavioural problems in their
children (Meng et al., 2020, p. 96). These negative parental behaviours are not
signicantly directly associated with the level of parental gratitude.
Anxious intrusiveness is reinforced by the level of affective empathy and
appreciation of simple pleasures, as well as a lack of sense of abundance and
personal distress. This attitude was more prevalent among parents of young
children; these parents were more likely to feel anxious, to protect their chil-
dren, to often relieve their children, and to limit their independence; in addi-
tion, they may feel tired from caring for their children all day and lack time for
themselves, and thus have a low level of LOSD. As the two dimensions of grat-
260 Agnieszka Lasota
itude appeared to play a mediating role in the relationship between empathy
and anxiety-protective attitudes, these ndings support previous ndings
(Lasota and Mróz, 2023, p. 137) that this attitude among Polish parents has
a positive direction and its characteristics are more similar to those of posi-
tive attitudes than negative ones. Furthermore, present ndings conrm that
the age of the child is also a signicant factor in parenting practices and be-
haviour. Parents of younger children seem to be more likely to be permissive
or over-protective, while parents of older children are more likely to use pu-
nitive discipline.
7. Conclusions
The results of these studies show that empathy and gratitude are related
to positive and negative parental attitudes. In addition, empathy is related to
positive parental attitudes both directly and indirectly through gratitude, es-
pecially through simple appreciation, which reinforces parents’ positive atti-
tudes towards children. The present ndings recommend that parents should
use positive parenting dimensions more often and avoid extremely negative
ones; they should also strengthen the experience of empathy and gratitude
in everyday life. The ability to experience and express empathy and gratitude
begins in childhood but continues throughout life (Freitas et al., 2021, p. 3868).
Increased gratitude promotes the strengthening of internal resources that
serve as the basis for an optimistic world view and pro-social tendencies (De-
Wall et al., 2012, p. 233). Parents’ experience of empathy and gratitude not only
supports the development of empathy and gratitude in their children but also
contributes to healthier and better parenting.
Data wpłynięcia: 2023-10-20;
Data uzyskania pozytywnych recenzji: 2024-06-20;
Data przesłania do druku: 2024-12-18.
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