Self-development for emerging adults as influenced by mindful parenting during life transitions and stressful life events

This study investigates how emerging adults\u27 perceptions of their biological parents influence their self-development. Their perceptions of parents focus on four dimensions that have been associated with healthy interactions in other relational contexts. These dimensions are perceived empathy, regard, unconditionality, and mattering. Taken together, these four dimensions are referred to as the Mindful Parenting framework. To advance our understanding of how these four variables are linked with stressful life events and self-perception, this study first tests a full structural model and then several additional tests for mediation and moderation. ^ A test of the full model supported the hypothesis that the presence of Mindful Parenting is positively associated with self-perception for emerging adults. Further tests reveal that Mindful Parenting as represented by four dimensions of experience mediates the relationship between stressful events and self-perception for emerging adults. The data suggests that the sex of parent may have a moderating effect on the perception of Mindful Parenting. That is, further inspection of the model revealed that while being female appears to interact with the perception of mindfulness, there is also greater variability in how females perceive mothers as compared to how they perceive fathers.