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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2015 Nov 4;46(5):721–731. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2015.1063430

Parental Predictors of Children’s Shame and Guilt at Age 6 in a Multi-Method, Longitudinal Study

Alyssa Parisette-Sparks a, Sara J Bufferd a,*, Daniel N Klein b
PMCID: PMC4854809  NIHMSID: NIHMS708138  PMID: 26538055

Abstract

Objective

Shame and guilt are self-conscious emotions that begin to develop early in life and are associated with various forms of psychopathology. However, little is known about the factors that contribute to these emotions in young children. Specifically, no longitudinal studies to date have examined a range of parent factors that shape the expression of children’s shame and guilt. The current multi-method, longitudinal study sought to determine whether parenting style, parental psychopathology, and parents’ marital satisfaction assessed when children were age 3 predict expressions of shame and guilt in children at age 6.

Method

A large community sample of families (N = 446; 87.4% Caucasian) with three-year-old children (45.7% female) was recruited through commercial mailing lists. Parent variables were assessed when children were age 3 with mother- and father-report questionnaires and a diagnostic interview. Children’s expressions of shame and guilt were observed in the laboratory at age 6.

Results

Fathers’, but not mothers’, history of depression and permissive parenting assessed when children were age 3 predicted children’s expressions of shame and guilt when children were age 6; parents’ marital dissatisfaction also predicted children’s shame and guilt.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that parents, and fathers in particular, contribute to expressions of self-conscious emotions in children. These data on emotional development may be useful for better characterizing the risk and developmental pathways of psychopathology.

Keywords: Shame, guilt, laboratory observation, early childhood, parents

Shame and guilt, two forms of self-conscious emotions, can influence various elements of functioning, including social behavior, self-attributions, and well-being, in both adaptive and non-adaptive ways (Eisenberg, 2000; Kochanska, Barry, Jimenez, Hollatz, & Woodard, 2009; Mills, 2005; Muris & Meesters, 2014; Stuewig et al., 2015; Tracy & Robins, 2004; Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007). These emotions have been associated with both internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in children (Kochanksa et al., 2009; Luby et al., 2009; Mills et al., 2015; Muris, Meesters, Bouwman, & Notermans, 2015), adolescents (De Rubeis & Hollenstein, 2009; Stuewig et al., 2015; Tilghman-Osborne, Cole, Felton, & Ciesla, 2008) and adults (Fergus, Valentiner, McGrath, & Jencius, 2010; Kim, Thibodeau, & Jorgensen, 2011; Shahar, 2001; Treeby & Bruno, 2012; Woien, Ernst, Patock-Peckham, & Nagoshi, 2003). Shame and guilt, which require the ability to reflect on behavior and evaluate the self, are first evident in toddlerhood and continue to develop over time as children form a more stable sense of self (Barrett, Zahn-Waxler, & Cole, 1993; Eisenberg, 2000; Thompson, Goodvin, & Meyer, 2006). Although Kochanska and colleagues’ have an impressive body of work on early childhood guilt as related to conscience and callous-unemotional traits (e.g., Aksan & Kochanska, 2005; Kochanska, Gross, Lin, & Nichols, 2002; Kim, Kochanska, Boldt, Nordling, & O'Bleness, 2014; Kochanska, Koenig, Barry, Kim, & Yoon, 2010; Kochanksa et al., 2009), few researchers have examined expressions of self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt in young children (Denham, 2007) or the factors that contribute to these emotions (Mills, 2005; Luby et al., 2009). In particular, despite notable research on parent-child relationships and children’s conscience and callous-unemotional traits (e.g., Kochanska, 1997a; Kochanska, Kim, Boldt, & Yoon, 2013), there are few studies that examine both maternal and paternal factors that influence the development and expression of shame and guilt in young children (Muris & Meesters, 2014). Research on factors that contribute to emotional development is essential to better characterize developmental pathways of psychopathology (Cole, Luby, & Sullivan, 2008; Mills, 2005; Muris, 2015).

Experiences and expressions of shame and guilt rely, in part, on the development of self-concept. A sense of self appears around age 2 (Barrett et al., 1993; 1998; Lewis, 2000) and continues to develop as children start to form increasingly more stable self-concepts around age 3 (Eisenberg, 2000; Kochanska et al., 2002; Thompson et al., 2006). These processes unfold as children develop the capacity to evaluate the self, differentiate between themselves and others, empathize with others, and understand social and moral standards (Denham, 2007; Eisenberg et al., 2006; Muris & Meesters, 2014). When committing transgressions toward others, children develop the capacity to identify their role in others’ distress and modify their responses to transgressions. During toddlerhood, responses can begin to reflect guilt-motivated behavior (e.g., reparations to mend transgressions; confessions for harmful acts) and/or shame reactions (e.g., feeling badly about oneself; avoidance of the person who was transgressed upon) (Barrett et al., 1993; Cole, Barrett, & Zahn-Waxler, 1992; Kochanska, DeVet, Goldman, Murray, & Putnam, 1994). These responses become more pronounced during the preschool period as children’s cognitive, language, and social development advances. Therefore, early childhood is an informative developmental period in which to examine the emergence of shame and guilt and the factors associated with their expression.

However, it remains unclear whether shame and guilt can be distinguished in young children (Barrett, 1998). In general, some argue that guilt is an adaptive emotion that reflects pro-social values and motivates reparative behavior, whereas shame is maladaptive and overly self-focused, resulting in defensiveness, avoidance, and reduced empathy for others (Bafunno & Camodeca, 2013; Eisenberg, 2000; Tangney, Wagner, Hil-Barlow, Marschall, & Gramzow, 1996). Alternatively, others argue that both emotions are adaptive, and that extreme levels of either may be problematic (Ferguson & Stegge, 1995; Ferguson, Stegge, Eyre, Vollmer, & Ashbaker, 2000; Muris & Meesters, 2014). Self-reported shame and guilt can be distinguished in older children and adults (Eisenberg, 2000; Kim, Thibodeau, & Jorgensen, 2011; Olthof, Schouten, Kuiper, Stegge, & Jennekens-Schinkel, 2000; Stuewig et al., 2015; Tangney, 1993); these findings are consistent with theories that shame is an emotion focused on the self whereas guilt is focused on others and/or behavior (though the events that elicit these emotions appear to be similar; Tangney, 1992). However, aside from very limited support (Bafunno & Camodeca, 2013; Barrett, Zahn-Waxler, & Cole, 1993), there is little evidence that this distinction can be made in early childhood (Kochanska et al., 2002). In addition, unlike youth in middle childhood and beyond, young children have difficulty reliably reporting on emotions associated with experiences that elicit shame and guilt (Denham & Couchoud, 1991; Harris, Olthof, Terwogt, & Hardman, 1987; Tangney, 1998). Therefore, in the present study, shame and guilt will be analyzed as a single construct using an observational measure.

There have been few investigations of parental factors that may be associated with shame and guilt in children, and studies with young children are particularly scarce (with the exception of work with maltreated children; e.g., Alessandri & Lewis, 1996; Bennett, Sullivan, & Lewis, 2005). It is thought that self-conscious emotions develop in conjunction with feedback from others about whether the child is accepted and lovable. In young children, feedback is provided primarily by caregivers, suggesting that factors like negative parenting, parental psychopathology, and parental marital dissatisfaction may interfere with healthy development of these processes (Mills, 2005; Muris & Meester, 2014). Such factors may increase the likelihood of children feeling unaccepted, ignored and/or falling short of parenting expectations and more prone to shame and guilt (Feiring, 2005; Lewis, 1992; Loader, 1998).

Parenting has consistently been found to be associated with children’s socioemotional functioning (Aunola & Nurmi, 2005; Gartstein & Fagot, 2003; Morris et al., 2002). However, less work has examined specific associations between parenting and young children’s expressions of shame and guilt. Retrospective studies of caregiving in childhood found that adults who reported receiving low parental caring and attention, and greater indifference and rejection were more prone to feel shame (Claesson & Sohlberg, 2002; Gilbert, Allan, & Goss, 1996; Lutwak & Ferrari, 1997). Studies with toddlers (Kelley, Brownell, & Campbell, 2000) and older children (Han & Kim, 2012; Stuewig & McCloskey, 2005) also suggest that negative and rejecting parents who provide little positive feedback have children at increased risk for shame expression. However, there have been few prospective longitudinal studies examining associations between parenting and children’s shame and guilt. One study that followed children from 18 to 56 months found that children of mothers who used more assertive discipline were less likely to display guilt than other children (Kochanska et al., 2002). In another study on shame in young girls from ages 3 to 5, maternal and paternal authoritarian parenting (demanding, harsh, unresponsive parenting) predicted girls’ shame responses (Mills, 2003). Mills and colleagues (Mills, Arbeau, Lall, & De Jaeger, 2010) also found that maternal shaming predicted shame responses in children from preschool to school age.

Parental psychopathology is another factor that may be related to shame and guilt in young children. However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined this link. There is ample evidence that parental psychopathology is associated with children’s emotional and behavioral problems (e.g., Beidel & Turner, 1997; Clark & Cornelius, 2004; Connell & Goodman, 2002; Kane & Garber, 2009; Ramchandani, Stein, Evans, & O'Connor, 2005; Ramchandani et al., 2008; Tompson et al., 2010). In addition, parents with psychiatric disorders often exhibit the types of negative parenting described above that may be related to children’s shame and guilt (e.g., indifference, rejection, harshness; Alessandri & Lewis 1996; Bennett et al. 2005; Stuewig & McCloskey 2005). In particular, there is evidence that parental depression is related to children’s shame and guilt in samples of school age children and adolescents (Rakow et al., 2011) and 5- to 9-year-old children (Zahn-Waxler et al., 1990).

Finally, parental marital dissatisfaction may contribute to young children’s shame and guilt as well. Although there is ample evidence that marital difficulties contribute to children’s maladjustment (Cummings & Davies, 2002; Zimet & Jacob, 2001), particularly internalizing difficulties (Rhoades, 2008), research has not directly explored the association between parental marital dissatisfaction and shame/guilt in young children. Studies that examined self-conscious emotions in older children exposed to marital conflict identified a range of negative emotions including shame and self-blame in both cross-sectional (Grych, 1998) and longitudinal analyses (Grych, Harold, & Miles, 2003). Children who live in an environment marked by parental dissatisfaction may feel less secure and more attuned to threat and censure from their parents (e.g., criticism, irritability) even if the source of the dissatisfaction is the parent’s partner, not the child. Young children may be particularly prone to attribute blame to themselves given their growing care/concern for others coupled with a limited ability to understand the nature of the difficulties. Further, although self-concept is emerging, young children also have egocentric tendencies in which they merge their sense of self with others and may experience their dissatisfied parent(s)’ distress vicariously (Kagan, 2001; Zahn-Waxler, Kochanska, Krupnick, & McKnew, 1990; Zahn-Waxler & Radke-Yarrow, 1990). Therefore, young children of parents with marital dissatisfaction may blame themselves for the marital distress, leading to feelings of shame and guilt.

To our knowledge, no studies have examined prospective associations between a range of parent variables and shame and guilt in a large community sample of young children. Prospective studies are necessary to better characterize the factors that contribute to the development of these self-conscious emotions (Mills, 2005) that may contribute to risk for psychopathology. The current multi-method, longitudinal study assesses whether maternal and paternal history of negative parenting styles, depression, and low marital satisfaction assessed when children were age 3 predict children’s expressions of shame and guilt at age 6. Given the evidence described above, we predict that authoritarian and permissive parenting, parental depression, and marital dissatisfaction will be associated with children’s subsequent expressions of shame and guilt.

Method

Participants

A large community sample (N = 559) of families with three-year-old children with at least one English speaking biological parent located within 20 miles of Stony Brook University (a suburban community in Stony Brook, NY, US) was recruited through commercial mailing lists as a part of a larger study on temperament and psychopathology in children (Dougherty et al., 2011; Olino et al., 2010). Potentially eligible families were contacted by telephone to determine interest in participating and eligibility. Of eligible families, 66.4% entered the study. Families who agreed versus those who declined to participate did not differ significantly on child sex and race/ethnicity, and parental marital status, education, and employment status. Eligible children did not have a developmental disability or significant medical condition. Participants were primarily Caucasian (87.4%) and 51.0% of mothers and 47.5% of fathers had at least a four-year college degree. Parent variables were assessed when children were age 3 (M age = 3.5 years, SD = 0.3) by telephone interviews and self-report questionnaires in up to 540 parents (96.6% of the total sample; ns vary by measure; see below). Children’s shame and guilt were assessed in the laboratory at age 6 (M age = 6.1 years, SD = 0.4; 45.7% female). Of the 540 children of parents who completed at least one of the parent measures in the age 3 assessment, 446 (82.6%) participated in the laboratory assessment of shame/guilt at age 6. At the age 3 assessment, caregivers were nearly all mothers (406/409 responses on this question = 99.3%), though most families included fathers as primary caregivers as well (335/409 responses on this question = 81.9%). In addition, most parents worked outside the home (258/407 mothers who responded = 63.4% and 385/398 fathers who responded = 96.7%); mothers worked an average of 28.60 hours per week (SD = 12.23) and fathers worked an average of 45.23 hours per week (SD = 10.35). At the age 6 assessment, primary caregivers were once again nearly all mothers (376/378 responses on this question = 99.5%), though most families continued to include fathers as primary caregivers as well (294/378 responses on this question = 77.8%). In addition, most parents worked outside the home (235/369 mothers who responded = 63.7% and 344/359 fathers who responded = 95.8%); mothers worked an average of 27.94 hours per week (SD = 10.56) and fathers worked an average of 45.44 hours per week (SD = 10.56). At the age 3 assessment, of the 410 parents who reported their marital status, 89.0% were married (n = 365); at the age 6 assessment, of the 379 parents who reported their marital status, 89.2% were married (n = 338).

There were no significant differences between families who did and did not participate in the laboratory observation on any of the demographic or independent (i.e., parent variables assessed at age 3) variables. Participant counts below reflect the total final sample, N = 446, which includes participants with at least one parent measure in the age 3 assessment with a child who participated in the laboratory assessment at age 6. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board. Parental consent was obtained and participants were compensated for their time.

Measures

Parental Psychopathology

When children were age 3, 443 (99.3%) mothers and 375 (84.1%) fathers completed the non-patient Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV (SCID; First, Gibbon, Spitzer, & Williams, 1996). If a parent was unavailable, family history interviews were conducted with the co-parent. The SCID, a widely used diagnostic interview, was administered by telephone by masters-level clinicians to assess parents’ lifetime history of depression: 32.7% of mothers and 15.2% of fathers met criteria for a lifetime depression diagnosis. Based on audiotapes of 30 randomly selected interviews, inter-rater reliability (kappa) for lifetime diagnoses was .93 for depressive disorders.

Parenting

When children were age 3, 414 (92.8%) mothers and 341 (76.5%) fathers completed the 37-item Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ; Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen, & Hart, 2001) to assess three parenting styles: authoritative (warm, supportive, and establishes structure/limits), authoritarian (unsupportive, controlling, and punitive), and permissive (warm but lacking structure, boundaries, and consequences). This measure shows good psychometric properties (Olivari, Tagliabue, & Confalonieri, 2013). Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for authoritative style was .82 and .87 (15 items; M = 61.00, SD = 6.61; M = 56.41, SD = 8.36) for mothers and fathers, respectively; .74 and .78 for authoritarian (12 items; M = 20.01, SD = 4.34; M = 20.55, SD = 4.66); and .74 and .70 for permissive (5 items; M = 10.70, SD = 3.19; M = 11.25, SD = 3.27).

Marital Satisfaction

The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS; Spanier, 1976), a well-established measure of marital satisfaction with good psychometric properties (Graham, Liu, & Jeziorski; 2006) was completed by 311 mothers (69.7%; M = 111.93, SD = 19.19; Minimum = 27.00; Maximum = 149.00) and 283 fathers (63.5%; M = 111.85, SD = 16.56; Minimum = 42.00; Maximum = 146.00) to assess marital satisfaction when children were age 3; lower scores suggest lower levels of marital satisfaction. The lowest DAS score from either parent was used; if the DAS was available for only one parent, that score was used (n = 370; 83.0%; M = 108.09, SD = 18.71; Minimum = 27.00; Maximum = 146.00). Of the reports, 51.1% (189/370) of fathers and 45.9% (170/370) of mothers contributed the lowest DAS score (2.4% of the sample [9/370] had the same scores for mothers and fathers). Internal consistency (alpha) was .95 and .94 for mothers and fathers, respectively.

Shame and Guilt in Children

When children were age 6, they participated in a structured observational assessment based on the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB; Goldsmith, Reilly, Lemery, Longley, & Prescott, 1995). One of the tasks was designed to elicit expressions of shame and guilt. In this task, the children were introduced to a laboratory accomplice’s “favorite” photograph. The accomplice left the room and the experimenter instructed the child to tear the photograph and waited for up to several minutes for a response. The accomplice then returned; if the photo had been torn, the accomplice showed a concerned expression and asked the child what had happened. The accomplice then left the room briefly before returning with an additional copy of the photo and reassuring the child. If the child did not tear the photo, the experimenter praised the decision. At the end of the task, the experimenter apologized to the child and the accomplice for asking the child to tear the picture.

Children’s behavior was video recorded and each instance of a verbal, facial, and bodily expression of shame or guilt was coded. Two graduate students and a Bachelor’s level project manager served as “expert” coders and trained three undergraduate research assistants (RAs) on the coding scheme. Training included careful review of the coding protocol, joint coding sessions between expert and RA coders, and then individual RA coding sessions in which an expert would review the coding. Once RAs reached at least 80% agreement with expert coders, they were permitted to code on their own with ongoing supervision to ensure reliability among coders.

As described above, shame and guilt are difficult to distinguish in young children, hence both emotions were coded together. Verbal expressions of shame/guilt included comments such as “I shouldn’t have done it”; facial expressions included behaviors such as children’s eyes lowered with an averted gaze; and bodily expressions included behaviors such as collapsed, inward body posture. Verbal, facial, and bodily scores were summed to create a composite shame/guilt variable (M = 1.12, SD = 1.66; Minimum = 0; Maximum = 12). Interrater reliability, indexed by the intraclass correlation coefficient, was .54 (n = 35). This value falls in the fair range (Shrout, 1998).

Results

Of the children, 120 (26.9%) did not tear the photo, 30 (6.7%) tore a small part of the photo (e.g., the corner), and 296 (66.4%) tore the photo into two or more pieces. Children’s expressions of shame and guilt differed depending on whether they tore the photo in the task, F (2, 443) = 34.72, p < .001 (η2= .14). Using a post-hoc Sheffé test, children who did not tear the photo showed significantly less shame/guilt (M=0.16, SD=0.07) than children who tore a small part of the photo (M=2.13, SD=1.83) and children who tore the photo into two or more pieces (M=1.42, SD=1.76), p < .001; the difference between the latter two groups was significant at the trend level, p = .06, with children who tore a small part of the photo showing the highest mean level of shame/guilt. These findings provide evidence for the construct validity of our measure. Results below did not vary when adjusting for the extent to which the child tore the photo. Children’s expressions of shame and guilt did not vary by their sex, race/ethnicity, parents’ education or parents’ marital status, all ps ≥ .30 (see Table 1) or by the child’s age (r = −.04, p = .40).

Table 1.

Associations Between Demographic Variables and Children’s Shame/Guilt

Demographic variable Shame/Guilt
M (SD) 		t p
Sex Female 1.22 (1.89) 1.05 .30
Male 1.05 (1.45)
Race White 1.11 (1.67) −0.46 .67
Non-White 1.21 (1.68)
Maternal education Graduated College 1.08 (1.62) −0.80 .42
Did not Graduate College 1.22 (1.72)
Paternal education Graduated College 1.18 (1.76) 0.55 .59
Did not Graduate College 1.09 (1.57)
Parental Marital Status Married 1.13 (1.65) −0.36 .72
Not Married 1.22 (1.69)
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Note. M = Mean; SD = Standard Deviation.

Correlations between each pair of parent variables are presented in Table 2. A lifetime history of depression in fathers was associated with expressions of shame and guilt in children, t (373) = 2.06, p = .04 (Cohen’s d = .21): children of fathers with a history of depression showed more shame/guilt in the laboratory (M = 1.53, SD = 2.08) than children of fathers without a history of depression (M = 1.06, SD = 1.62; difference in means = .47; 95% confidence interval [CI] of the difference = .02–.92). Mothers’ history of depression was not associated with children’s shame/guilt, t (441) = −.75, p = .46 (Cohen’s d = −.07): children of mothers with a history of depression showed similar levels of shame/guilt in the laboratory (M = 1.04, SD = 1.54) as children of mothers without a history of depression (M = 1.18, SD = 1.73; difference in means = .13; 95% CI of the difference = −.20–.46).

Table 2.

Correlations Between Parent Variables

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Maternal Depression .12* .02 .02 .05 −.03 .07 .11* −.13**
2. Paternal Depression -- .00 .06 .13** .06 .08 .13** −.21***
  PSDQ: Mother
3. Authoritative -- −.17** −.10 .25*** −.13* −.02 .21***
4. Authoritarian -- .39*** −.06 .33*** .22*** −.13*
5. Permissive -- .07 .15** .35*** −.10
  PSDQ: Father
6. Authoritative -- −.26*** −.05 −.16**
7. Authoritarian -- .27*** −.16**
8. Permissive -- −.15**
9. Marital Satisfaction --
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Note: Pearson correlations were computed between continuous variables and Tau-b correlations were computed between categorical and continuous variables. PSDQ: Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire.

*

p < .05;

**

p < .01;

***

p < .001

Fathers’ permissive parenting at age 3 also predicted children’s shame/guilt at age 6, r = .14, p = .01. Fathers’ authoritative (r = −.04), authoritarian (r = .08), and mothers’ authoritative (r = −.06), authoritarian (r = −.02), and permissive (r = .02) parenting styles did not predict children’s shame/guilt at age 6, all ps ≥ .15.

Lastly, parents’ marital satisfaction (i.e., the score of the least satisfied spouse) when children were age 3 was significantly associated with children’s shame/guilt at age 6, r = −.14, p = .01.1

In a multivariate analysis with the significant predictors (Table 3), only parents’ marital satisfaction was uniquely associated with children’s shame/guilt at age 6; fathers’ permissive parenting at age 3 was significant at the trend level. Fathers’ history of depression was not uniquely associated with children’s later shame/guilt.

Table 3.

Multivariate Analysis with Significant Variables from Bivariate Analyses Predicting Children’s Shame/Guilt

B SE t p
Parent variable
Fathers’ Permissive Parenting .06 .03 1.82 .07†
Fathers’ History of Depression .27 .28 0.94 .35
Parents’ Marital Satisfaction −.01 .01 −2.14 .03*
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†

p < .10;

*

p < .05

In order to determine if the associations between parent variables and child shame/guilt was moderated by child sex, interactions were examined between each parent variable and child sex in predicting children’s shame/guilt. None of the interactions were significant.

Discussion

This is the first study to assess multiple parental predictors of young children’s expressions of shame and guilt using a multi-method, longitudinal design. It was hypothesized that parent variables, including negative parenting style, parental psychopathology, and marital dissatisfaction assessed when children were age 3 would be associated with expressions of shame and guilt when children were age 6. We found that fathers’ permissive parenting and depression, and parents’ marital dissatisfaction predicted children’s expressions of shame and guilt in the laboratory three years later.

Of mothers’ and fathers’ self-reported parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive), only fathers' permissive parenting predicted children's shame and guilt in this study. Unlike Mills (2003) and others (Alessandri & Lewis, 1996; Kelley, Brownell, & Campbell, 2000; Stuewig & McCloskey, 2005), who found that harsh parenting predicted shame in children, we did not find that authoritarian parenting was associated with shame and guilt in this study. However, only Mills’ (2003) study included fathers, and although several studies incorporated observational and questionnaire methods similar to ours, the particular measures used were different than the present study. Our findings may be consistent with studies finding that parental indifference is linked to children’s difficulties with self-conscious emotions (Claesson & Sohlberg 2002; Gilbert, Cheung, Grandfield, Campey, & Irons, 2003; Han & Kim 2012). In addition, Kochanska et al. (2002) reported that children of mothers who used more assertive parenting were less prone to guilt than other children, suggesting that a more permissive parenting style may have the reverse impact.

Permissive parenting is characterized by parental warmth coupled with low involvement and few demands (e.g., few and inconsistent rules and consequences), often leaving children to regulate their emotional experiences on their own. Permissive parenting may be related to shame and guilt in at least three ways. First, children of permissive parents who do not provide feedback about children’s transgressions (e.g., by ignoring all misbehavior) may not have the opportunity to develop healthy emotional responding and incorporate misbehavior into their sense of self in an adaptive manner. Second, and related to this point, discipline ideally elicits mild, temporary negative emotions in children to increase the salience of appropriate behavior (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998). Permissive parents may not engage in this type of discipline, and impair children’s ability to accurately detect transgressions, evaluate them and understand their role in the events, and regulate their emotions with assistance from parents. Finally, if permissive parenting communicates to children that they are not important or worthy of their parents’ attention, children may internalize these feelings and inappropriately blame and devalue themselves (Leary, Koch, & Hechenbleikner, 2001).

In this study, only fathers’ permissive parenting predicted children’s shame and guilt. These findings are consistent with research suggesting that parenting practices vary between mothers and fathers and can differentially impact children’s development (Jewell et al., 2008; Lindsey & Mize, 2001; Winsler, Madigan, & Aquilino, 2005). On average, fathers are more often involved in disciplining children compared to mothers, and those children whose fathers discipline them generally have less difficulties than children with fathers who set fewer limits (Leve & Fagot, 1997; Platz, Pupp, & Fox, 1997). Therefore, fathers’ permissiveness may contribute to children's problematic emotional development by, as mentioned above, conveying to children that their behaviors are not worthy of their fathers’ attention and limit children’s ability to integrate information from parents into their sense of self. Shame- and/or guilt-prone children may be particularly likely to evaluate themselves poorly in the face of transgressions without more nuanced, accurate feedback from parents.

Despite evidence in studies of older children that links maternal psychopathology and socioemotional functioning (e.g., Boyle & Pickles, 1997; Goodman et al., 2011; Kouros & Garber, 2010; Tompson et al., 2010), we found that the link between parental depression and children’s shame and guilt was limited to fathers. This finding is at odds with research with mothers and fathers indicating that maternal depression is more strongly associated with child emotional and behavioral problems than paternal depression (see Connell & Goodman, 2002 for a review), particularly in younger children (Natsuaki et al., 2014). However, our finding is consistent with a smaller set of studies that show that fathers’ depressive symptoms predict children’s socioemotional adjustment more so than mothers (Davé et al., 2008; Jacob & Johnson, 1997; 2001; Kane & Garber, 2009; Marchand & Hock, 1998; Ramchandani et al., 2008). Fathers with a history of depression may have greater difficulty than depressed mothers with expressing positive and adaptive responses to transgressions, which may interfere with children’s emotional development (Stuewig & McCloskey, 2005; Zahn-Waxler et al., 1990). Given that our findings suggest that fathers’ depression may impact the development of self-conscious emotions in children more than mothers’ depression and the limited data in this particular area, this topic is important for future research.

Finally, parental marital dissatisfaction was associated with children’s expressions of shame and guilt. Indeed, this was the strongest unique predictor in the multivariate analyses. We are not aware of any studies examining marital satisfaction and young children’s expressions of shame and guilt. However, these findings are consistent with studies that found that school-aged children exposed to marital conflict reported a range of negative emotions, including shame and self-blame (Grych, 1998; Grych et al., 2003). These findings are also consistent with research that identified that marital conflict partially mediated the association between parental depression and adverse outcomes in preschool- and early school-aged children in a large cohort (Gutierréz-Galve, Stein, Hanington, Heron, & Ramchandani, 2015; Hanington, Heron, Stein, & Ramchandani, 2012). Children of parents with marital dissatisfaction may blame themselves for the marital distress (Cummings & Davies, 2002; Zimet & Jacob, 2001), leading to feelings of guilt and shame; given young children’s tendency to view themselves as more enmeshed with others than older children, they may be particularly susceptible to such emotions.

Taken together, these findings suggest that paternal permissive parenting and depression may reflect fathers’ withdrawal and disengagement from the child, thereby contributing to children’s proneness to shame and guilt. In addition, fathers in conflictual, unsatisfying marriages tend to disengage from the relationship and family more so than mothers (Christensen & Heavey, 1990; Gottman, 1998) perhaps due to social expectations that mothers maintain emotional availability to children despite marital or other difficulties (Wang & Crane, 2001). This process may further contribute to fathers’ detachment and additionally influence children’s subsequent shame and guilt.

Strengths of this study include the use of multiple methods of assessment (i.e., structured diagnostic interviews, questionnaires, and structured laboratory observations), a large sample, a prospective longitudinal design, and the inclusion of both fathers and mothers. One limitation is the primarily Caucasian sample; although the demographics mirror that of the community, it is unclear if the results would generalize to a more diverse sample. Second, the assessment of shame and guilt was based on a single laboratory observation; future work should incorporate additional assessments to increase reliability of measurement and enhance the validity of the findings. Third, parenting style was assessed only with parent self-report, which may be subject to bias. Fourth, we did not obtain child self-report of their shame and/or guilt in addition to our laboratory measure. Although young children may have difficulty reporting about these types of emotions (Denham & Couchoud, 1991; Harris, Olthof, Terwogt, & Hardman, 1987; Tangney, 1998), recent work using a developmentally appropriate story stem assessment (Luby et al., 2009) suggests that these reports may add value to our understanding of shame and guilt. Fifth, the level of shame/guilt appears fairly low in the present sample (M = 1.12, SD = 1.66; Minimum = 0; Maximum = 12). However, given the absence of comparable studies, it is difficult to determine whether this level reflects the expected degree of shame/guilt in young children or the nature of the observational assessment. Self-conscious emotions such as shame and guilt appear to increase with age as children shift from focusing on reactions from others to developing increased self-awareness, self-representations, knowledge of social standards, and capacity for theory of mind in middle childhood (Muris & Meesters, 2014). Additional research is needed to better understand the range of rates of shame and guilt in early childhood. Finally, shame and guilt were not distinguished in this study, which may limit the ability to detect differential associations between shame, guilt, and later outcomes. However, existing research suggests that this may not be feasible so early in development.

This research contributes to the limited literature on parental factors that contribute to expressions of shame and guilt in young children. These findings emphasize the importance of fathers on children’s early development of self-conscious emotions. This may be an important developmental period in which to intervene to minimize possible negative impact of shame and guilt on children’s functioning and risk for psychopathology. Future research should include prospective longitudinal investigations through school age and beyond to further assess the impact of parents on the expression of shame and guilt in their children, as well as the associations between these emotions and later psychopathology and functioning. In addition, research on parental factors associated with children’s development of shame and guilt should assess child factors (e.g., temperament, psychopathology) that may contribute to this relation. For example, interactions between guilt and various temperament dimensions (e.g., effortful control, behavioral inhibition) have been identified (Aksan & Goldsmith, 2003; Bafunno & Camodeca, 2013; Cornell & Frick, 2007; Kochanska, 1997b; Kochanska et al., 2009). Finally, given the potentially unique impact of fathers on children’s shame and guilt in this study, researchers should make every effort to include both mothers and fathers in studies of children’s emotional development.

Acknowledgment

Funding: This research was supported by a National Institute of Mental Health grants R01 MH069942 (Klein), F31 MH084444 (Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award; Bufferd), and General Clinical Research Center grant M01 RR10710 (Stony Brook University, National Center for Research Resources). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.

Footnotes

1

When analyses were conducted separately for each parent’s DAS score, both sets of results were significant at a trend (p < .10) level.

Portions of this work were presented at the meetings of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI, July 31–August 4, 2013.

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

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