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Monica Pellerone,1 Calogero Iacolino,1 Giuseppe Mannino,2 Ivan Formica,3 Simona Maria Zabbara1 1Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, “Kore” University of Enna, Enna, Sicily, Italy; 2Department of Jurisprudence, “LUMSA” University, Rome, Italy; 3Department of Cognitive, Psychological, Pedagogical Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Study of Messina, Messina, Sicily, Italy Background: The literature emphasizes the role of early interpersonal experiences in the development of cognitive vulnerability; in particular, interruptions in early family relationships, parental unavailability and dysfunctional parenting are potential evolutionary precursors to negative cognitive style and emotional disorders.Materials and methods: This study measured the relationship of retrospective ratings on parental bonding with cognitive patterns in a group of Italian adults. The objectives of this study were as follows: to analyze the influence of age and education level on cognitive domains; to verify whether being parents and living at home with parents affect both parenting style and cognitive domains; to investigate how the type of the maternal and paternal parenting independently affects cognitive styles; to measure the predictive variables for the use of cognitive dysfunctional patterns and to investigate age as a moderating variable of the relation between parenting styles and cognitive domains in a group of adult men and women. The research involved 209 adults (118 males and 91 females) living in Sicily (Italy) aged between 20 and 60 years (M = 37.52; SD = 11.42). The research lasted for 1 year. The instruments used were the Parental Bonding Instrument to measure the perception of parenting during childhood and the Young Schema Questionnaire-3 to investigate cognitive patterns.Results: Data show that being a younger adult male with mother’s parenting style characterized by a lower level of nurturance is predictive of the disconnection and rejection domain, whereas, being a younger adult woman, with a higher level of maternal control is predictive of the impaired limits domain.Conclusion: This study underlines that because mothers and fathers establish different bonds with their children, care and control by both parents might impact different domains of development. Keywords: parenting, maladaptive cognitive domains, behavioral strategies, emotional responses