The Effect of Cognitions of Parental Expectations on University Students' Personality of Self-inhibition and Life Satisfaction: Focusing on Styles of Reaction to Expectations.

This study investigated how parental expectations for their college-age children were related to their children's reaction styles, self-inhibition, and life satisfaction. Undergraduate students (N=367) completed a questionnaire that assessed parental expectations, their feelings about and reactions to these expectations, and students' self-inhibition and life satisfaction. The results indicated that students' reaction styles and life satisfaction differed according to their feelings of parental expectations. Students who thought about parental expectations only in terms of their careers and with regard to being a good child felt more of a burden, whereas students who thought about their parents' high expectations regarding personality, career, and being a good child reacted more positively to the parental expectations. In addition, the personality characteristic of self-inhibition in the latter group appeared to enhance their life satisfaction. These results suggest that not only parental expectations for children's careers, but also children's ways of thinking about their parents' expectations are important for a fuller understanding of the impact of parental expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]