ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Human Developmental Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1511983
This article is part of the Research TopicHow Children Learn from Parents and Parenting Others in Formal and Informal Settings: International and Cultural Perspectives - Volume IIView all 13 articles
Parental Rejection and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in early adolescents: the mediating role of alexithymia
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Piedmont, Italy
- 2Faculty of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Masovian, Poland
- 3The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Masovian, Poland
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The aim of this study is to extend our knowledge of the possible association between (maternal and paternal) parental rejection and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms in early adolescence by investigating the possible mediating role of alexithymia. A sample of Italian early adolescents (N= 234; Mage: 11.86, SD=0.93; 47% male) was recruited from several schools in northwestern Italy. Participants completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire that included information on experience of parental rejection, alexithymia, and GAD symptoms. Our results show an association between parental rejection (both maternal and paternal) and GAD symptoms. Furthermore, the data show that alexithymia tends to mediate the relationship between maternal/paternal rejection and GAD. In this sense, parental rejection is associated with an increase in alexithymic symptoms, which in turn is associated with an increase in GAD symptoms in early adolescents. Limitations of the research and practical implications are discussed.
Keywords: Paternal Rejection, generalized anxiety disorder, alexithymia, early adolescence, maternal rejection
Received: 15 Oct 2024; Accepted: 16 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fabris, Longobardi, Zdankiewicz-Ścigala and Scigala. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Claudio Longobardi, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, 10124, Piedmont, Italy
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