Perceived parenting styles, low frustration tolerance, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms among university students

Abstract

The current study aimed at investigating the relationship between perceived parenting styles, low frustration tolerance and obsessive-compulsive symptoms among university students. To assess these variables, the tools that were used were Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ/S) developed by Ronald Rohner in 2005, the Frustration Discomfort Scale (FDS) developed by Neil Harrington in 2005, and the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory – Revised (OCI-R), developed in 2002 by Foe Edna. A sample of 201 students was collected from various universities across Pakistan. The results of this study supported our hypothesis of low frustration tolerance having a significant effect on obsessive compulsive symptoms, showing a high significant correlation between the FDS and the OCI-R scale, additionally correlating the subscales as well. It can be deduced from the results and discussion that the individuals having lower ability to tolerate frustrations are likely to have higher degrees of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. It was also observed that the most notable difference between males (M= 48.37, SD= 12.61; p<.05) and females (M= 38.77, SD= 13.78; p<.05) is in the father PARQ, which suggests that fathers are perceived as more aggressive and indifferent by males than females. It is recommended that future studies are needed to be conducted on individuals who are graduates and above to increase the generalizability of the results. This study aims to aid mental health professional to understand obsessive compulsive symptoms from a new perspective by focusing on individuals’ levels of frustration intolerance as well as the parenting styles they perceived their parents to have.