Parenting Styles, Childhood Abuse, Bullying, Digital Media Exposure and Gender Dysphoria in Young University Students

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationship among parental bonding, childhood abuse, bullying, digital media exposure and gender dysphoria in young university students. Correlational research design was used in this research, 357 Participants (174 women and 183 men) were selected through convenient sampling from one government and five private universities of Lahore, age ranged 19-30 years. Measures were included the demographic questionnaire, Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale, Parental Bonding Instrument, Adverse childhood experiences Scale, Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ) and the Content-based Media Exposure Scale (C-ME). Descriptive statistics were applied to determine categorical variables such as frequencies and percentages. To find out relationship between variables, spearman correlation analysis was done and regression analysis was used to find out the prediction among variables. According to results, it was revealed that there is a significant association between parental bonding along with maternal care, paternal care, maternal overprotection, paternal overprotection and childhood abuse. Moreover, results also demonstrated that parental bonding along with low maternal care, maternal overprotection, paternal overprotection and childhood abuse strongly predict gender dysphoria in young university students. The findings validate psychological frameworks including attachment theory, trauma theory and family systems theory which highlight early caregiving and negative experiences as fundamental determinants for self-concept and identity formation.