Yu Quanlei, Zhang Qiuying, Chen Jianwen, Jin Shenghua, Qiao Yuanyuan, Cai Weiting
Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
Department of Teaching and Learning School of Education and Human Development, University of Miami, Miami FL, USA.
Front Psychol. 2016 May 4;7:658. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00658. eCollection 2016.
Father-child facial resemblance is an important cue for men to evaluate paternity. Previous studies found that fathers' perceptions of low facial resemblance with offspring lead to low confidence of paternity. Fathers' uncertainty of paternity could cause psychological stress and anxiety, which, after a long time, may further turn into trait anxiety. Conversely, females can ensure a biological connection with offspring because of internal fertilization. The purpose of this study was thus to examine the role of parents' gender in the effect of parents' perceived facial resemblance with child on their trait anxiety. In this study, 151 parents (father or mother) from one-child families reported their facial resemblance with child and their trait anxiety. Results showed that (i) males tended to perceive higher facial similarity with child than did females and (ii) males' perceived facial resemblance with child significantly predicted trait anxiety, whereas females' perceived facial resemblance did not. These findings suggested that the uncertainty of paternity contributed to the trait anxiety of fathers, but not mothers.
父子面部相似性是男性评估亲子关系的重要线索。先前的研究发现，父亲认为与后代面部相似性低会导致其亲子关系信心不足。父亲对亲子关系的不确定性会引发心理压力和焦虑，长期下来，可能会进一步转变为特质焦虑。相反，由于体内受精，女性能够确保与后代的生物学联系。因此，本研究的目的是检验父母性别在父母感知到的与孩子的面部相似性对其特质焦虑的影响中所起的作用。在本研究中，来自独生子女家庭的151名父母（父亲或母亲）报告了他们与孩子的面部相似性以及他们的特质焦虑。结果显示：（i）男性比女性倾向于感知到与孩子更高的面部相似性；（ii）男性感知到的与孩子的面部相似性显著预测了特质焦虑，而女性感知到的面部相似性则不然。这些发现表明，亲子关系的不确定性导致了父亲的特质焦虑，而非母亲的。
