This study investigates how naturally occurring parent groups form by using
Schaefer’s two axes of affection–rejection and autonomy–control, it also aims to
verify whether there is a significant difference in the parent groups' emotional
expressiveness and children's peer competence. A total of 201 kindergarten
children between the age of 3 to 5 and their parents were given a questionnaire
in order to investigate parenting attitudes and emotional expression. And
children's teachers measured their peer competence. SPSS 18.0 was used and
clustering analysis was conducted according to different parenting attitudes. The
first fathers’ group was named the lacking-affection group, the second was the
democratic-reception group, the third was the ignorance group and the last was
the rejection group. For mothers' groups, the first was named the rejection
group, the second was the autonomous-control group and the third was the
reception-respect group. Parents' emotional expressiveness of each group had a
considerable difference while there was no significant difference between
children's peer competence. This study was dedicated in deriving meaningful
implications on the role of parents by investing the differences between each
naturally occurring cluster.