Background: According to Young's schema theory, Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) arise due to the violation of core emotional needs during childhood. It seems likely that parents have difficulties in satisfying their children's emotional needs if they have high levels of EMSs themselves. Aims: This study investigated whether the extent of EMSs in parents is associated with the extent of EMSs in their offspring. Moreover, we tested for two putative mechanisms that account for this association: parental coping styles and parenting behaviour. Methods: Sixty dyads of parents (mother or father) and their adult children (N = 120), recruited from the general population, completed the Young Schema Questionnaire. The parents rated their schema coping styles and the children retrospectively rated the parenting of the participating parent. Results: As expected, parents' EMSs were significantly associated with EMSs in their offspring. This association was accounted for by the parental coping style Overcompensation and the adverse parenting that the child remembered. The parental coping style Avoidance did not account for the association. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence for the notion that EMSs are passed on from one generation to the next via parental coping and parenting. Our findings thus support the assumption of schema theory that EMSs are connected to the family environment in terms of adverse parenting. If further confirmed, this has relevant implications for family-based interventions.

Childhood onset conduct problems present some of the most significant challenges to mental health and public services today. Parent management training is among the most effective treatments for conduct problems, and yet a significant proportion of families do not benefit from this approach. This may be because key elements of parenting, such as parental cognitions, are not directly addressed in such interventions. This study investigated the role of mothers' interpersonal schemas in the maintenance of conduct problems and their relationship to parenting behaviour. It examined whether mothers of 7 to 11-year-old boys with conduct problems would have more negative child-related interpersonal schemas (Hill and Safran, 1994), and related negative parenting behaviours, observed during two parent-child interaction tasks, than mothers in a comparison group. The findings showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in both maternal Negativity and Warmth and child-related interpersonal schemas. However, no relationship was found between parenting behaviour and child-related interpersonal schemas. The results suggest that targeting maternal cognitions in addition to negativity and warmth may enhance interventions for childhood onset conduct problems. However, more research needs to be done to ascertain which kinds of cognitions relate most closely to parenting behaviour in stressful situations.