"Shame on You": Father Parenting Impacts Guilt, Morality, and Stress During Shaming

This paper explores a connection between father parenting traits, guilt and shame proneness, moral identity, and physiological responses to moral shame. In this study, participants answered questionnaires and responded to Kohlberg's (1981) moral dilemma. The researcher read scripted feedback that morally shamed the participants, and cortisol levels were measured following this process. The results were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The father's chaos parenting trait was positively related to increases in cortisol during shaming, and the father's coercion parenting trait was negatively related to increases in cortisol during shaming. The father's structure parenting trait was positively related to guilt-negative behavior evaluations and warmth was negatively related to guilt repair. Finally, the father's warmth was negatively related to moral integrity while chaos was positively related. This research provides insight into the complex process of reacting to moral shame.