Father/Mother Absence and Moral Emotion

Submission Deadline: 10 December 2024 View: 417 Submit to Special Issue

Guest Editors

Prof. Yanhui Xiang, Moral Culture Research Center, Hunan Normal University, CHINA

Summary

Widowed parenting — a widespread phenomenon in family education around the world — often signifies a lack of paternal involvement, with maternal nurturing sometimes falling short as well. This has given rise to the constructs of 'father-love absence' or 'mother-love absence', a psychological gap where parents are present in the title but neglectful or unable to fulfill their role. These terms reflect an absence more profound than the physical absence typically associated with 'left-behind' children; they denote a lack of positive influence on the early emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and volitional development of a child. The impact of father/mother-love absence on individual moral development has distinct mechanisms: a father's role in authority, rules, and awe is fundamental for shaping moral emotions, elements less easily substituted by mothers. Based on this, this column focuses on the adverse impacts and mechanisms of early father/ mother-love absence on adolescents' moral cognition, moral emotion, moral will, and moral behavior.

In order to better understand the relationship between early father/mother-love absence and individual moral development, the International Journal of Mental Health Promotion specially invited this journal’s editorial board member, a researcher at the Moral Culture Center of Hunan Normal University, and distinguished professor of the National Clinical Research Center for Psychiatric and Mental Diseases (Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University), associate professor of the Department of Psychology of Hunan Normal University, hosted the special issue "Father/Mother-Love Absence and Moral Development".

We sincerely invite participation from experts, scholars, and practitioners across fields to discuss, expand research, and enhance theoretical frameworks in this area, providing more theoretical backing for improving early paternal and maternal affection to promote moral development.

This special issue prioritizes exploration of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), with a special focus on the relationship between early parental love absence and moral growth. Interested topics include but are not limited to:

- Differential implications of early father/mother-love absence on moral development

- The relationship between early father/mother-love absence and individual personality, emotion, and cognition

- The impact of early father/mother-love absence on aberrant behaviors like addiction and aggression

- The differing effects and mechanisms of paternal and maternal roles in fostering child development

- Parenting styles' influence on psychological growth

- Theoretical and empirical studies connecting family education to moral development

Original empirical studies, reviews, theoretical analyses, and meta-analyses from diverse academic lenses such as psychology, education, sociology, and management are all welcome for submission.

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Published Papers