While parents may strive to be equal in their children’s eyes, this is not always the case, according to a new study that appears in "Personality and Social Psychology Review."

The love or rejection a parent provides to a child is known to play a role in the development of his or her personality. However, the study’s findings reveal that fathers, more so than mothers, can influence children’s behavior. Based on data from 36 international studies on 10,000 participants, researchers found that children who were rejected by their parents also tended to be more insecure, anxious, hostile and aggressive toward others.

At the same time, the findings from more than 500 studies show that when individuals experience a similar level of rejection from both parents, it is the father’s feelings that tend to have the biggest impact on a child’s psyche. According to the team of psychologists working on the International Father Acceptance Rejection Project, this may be due to the fact that children and young adults often pay attention to the parent they feel has greater prestige and interpersonal power.

Whether individuals felt they were loved or rejected by their parents during childhood, they can gain a better sense of who they are now by completing a personality test.