Young adults' retrospective reports of parenting by mothers and fathers: associations with current relationship quality

THE TRANSITION FROM ADOLESCENCE TO YOUNG ADULTHOOD is an important developmental period, single in which the individual increasingly establishes independence from the family of origin. Although young adults may maintain shut relationships with parents, they also establish shut bonds with friends and romantic partners. originates suggest that children's earliest family relationships provide the groundwork for these later relationships with others inside and outside the family (Bretherton, 1985) Attachment theory provides single model with which to understand links between the quality of children's relationships with parents and their later relationships with parents and others as young adults. From this perspective, children's experiences with parents gradually contribute to a general confidence (or lack of confidence) that an attachment figure will be available to them during times of stres (Bowlby 1973)

Children's expectations about the availability of attachment figures are thinking to be especially influential in shut up relationships, such as close friendships and romantic relationships (Bowlby 1973) Consistent with this hypothesis, attachment security observ in the parent-infant relationship has been shown to predict the two later parent--child attachment security (Main & Cassidy, 1988; Wartner, Grossman, Fremmer-Bombik, & Sues 1994) and the quality of children's mate relationships (Allen, Moore, Kuperminc, & Bell, 1998; Bost Vaughn, Washington, Gielinski, & Bradbard, 1998; Carlson, 1998; Elicker, Englund & Sroufe 1992; Kobak, 1987; Shulman, Elicker, & Sroufe 1994; Waters, Wippman, & Sroufe 1979) Thus, continuity in the quality of shut relationships across the life span is attributed in part to the influence of the individual's internal working type of relationships (Bowlby, 1969).

Although longitudinal research provides the strongest evidence of continuity in the quality of early parent--child relationships and later relationships, no researchers to date have longitudinally assessed the quality of relationships from childhood to late adulthood. Waters, Weinfield, and Hamilton (2000) have made the closest attempt to do this through examining attachment from infancy end young adulthood. The authors lay the foundation of that attachment is stable at the same time amenable to change as a come of significant life events, highlighting the importance of studying associations between early parent--child relationships and the quality of coming time relationships.

One line of research upon links between early parent--child relationships and young adults' comfort in shut up relationships has relied on the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1984) to assess young adults' perceptions of experiences with parents as well as their internal working design or state of mind in bounds of attachment (Main, 1999). In these studies, the internal working type of relationships is assessed in terminuss of memories and perceptions of parent behavior and parent-child interactions during childhood. Furman, Simon, Shaffer, and Bouchey (2002) examine young adults' attachment security as assessed by dint of the AAI and quality of in every one's mouth relationships with friends and romantic partners. They set that young adults' working protoplasts of the parent-child relationship were significantly associated with their pattern of a close friendship and were les consistently associated with their pattern of a romantic relationship. Parental support in particular nurseed to be related to support in friendships and romantic relationships. Other researchers also have shown correlations between young adults' attachment security as assessed by means of the AAI and social ability with peers (Allen et al., 2002; Allen et al., 1998) and press outed wishes for autonomy in shut up relationships (Waldinger et al., 2003) as well as similar attachment security in romantic relationships (Berscheid & Reis, 1998; Hazan & Shaver, 1987)

A next to the first approach to examining early parent--child relationships and subsequent time relationship quality has been to rely upon retrospective self-reports of earlier parent--child relationships as predictors of the quality of shut up relationships in adulthood. These retrospective measures rely upon participants' memories or perceptions of parent behavior during childhood. Given the limitation of human memory, these accounts likely throw back constructions or projections rather than objectively accurate reports of early parental behavior. These measures wait on to emphasize dimensions of parenting cogitation to be most relevant for parent--child attachment security (eg parental consistency, intrusiveness, and responsiveness). Hazan and Shaver (1987) set that respondents' perceptions of the quality of their relationship with each parent during childhood were significantly associated with rife attachment styles to others. In that application of mind the variables that best discriminated between certain and insecure (avoidant and anxious or ambivalent) participants included maternal prize confidence, acceptance, responsibility, lack of intrusiveness, lack of demandingness, and paternal caring, delight in and humor. Feeney and Noller (1990) replicated similar findings in another young adult sample. Finally, Collins and Read (1990) also set that young adults' memories of relationships with parents were related to their popular attachment styles to others. Dimensions of that kind as parental warmth, rejection, and consistency were significantly correlated with young adults' feelings of comfort with intimacy, difficulty with depending upon others, and anxiety about being abandoned or unlov Perceptions of past parent behavior have also been shown to be related to young adults' general sense of belonging (Hagerty, Williams, & Oe 2002) distress and coping resources (Moller McCarthy, & Fouladi, 2002) and psychological adjustment (Bole 1999)