title: On the girl's entry into the Oedipus complex.
abstract: Detailed child observational study reveals variable pathways by which the girl enters her Oedipus complex. The data of three normal girls are briefly detailed to demonstrate the path each took. The data reported do not support the generalizability of the 1925 postulate that the girl enters her Oedipus complex by way of her castration complex. It is hypothesized that the girl, as well as the boy, enters the Oedipus complex--given a favorable-enough "expectable environment"--from about two and a half years of age on, compelled by a psychobiologically determined gender-related change in her libido and inherited ego dispositions.
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005619:Freudian Theory; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009769:Object Attachment; D009813:Oedipus Complex; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011606:Psychosexual Development