title: Stability and change in family-of-origin recollections over the first four years of parenthood.
abstract: This article, one of several from a longitudinal family study, examines stability and change in family-of-origin recollections. Family-of-origin data were collected by means of a questionnaire from both husbands and wives prior to the birth of their first child and 41/2 years later. The questionnaire probed the subjects' recollections of their relationships with their mothers and fathers and of their parents' marital relationships. With median correlations for the women and men of .70 and .72, family-of-origin recollections appear relatively stable over this 41/2-year period. One exception to the relative stability was that women recalled their fathers and the closeness of their parent's marriage less positively after 4 years of parenthood. These changes in women's recollections were related to contemporaneous experiences with husbands' depression and qualities of the husband's parenting.
authors.affiliation: Timberlawn Psychiatric Research Foundation, Dallas, TX 75227, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Owen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008568:Memory; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors