Parent-child relationships, partner relationships, and emotional adjustment: a birth-to-maturity prospective study.
This study examined whether detrimental childhood relationships with parents were related to partner relationship quality and emotional adjustment in adulthood. The authors tested a theoretical model in which (a) low-quality parent-child relationships were related to conflict and low-quality communication with parents in adolescence, (b) parent-adolescent conflict and low-quality communication were linked to low-quality partner relationships in young adulthood, and (c) low-quality partner relationships in young adulthood were predictive of low-quality partner relationships as well as depression, anxiety, and dissatisfaction with life at midlife. Multi-informant data were used from 212 Swedish individuals who were followed from birth into adulthood. Results demonstrated that, as hypothesized, negative parent-child bonds were indirectly related to low-quality partner relationships and dissatisfaction with life in adulthood (but not anxiety and depression) through conflictual parent-adolescent communication and low-quality partner relationships in young adulthood.
Overbeek
Geertjan
G
Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands. g.overbeek@pwo.ru.nl
Stattin
Håkan
H
Vermulst
Ad
A
Ha
Thao
T
Engels
Rutger C M E
RC
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012747:Sexual Partners