Young adults' perceptions of their relationships with their parents: Individual differences in connectedness, competence, and emotional autonomy.

Abstract

Seventy-eight women and 72 men between 22 and 32 years of age completed an interview assessing five aspects of autonomy (independence, decision making, personal control, self-assertion, and selfother responsibility) and five aspects of relatedness (empathy, closeness, communication, concern, and respect) in their relationships with each of their parents. Factor analyses-resulting in congruent solutions for descriptions of mothers and fathers-reduced these data by identifying three relationship dimensions describing experiences of (a) connectedness versus separateness, (b) competence, and (c) emotional autonomy in relation to parents. Significant associations with sex, age, and marital status argued for the construct validity of the relationship dimensions and suggested their usefulness in developmental studies. Moreover, cluster analyses, identifying several empirically distinct and phenomenologically coherent types of young adult-parent relationships, linked the relationship dimensions with intrapsychic and interpersonal realities described by theorists and practitioners in the clinical and developmental literatures.Children's efforts to gain autonomy and restructure emotional ties that bind them to their parents continue well after they leave home and enter the adult world (

Sibling Relationships in Emerging Adulthood and in Adolescence

“…Emerging adults, at least in Western cultures, are expected to develop higher levels of individuation, displayed in the capacity to rely on oneself and to make independent decisions and follow through with them (Arnett, 2000;Hauser & Greene, 1991;Steinberg, 2002). This developmental task is achieved within a continuous close and supportive relationship with parents, when an emerging adult has the feeling that his or her parents give their blessing and acquiesce in his or her becoming a separate adult and developing a mature relationship with them (Frank, Avery, & Laman, 1988).…”

Organization of Parent Knowledge

“…Theorists have long agreed that same-gender parent-child relationships are qualitatively different from opposite-gender parent-child relationships (e.g., Chodorow, 1974;Frank et al, 1988). In fact, research has shown that mothers and daughters have closer relationships in their adult years than mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and fathers and sons (Rossi, 1989).…”

“…Still, other research has more heavily emphasized the quality of the affectional bond and independence in the relationship (e.g., Cicirelli, 1980Cicirelli, , 1995Frank, Avery, & Laman, 1988;Shmotkin, 1999). For example, Frank and colleagues (1988) proposed three dimensions to describe the relationships between adult children and their parents:…”

Organization of Parent Knowledge: Compartmentalization and Integration in Adult Child-Parent Relationships

“…Frank, Avery, and Laman (1988) proposed three dimensions, connectedness (empathy, communication, and emotional closeness), competence (ability to make decisions independent of their parents), and emotional autonomy (respect, personal control, and self-assertion in the relationship), suggesting that emotional closeness as well as relationship control predict relationship quality. Other important dimensions include adult children's attributions for parents' behaviors (Fincham, Beach, Arias, & Brody, 1998) and sense of interpersonal control (Cook, 1993).…”