The existing scholarly literature that addresses the transgenerational transmission of family processes fails to answer many questions concerning adults' current relationships with partners and peers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how adults' perceptions of their family of origin climates affect their own satisfaction with emotionally significant interpersonal relationships and their fear of intimacy in these relationships. Participants were recruited from a mid-western college. A total of 281 participants were tested.The main research question was: What is the nature of the relationship between adults' perceptions of their family of origin climate and their current relationship satisfaction/fear of intimacy. It was hypothesized that adults' perceptions of cohesion, expressiveness, independence, achievement orientation, intellectual-cultural orientation, active-recreational orientation, moral religious emphasis, and organization within their families of origin would be positively related to their satisfaction with their current friendship and partner relationships and negatively related to their fear of intimacy. It was conversely hypothesized that adult's perceptions of conflict and control within their families of origin would be negatively related to their current relationship satisfaction with friends and partners and positively related to their fear of intimacy.Family of origin climate was assessed by the Family Environment Scale which measures 10 aspects of family of origin climate. These are: cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, independent, achievement orientation, intellectual-cultural orientation, activerecreational orientation, moral-religious emphasis, organization, and control. Relationshipsatisfaction was measured in two types of relationships: partner relationship satisfaction with the Relationship Assessment Scale and peer relationship satisfaction with the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, Peer Scale. The Fear of Intimacy Scale was utilized to assess participants' anxiety or fear that influences intimacy in a close relationship or at the prospect of a close relationship. Participants also completed a demographic questionnaire.Results of a canonical correlation analysis indicated that perceptions of family of origin climate did not influence current relationship satisfaction or fear of intimacy in adults. Adults' perceptions of their family of origin climates did not influence their current relationship satisfaction and fear of intimacy. Limitations of the current study and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/175210 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Braun, Kimberly Barthelemy |
| Contributors | White, Michael J. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | v, 69 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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