Perceptions About Parents' Relationship and Parenting Quality, Attachment Styles, and Young Adults’ Intimate Expectations: A Cluster Analytic Approach

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study examines the associations between young adults’ perceptions of their parents’ intimate relationship and the quality of their parenting as predictors of their children's expectations about intimacy in their own future relationships. A sample of 111 young adults completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions regarding their parents’ intimate relationship and parenting quality, their own attachment styles, and their own expectations regarding intimate relationships. A correlational analysis revealed a positive link between the parents’ relationship and parenting quality, and between parenting quality and expectations about intimacy, which supports the attachment theory. A cluster analysis identified three distinct groups of parental profiles interrelated with attachment styles that had varying effects on their children's expectations about intimacy. These findings emphasize the unique characteristics of parental relations in the family of origin relations, which have an enduring effect on the interpersonal styles of adult children, providing additional support to an integrated, intergenerational approach to family dynamics.