Relationship of Fear of Success to Perceived Parental Attitudes toward Success and Autonomy in Men and Women

Abstract

This exploratory study investigated patterns of perceived parental response to success or autonomy strivings by sons and daughters and to determine the relationships, if any, between these patterns and the presence or absence of fear of success. Male and female undergraduates completed a Fear of Success Scale and also wrote stories about parental responses to story-stems depicting successful or autonomous desires and activities of a son or daughter. 60 female subjects depicted their mothers as significantly less approving of such moves than their fathers, whereas for 60 men, both parents were seen as fairly approving as were the fathers of the women. There was no correlation between perceived parental response and fear of success for men, whereas there was a significant correlation for the female subjects between fear of success and projected response of both fathers and mothers. Notable, however, for the female subjects, was the high correlation between projected maternal response and fear of success. Theoretical implications were discussed.