Within-family variability in representations of past relationships with parents.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND: We examined within-family variation in siblings' memories of experiences with parents and their associations with current positive and negative affect. METHODS: Participants were 1,369 adults with at least 1 sibling, aged 26-74 years from 498 families in the MacArthur Study of Midlife in the United States (M(age) = 47 years, 59% women, 94% White). RESULTS: There was considerable variability in recalled maternal and paternal treatment across the dimensions of affection (intraclass correlation coefficients [ICCs] 0.33 and 0.41, respectively), discipline (ICCs 0.39 and 0.43), and conflict (ICCs 0.24 and 0.26). In turn, recalled parental treatment, particularly affection, made unique contributions to current positive (ICC 0.12) and negative affect (ICC 0.08) over and above individual and familial level characteristics such as offspring demographic characteristics, extraversion and neuroticism, family structure, recalled early family environment, and parents' current status. CONCLUSIONS: Results link adults' memories of experiences with their parents in childhood to their current well-being and highlight the importance of considering within-family models for family theory.

Author information

Author/s: Davey, Adam (A); Tucker, Corinna Jenkins (CJ); Fingerman, Karen (K); Savla, Jyoti (J);

Affiliation: Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19121, USA. adavey(-atsign-)temple.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences (J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jan; vol 64 (issue 1) : pp 125-36

Dates: Created 2009/02/25; Completed 2009/04/13;

PMID: 19176488, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 4/13/2009, IMS Date: 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00)

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