Remembered Parental Bonding in Adult Twins: Genetic and Environmental Influences
Author
Summary, in English
One common assumption in psychology is the impact of parenting and parent-child relationships on the child's adjustment throughout the life span. Studies have indicated that there are genetic influences on memories of parenting, but how these influences are mediated has not typically been investigated. A sample of 150 pairs of monozygotic and 176 pairs of dizygotic Swedish twin women reported on personal characteristics and on remembered relationships with their mother and father using the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). Quantitative genetic analyses showed moderate genetic influences for remembered parental warmth, which also was partly explained by genetic influences for optimism, aggression, and humor. The other two PBI scales, authoritarianism and protectiveness, showed only shared and nonshared environmental influences. One interpretation of the findings is that heritable personal characteristics of children elicit parental warmth. However, other explanations such as personality characteristics influencing how experiences with parents are interpreted or circumstances in adult life that affect the recall of experiences could not be ruled out.
Publishing year
2003
Language
English
Pages
397-408
Publication/Series
Behavior Genetics
Volume
33
Issue
4
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Springer
Topic
- Social Work
Keywords
- personality
- Parenting
- Parental Bonding Instrument
- twins
- genetics
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0001-8244