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The experience of worry in parent–adult child relationships
Author(s) -
HAY ELIZABETH L.,
FINGERMAN KAREN L.,
LEFKOWITZ EVA S.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00174.x
Subject(s) - worry , psychology , ambivalence , neuroticism , developmental psychology , daughter , perception , social psychology , personality , anxiety , psychiatry , evolutionary biology , neuroscience , biology
This study examined the experience of worry in the parent–adult child relationship. A mother, father, and adult son or daughter from 213 families participated ( N = 639). Parents and adult children commonly worried about one another and their worry reflected individual characteristics (e.g., neuroticism) and relationship characteristics (e.g., importance of the relationship and ambivalence). In addition, how much adults and their parents worried about one another influenced the other party’s perceptions of relationship quality. Specifically, adults and parents rated their relationships more positively and more negatively when the other party reported worrying about them more and communicating their worries to them more frequently. Findings underscore the importance of including experiences such as worry in research on emotional complexities in the parent–adult child relationship.