12. AMBIVALENCE AND ATTACHMENT IN FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

Parents and children can drive each other mad. At one moment, a parent may be encouraging and affectionate toward the child; in the next, the parent may be sending the child to his or her bedroom. Similarly, a child who seems helpful and cooperative can suddenly turn belligerent. Parents and children may partly resolve the mixture of negative and positive feelings they experience in such situations by remembering their basic love for each other. Nevertheless, the conflicting sentiments will be stored in the memory of both parties, contributing to a long-lasting melange of conflicting beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. What are the psychological consequences of this state of affairs in relationships?

Citation

Maio, G.R., Fincham, F.D., Regalia, C. and Paleari, F.G. (2003), "12. AMBIVALENCE AND ATTACHMENT IN FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS", Pillemer, K. and Luscher, K. (Ed.) Intergenerational Ambivalences: New Perspectives on Parent-Child Relations in Later Life (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 4), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 285-312. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1530-3535(03)04012-3