CONSTRUCTIONS OF EARLY PARENTING, INTIMACY AND AUTONOMY IN YOUNG-WOMEN

This study explores relations between young women's patterns of intima cy and autonomy and their constructions of early relationships with th eir parents. Based on Bowlby's (1973) notion of the 'internal working model' of attachment, it was predicted that women evidencing intimacy in current relationships would construct perceptions of their parents as having been accepting. It also was hypothesized that women exhibiti ng greater autonomy in their everyday functioning would describe their parents as having afforded them more encouragement of independence th an those displaying less autonomy. Intimacy was measured using the Rev ised Intimacy Interview (Levitz-Jones & Orlofsky, 1985) and autonomy m easures included the General Causality Orientation (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and Self-Reliance (Greenberger et al., 1974) scales. Results suggest that, as predicted, women displaying intimate relationships perceived their fathers as having been more accepting than those evidencing eith er enmeshed (merger) or superficial relationships. Further, autonomy w as tied to constructions of support for independence by mothers and fa thers. The findings shed light on the underlying dynamics and defenses of individuals displaying different patterns of intimacy and autonomy .