Ss. Feldman et al., FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AND GENDER AS PREDICTORS OF ROMANTIC INTIMACY INYOUNG-ADULTS - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY, Journal of research on adolescence, 8(2), 1998, pp. 263-286
In a longitudinal study of the influence of gender and family factors
on young adult romantic intimacy, we assessed at Time 1 (T1) family co
hesion, flexible family control, respect for privacy and parents' mari
tal satisfaction. Six years later, at Time 2 (T2), intimacy was assess
ed by 3 self-report measures: happiness in love, problems of insuffici
ent intimacy, and romantic attachment style. Participants (n = 122; 60
men, 62 women) and their families were surveyed twice: T1 when youth
were between ages 13 and 18 years, and T2 was 6 years later when they
were between ages 19 and 25. Men reported more problems of insufficien
t intimacy than women, regardless of family dynamics. In regressions a
nd discriminant analyses, flexible control, and to a lesser extent coh
esion, predicted young adults' intimacy as did mothers' marital satisf
action. There were also gender-differentiated antecedents to intimacy,
with family influences stronger for women than for men. Specifically,
family respect for privacy predicted happiness in love for women, but
had opposite effects for men, and flexible family control predicted r
omantic attachment style for women but not for men. Family influences
on intimacy were interpreted in terms of their potential to counterbal
ance traditional gender roles.