Relations between young adults and their parents

Young adults' relationships with mothers and fathers are compared in a survey of undergraduates. Both men and women report spending more time with mothers than fathers. They indicate receiving more positive treatment from mothers and experiencing more positive emotion and closeness with them than fathers. Correlations between perceptions of treatment and experience of emotion are moderately strong, as are those between treatment/emotion and intentions to model parents. Young adults express greater certainty in using mothers than fathers as models in child-rearing, which is associated with experiencing more positive treatment and emotion with them. Since they report no more negative treatment from fathers than from mothers, their closer connections with mothers are probably due to a more positive dynamic with mothers rather than a negative dynamic with fathers. These results are consistent with previous findings that individuation and well-being in adolescence are facilitated by close, positive relationships with parents rather than distancing ones.