| Research on parent-child relations consistently has indicated that the quality and type of involvement parents have in their children's upbringing has a strong influence on the children's level of functioning throughout their lifespan (Ainsworth, 1978; Cohn, Cowan, Cowan, & Pearson, 1992). The level of interaction parents have with their children can affect the children's social development (Ainsworth, 1989), ability to cope (Motheread, Kivlighan Jr., & Wynkoop, 1998), emotional well-being (Kenny, Moilanen, Lomax, & Brabeck, 1993), risk of abusing substances (Bell, Forthun, & Sun, 2000; Foshee & Bauman, 1994), interpersonal relationships as adolescents (Kerns & Stevens, 1995; Papini, Farmer, Clark, Micka, & Barnett, 1990) and adults (Collins & Read, 1990; Mikulincer & Florian, 1999) and virtually every aspect of their development.; This non-experimental descriptive, correlational study examined the influence of perceived maternal and paternal expressiveness as measures by Perceived Maternal and Paternal Expressiveness Instruments; parental attachment as measured by the Parental Attachment Questionnaire; parental alcohol-related problems as measured by the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test-6; and childhood trauma as measured by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; on young adults' sense of interpersonal alienation or closeness as measured by the Interpersonal Solidarity Scale.; The 542 participants were 18 to 21 years, with more than 85 percent Caucasian. There were 287 males and 255 females from a rural college campus in Northern California. Significant correlations were identified using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Multiple Groups Analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling.; The significant predictors that emerged from the data indicate that male and female offspring respond in very different ways to their parents' styles of interacting with them. For males, more interpersonal solidarity was predicted by less parental neglect and less parental alcohol-related problems; for females, more interpersonal solidarity is predicted by higher levels of parent-child bonding and higher levels of parental alcohol-related problems.; A discussion about the research findings and the limitations of this study is included. Implications for clinical, theory and research applications are also discussed. |
