Paternal Acceptance and Nurturance Received and Parents’ Acceptance and Nurturance of Their Children

The relationship of perceived paternal nurturance and acceptance and parents\u27 nurturance and acceptance of their children was investigated. Two-hundred and fifty (250) undergraduate students and their parents participated in the study. Each subject completed an abbreviated version of the Family Data Form (FDF), which was used to obtain individual and family demographic information. The Family Relations Inventory (FRI) was utilized to measure subjects\u27 perceptions of the degree of parental nurturance and acceptance received. In addition, students completed the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS). Interrelationships between students\u27 and parents\u27 perceived nurturance and acceptance were examined through the utilization of a structural equation model. Fathers\u27 perceived paternal nurturance was shown to relate significantly to both sons\u27 and daughters\u27 perceptions of paternal nurturance received, whereas, parents\u27 perceived paternal acceptance was not found to be significantly related to children\u27s perceptions of parental acceptance across all subject groups. Multivariate analyses of variance were also conducted to assess interrelationships between students\u27 perceived paternal involvement and their scores on the personality adjustment measures. Paternal nurturance was found to be significantly related to subjects\u27 personality adjustment, but no significant findings were obtained for the relationship of paternal acceptance and the personality adjustment measures. Implications of these findings as well as suggestions for future research concerning the father-child relationship are discussed