A study of the relationship between women\u27s perceptions of how they were parented and their development of intimate relationships.

The focus of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore how mid-life women describe their upbringing and how they experience their present-day relationships. Four mid-life, Caucasian, Protestant, married, professional women in their thirties, from a rural area in a mid-Atlantic state, took part in the study. They took part in an in-depth structured interview and also completed Rohner\u27s Parental-Acceptance Rejection Questionnaire and Personality Assessment Questionnaire. Informants reported being influenced by their parents\u27 value of childrearing and achievement. Role models other than caregivers were significant influences. They viewed themselves as caregivers and as pursuers in intimate relationship, but all informants expressed concerns about not giving enough in their marital and parenting roles. Each woman during adulthood had experienced changes in self-identity related to becoming more responsive to her own needs and desires. Personal crises impacted perception of life\u27s meaning. Results were discussed referencing object relations literature about idealization and mirroring, Jungian theory regarding mid-life transition, Napier\u27s family dynamics literature, women\u27s developmental literature, and Rohner\u27s theory of parental acceptance-rejection