engleski

Parental Acceptance-Rejection in Childhood and Fear of Intimacy in Adulthood Among Croatian Young Adults: Moderating Effects of Anxiety and Psychological Adjustment

This study examined the relationship between adults’ remembrances of parental acceptance- rejection in childhood and their fear of intimacy in adulthood, and examined the moderating effects of anxiety and psychological adjustment in the relation between perceived parental rejection in childhood and fear of intimacy in adulthood. The research was carried out in Zagreb, Croatia among 235 graduate university students (61% females). Respondents ranged in age from 20 through 30 years. Respondents completed the adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (Mother and Father versions, short forms), adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (short form), Interpersonal Relationship Anxiety Questionnaire, Fear of Intimacy Scale, and Personal Information Form. Data were analyzed for men and women separately. Fear of intimacy was positively correlated with anxiety and overall psychological adjustment among both men and women. Fear of intimacy among women was positively correlated with perceived maternal and paternal rejection. Multiple regression analyses indicated that perceived parental rejection did not make a significant independent contribution to the fear of intimacy among either men or women. Psychological adjustment, however, did make an independent contribution to both men’s and women’s fear of intimacy, while anxiety made an independent contribution only to men’s fear of intimacy. Neither anxiety nor psychological adjustment moderated the relation between remembered parental rejection in childhood and fear of intimacy in adulthood.

fear of intimacy; parental rejection; anxiety; psychological adjustment; young adults; Croatia

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