Document Type
Article
Version
Author's Final Manuscript
Publication Title
Psychological Science Online First
Publication Date
9-15-2016
Abstract
Does the warmth of children’s family environments predict the quality of their intimate relationships at the other end of the life span? Using data collected prospectively on 81 men from adolescence through the eighth and ninth decades of life, this study tested the hypotheses that warmer relationships with parents in childhood predict greater security of attachment to intimate partners in late life, and that this link is mediated in part by the degree to which individuals in midlife rely on emotion-regulatory styles that facilitate or inhibit close relationship connections. Findings supported this mediational model, showing a positive link between more nurturing family environments in childhood and greater security of attachment to spouses more than 60 years later. This link was partially mediated by reliance on more engaging and less distorting styles of emotion regulation in midlife. The findings underscore the far-reaching influence of childhood environment on well-being in adulthood.
Publisher's Statement
© Psychology Science. This is the author's final manuscript. The publisher's version can be found here: http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616661556.
Citation
Waldinger, R.J. and Schulz, M.S. "The Long Reach of Nurturing Family Environments: Links With Midlife Emotion- Regulatory Styles and Late-Life Security in Intimate Relationships." Psychology Science Online First, September 2015.
DOI
http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616661556