Perceived Intimate Partner Acceptance,Remembered Parental Acceptance,and Psychological Adjustment Among Colombian and Puerto Rican Youths and Adults

Abstract

This study explored the way in which remembered childhood experiences of maternal and paternal acceptance mediated and moderated the relation between perceived intimate-partner acceptance and the psychological adjustment of 222 youths and adults in Colombia and Puerto Rico. These variables were assessed through the use of self-report measures. Participants were involved in a significant intimate relationship at the time of the study. Results of bivariate correlations showed a positive and statistically significant association between both remembered maternal acceptance and intimate partner acceptance with psychological adjustment for both men and women. However, paternal acceptance only had a positive and significant correlation with women's (but not men's) psychological adjustment. Multiple regression analyses showed that for women (but not for men), remembrances of both maternal and paternal acceptance in childhood partially mediated the relation between perceived partner acceptance and women's psychological adjustment. Moreover, multiple regression analyses showed that the effect of remembered maternal acceptance moderated the relation between women's (but not men's) perceived intimate-partner acceptance and psychological adjustment.

Keywords

partner acceptance parental acceptance psychological adjustment Colombia Puerto Rico

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