Organization of Parent Knowledge: Compartmentalization and Integration in Adult Child-Parent Relationships

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated an association between structure of beliefs about romantic partners and feelings for that partner. Here, the structure of college students’ beliefs about their parents was linked to distinct types of ongoing parent—child relationships identified by cluster analysis. An integrative structure of mother knowledge was associated with an evaluatively complex type of relationship (“dealing”), characterized by greater liking and closeness and less cooperation and contact. Positive compartmentalization of mother knowledge was associated with mother relationships that were consistently positive (“denying”) across different dimensions. In contrast, the most positive father relationships were reported by daughters with evaluatively integrative father structures. Possible reasons for daughters’ tendency to integrate father structures and to compartmentalize mother structures are discussed.