Date of Award

1988

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Henry Biller

Abstract

The relationship of paternal acceptance and nurturance received and fathers' acceptance and nurturance of their sons was investigated. One-hundred and twenty-six (126) male undergraduate students and their fathers participated in the study. Each subject completed an abbreviated version of the Family Data Form (FOF), which was used to obtain individual and family demographic information. The Family Relations Inventory (FRI) was utilized to measure subjects' perceptions of the degree of paternal acceptance and nurturance received. A structural equation model was employed and four separate path coefficients were obtained; 1) fathers' paternal nurturance received to sons' paternal nurturance received, 2) fathers' paternal acceptance received to sons' paternal acceptance received, 3) fathers' paternal nurturance received to sons' paternal acceptance received, and 4) fathers' paternal acceptance received to sons' paternal nurturance received. Although the structural model was adequate in terms of goodness of fit, the variables tested did not account for much of the variance. A statistically significant positive correlation was found only for 1) fathers' paternal nurturance received to sons' paternal nurturance received. Reasons for this as well as suggestions for future research concerning the father-son relationship are discussed.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.