Relation between perceived parental acceptance and intimate partner acceptance in Turkey: Does history repeat itself?

Drawing from parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory), the present study investigated the link between perceived parental acceptance-rejection in childhood and perceived partner acceptance-rejection in adulthood. Two hundred forty-five dating or married individuals were divided into two groups, those who felt satisfied and those who felt dissatisfied in their current intimate relationship. Compared to satisfied respondents, dissatisfied respondents reported significantly higher levels of rejection both in their current intimate relationship and in their childhood relationships with their parents. Respondents who had been accepted by their parents in childhood were also most likely to feel accepted by their intimate partners. The opposite was true, although to a lesser extent, for those respondents who felt rejected in childhood. About a quarter of the respondents who felt rejected in childhood were satisfied in their current intimate relationships. Finally, correlations between childhood and adulthood measures of acceptance revealed that both maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection were significantly related to intimate partner acceptance-rejection. There were no significant gender differences between male versus female respondents' perceptions of either partner or parental acceptance-rejection. © 2005 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved.