Family Relationships and Gender as Predictors of Romantic Intimacy in Young Adults: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

In a longitudinal study of the influence of gender and family factors on young adult romantic intimacy, we assessed at Time 1 (T1) family cohesion, flexible family control, respect for privacy and parents' marital satisfaction. Six years later, at Time 2 (T2), intimacy was assessed by 3 self-report measures: happiness in love, problems of insufficient intimacy, and romantic attachment style. Participants (n = 122; 60 men, 62 women) and their families were surveyed twice: T1 when youth were between ages 13 and 18 years, and T2 was 6 years later when they were between ages 19 and 25. Men reported more problems of insufficient intimacy than women, regardless of family dynamics. In regressions and discriminant analyses, flexible control, and to a lesser extent cohesion, predicted young adults' intimacy as did mothers' marital satisfaction. There were also gender-differentiated antecedents to intimacy, with family influences stronger for women than for men. Specifically, family respect for privacy predicted happiness in love for women, but had opposite effects for men, and flexible family control predicted romantic attachment style for women but not for men. Family influences on intimacy were interpreted in terms of their potential to counterbalance traditional gender roles.