Affectional Climate in the Family of Origin and the Experience of Subsequent Sexual-Affectional Behaviors

Abstract

The relationship between the affectional climate in the family of origin and the reported experience of adulthood sexual-affectional activities was examined. Multiple regression analyses and other multivariate techniques yielded the findings: 1) that this relationship is larger for the females than for the males, and 2) that attitudes toward physical punishment act as an important mediator of this relationship for the males, and significantly less so for the females.

In summary, and recognizing that inferences may be limited by the uniqueness of the sample, it may be stated with a considerable degree of assurance that the affectional climate in the family of origin is not only related to subsequent expression of affection and to attitudes toward sexual expression, but that the three variables are interrelated in a complex fashion with each other and with expressions of sexuality during adulthood. It might prove useful to conceive of the affectional climate in the family of origin as the background out of which current affectional behavior, attitudes, and sexual expression emerge. When viewed in this manner, the process of emergence appears more direct for males than for females. This conclusion should not, however, be taken as a contradiction of the articles by Money,⁷ Prescott,⁴ and others who have claimed that males tend to be more vulnerable in their sociosexual development. In fact (and at the risk of overgeneralization from the limited data at hand) the apparent increased vulnerability of the males may be due to the directness of the affectional influence process. Females, having a greater variety of affectional sources, would tend to be less vulnerable to disruption of the development due to deficits in one affectional system.

In conclusion, the results are supportive of the common-sense idea that parenting of the positive affectional nature is related to the positive experience of adult sexual expression. What is new, however, is evidence regarding the differential complexity of the relationship for females and males. From a existential-phenomenological point of view, this study has examined how memories of past affectional experiences in the family of origin relate to current feelings, expressions of affect, and sexual behavior—how such memories relate to the respondent's manner of sexually being in the world. It remains for future studies to determine the generalizability of the findings and to provide additional details regarding the relationship of affectional history to the individual's unique meaning and experience of sexuality.