ROCD, parenting, and family environment

ROCD, parenting, and family environment:

Parents are arguably the first and most dominant model of romantic relationship a person is exposed to during childhood. It is reasonable to hypothesize, therefore, that the quality of parents’ romantic relationship would impact offspring’s relational beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. Indeed, early experiences, particularly parental conflict, have been theoretically and empirically linked with people’s relational attitudes, values and behaviors (See Amato, 2000, for review). Moreover, parental conflict has been theoretically and empirically associated with other ROCD-related factors, such as attachment insecurities, dysfunctional self-views, and mental health problems (e.g., Amato, 2001; Davies & Cummings, 1994; Jekielek, 1998; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). Finally, many clients with ROCD recall a longstanding history of intense and overt parental conflict. Thus, we propose that a negative family environment during childhood, particularly comprising of intense and longstanding parental conflict, can be a distal vulnerability factor of ROCD.

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