The author researched the correlation between the quality of a relationship with a person’s parents and the fear of intimacy and infidelity through the course of her master’s thesis. The significance of a quality relationship with one’s father and mother is described in the theoretical part of the thesis. Through the following chapters, the author briefly presents the theory of attachment and its significance in the development of an individual. She mainly focuses on the attachment of adults and its influence on romantic relationships and the perception of intimacy. A presentation of the terms “intimacy” and “the fear of intimacy” follows, followed by a short explanation regarding the connection between intimacy, relationships between two individuals and the relationship with one’s parents. Finally, the theoretical part is concluded with a definition of infidelity, the different types of it and the reasons why it occurs. An empirical part follows, in which the author presents her research, which was done with the help of 120 random participants. Out of 120 participants, 103 provided information regarding their gender, out of which 26 participants were male and 77 were female. The results of the research provided no statistically important correlation between the quality of the relationship with one’s parents and the fear of intimacy or the correlation between infidelity and the fear of intimacy. No statistically important differences in the extent of infidelity between male and female were found, although a statistically important correlation between the relationship with one’s father and infidelity in the case of married participants was shown. The author, based on the gathered data, concludes that a functioning relationship with one’s parents does indeed correlate with the perception of intimacy and loyalty, although the research did not show it to be statistically important.
|
