Parenting can be defined as a conscious, goal-oriented activity or as an unconscious, goal-oriented action. In the relationship with the child, parents act according to their experiences and feelings. At the same time, the child experiences various feelings, which he regulates more or less, depending also on the responsiveness of the parents. These experiences of how to regulate your feelings and how to function in relationships, he carries over into adult intimate relationships. With his partner, he outplays possible unresolved feelings from his childhood. His partner can indulge in this, be vulnerable with him and looks for support in him or he can withdraw and suppress his negative feelings. Long-term stress along the suppression can lead to anxiety.
The purpose of the Master’s thesis was to present and research the correlations between the parenting style, which the individual was most often raised in childhood, and the level of fear of intimacy, felt by the individual in intimate relationships, mostly partnerships, in adulthood. We also questioned the potential role of mental health in relationship quality, focusing on anxiety. For this purpose, we also checked, if anxiety correlates with fear of intimacy and if parenting styles are also correlated with anxiety. We also checked, if married and unmarried individuals differ in the level of fear of intimacy. We also performed an empirical research, including 15 participants, who answered the online questionnaire that included the Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ), The Fear of Intimacy Scale (FIS) and the Anxiety questionnaire. The participants answered the PAQ-questionnaire separately for the parenting style of their mother and for the parenting style of their father. The results of the research showed that the variables of the authoritative parenting style of their mother as well as the father are statistically significantly correlated with the level of fear of intimacy and anxiety. The correlations are negative and low. There is also a positive and low correlation between the level of fear of intimacy and anxiety. We also found that married adults experience a lower level of fear of intimacy than unmarried adults. Considering the stated limitations, the research showed that quality parenting can be a preventive factor for the development of anxiety as well as an important factor of the future relationship with the intimate partner.
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