Global Perspectives on Parental Acceptance and Rejection

Global Perspectives on Parental Acceptance and Rejection advances an understanding of the profound and lifelong effects that parental love (acceptance) and the absence of love (rejection) have on human development from childhood through to old age.

It draws from interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory), an evidence-based theory of socialization and lifespan development that focuses on the pancultural effects, causes, and other correlates of interpersonal acceptance-rejection throughout the lifespan. Edited by Ronald P. Rohner and Sumbleen Ali, contributions from leading scholars show how few experiences have as wide-ranging, significant, and predictable consequences for human behavior well-being as experiences of parental acceptance and rejection. Key topics of parental acceptance-rejection include long-term effects in childhood; adult intimate relationships; early life stress; parental alienation; child maltreatment; and forgiveness and vengeance. It also discusses the clinical implications and practical applications of IPARTheory.

Providing vital information about parenting and human development worldwide, this book is essential for researchers, students, and practitioners in psychology, psychiatry, family sciences, sociology, human development, and the helping professions.

Ronald P. Rohner, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and Director at the Rohner Center for the Study of Interpersonal Acceptance and Rejection, University of Connecticut, USA.

Sumbleen Ali, PhD, is a Research Scientist at the Rohner Center, University of Connecticut, USA, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the State University of New York at Oneonta, USA.

Dedication

We dedicate this book with gratitude to those 100,000+ children and adults around the world who participated in our studies over the course of six plus decades.

We also dedicate the book to the scores of professionals and students who helped bring IPARTheory to its current level of maturity.