Adult Son-Parent Relationships and Their Associations With Sons' Psychological Distress

Abstract

The relationship between the quality of adult sons' experiences in their current relationships with their mothers and fathers and the sons' psychological distress was examined in a random sample of 285 sons, aged 25 to 40. Quality of experience in the son role was assessed separately for the son-mother and son-father relationships. Sons who reported a positive relationship with their mother or father also reported low psychological distress. The presence or absence of female siblings moderated the association between both the son-mother and son-father relationship quality and sons' distress. This association was also moderated by the parents' age, and, among sons with fathers, this association was moderated by the sons' education.