Chapter 9 1 The parent child relationship is one of the longest lasting relationships that an individual will have in life and the quality of this relationship influences the child s relationships as they enter adulthood Higher quality parent child relationships have been linked to a young adult having better friendships and romantic relationships I believe this is because individuals who have a close relationship with their parents have more self confidence and emotional well being making them more stable overall Individuals who are raised with a lot of conflict and turmoil in the household may have difficulty maintaining quality relationships when they enter adulthood Another factor that seems to influence the quality of young adults relationships is their parent s marital status Parental divorce may have a negative effect on young adults relationships This is not the case if a close relationship with the father and the mother is maintained or if the individual can achieve an integrative perception of divorce Higher levels of friendship and intimacy has been linked to individual s whose mothers remarry compared to those who stay single I feel the relationships an individual experiences earlier in life sets the path to the relationships they commit to in young adulthood and if raised in such a way that there are trust and anxiety issues then it will be difficult to maintain close friendships or romantic relationships 2 Household labor was not evenly divided when I was growing up I would have to say my mother did most of the household chores like cleaning and cooking My father worked full time on the Columbus Air Force Base and my mother became an assistant teacher when I started kindergarten so she was home more than my father was I don t think that was really the reason she did more housework I think that was what was expected at that time My father took the trash out and cleaned the fish tanks but I don t remember him doing many other household chores In fact on the weekends he was gone a lot and my mom stayed home and watched us My marriage is a little different while I usually do most of the cleaning my husband probably cooks more meals than I do and he also helps raise our daughter a lot more than my father did We made a deal when I became pregnant that he would change all the dirty diapers and I would change all the wet diapers He has kept his word too if he is around he changes the dirty diapers and a lot of the wet ones He works from home so this may be the reason he helps so much I usually do the cleaning and I prefer it that way because I can never find anything when he cleans and the way he folds clothes is horrible Sometimes I do feel like I am not doing enough so that may be the way I was raised to feel like women are supposed to do all the child care and household tasks So while in my situation my belief may have been influenced by the way I was raised I got lucky and my husband doesn t have the gender role belief that women should do all the child rearing and housework I can however see the link in my childhood neighbor s relationship Her mom did all the housecleaning and other stereotypical women tasks and my neighbor s relationship is the same way and her husband demands this of her I am grateful to have the husband I do and maybe my daughter will grow up with a more liberal view of gender roles