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from Part III - The Organized and Organizing Nature of Meaning
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 June 2025
As researchers of family relationships have long suspected, it is now demonstrable that ways of parenting are carried across generations and that this cannot be reduced to genetics. A focus on meaning was the answer, because it is not specific parental practices that show continuity; rather, it is the distilled meaning of experiences. Warmth, hostility, or boundary violations can be shown in many ways. Your son may show warmth to his daughter in a very different way than you showed it to him. But the experience of warm care (or hostility) is carried forward. Research shows such continuity even from the first two years of life before the maturation of declarative memory. Similarly, the pattern of disorganized attachment shows continuity across generations, even though the signs of disorganization may vary. Studies show that this continuity is mediated by the tendency of those with disorganized attachment to dissociate and later behave in frightening ways toward their infants, which is then related to their disorganized attachment.
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