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Personality and Familial Relationships

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

The concept of family holds a multiplicity of meanings, ranging from shared genetic material, common ancestral heritage across generations, members of a household to relationships of mutual care and support that go beyond the scope of mere friendship. From a legal standpoint, family includes those bound by blood, marriage, or adoption. However, as demographers have noted, contemporary conceptualizations of family often extend beyond these narrow confines to include those individuals in one’s life that provide the social functions of family (e.g., financial interdependence, emotional support, co-parenting; Tillman and Nam 2008). Psychologists have long explored the role that families play in shaping the psychological characteristics of children (from genetic contributions, the role caregivers play in creating lasting templates for later social interaction, to the impact of socialization and social learning mechanisms within the home). In addition, psychologists have begun the explore...

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Correspondence to Jennifer Prewitt-Freilino .

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Prewitt-Freilino, J. (2019). Personality and Familial Relationships. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_711-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_711-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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