Interferencia parental en el amor romántico: el efecto romeo y julieta

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1972, Vol. 24, No. 1, 1-10

PARENTAL INTERFERENCE AND ROMANTIC LOVE:
THE ROMEO AND JULIET EFFECT1
RICHARD DRISCOLL,2 KEITH E. DAVIS,8 AND MILTON E. LIPETZ* University of Colorado The two hypotheses tested were that (a) feelings of love become more highly correlated with trust and acceptance as relationships develop through time; and (6) parentalinterference in a love relationship intensifies the feelings of romantic love between members of the couple. The first hypothesis was derived from our conceptualization of love and distinctions between romantic and "conjugal" love. Affirmation of this hypothesis supported a methodology for operationalizing romantic love. The second hypothesis was derived from classical literature and small groupdynamics, and was explained in terms of two theoretical principles, namely, the motivating effect of frustration and reactance. This hypothesis was also supported, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal change score correlations. Plausible alternatives to this hypothesis were examined and then eliminated through further analyses. Possible relationship dynamics associated with parentalinterference and trust were discussed. Finally, the findings were applied to cross-cultural variations in the occurrence of romantic love.

Romantic love can be thought of as a distinct form of interpersonal attraction that occurs between opposite-sex partners under specifiable social conditions. Though romantic love is considered to be an important and meaningful experience by many members of ourculture, little research has been done with respect to the social conditions associated with variations in feelings of love. This may be due in part to the difficulties inherent in attaining adequate methodological control over the process being studied, and to not having developed any acceptable conceptualization of what is meant by love. The present study explores the relation between one type ofinfluence on a heterosexual relationship—parental interference—and love in the relationship. The primary hypothesis was derived from several separate but conThis study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R03 MH 17663-01 and a grant from the University of Colorado's Council on Research and Creative Work to Keith E. Davis and Milton E. Lipetz, principal investigators. 2 Requestsfor reprints should be sent to Richard Driscoll, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80302. 8 Now at the Department of Psychology, Livingston College, Rutgers University. 4 The authors are indebted to John Foward, Paul Rosenblatt, Zick Rubin, and Robert Ryder for their helpful critical comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
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vergent sources: theclassical literature on romantic love, studies of group reactions to external opposition, and two generalized theoretical principles. All of these considerations, which will be more fully elaborated, lead to the same hypothesis: parental interference in a love relationship intensifies the feelings of romantic love between members of the couple. A balanced presentation should acknowledge that there arecompeting theories which would predict that parental interference should reduce the positive aspects of the relationship, and thus reduce feelings of love. The application of reinforcement principles would suggest that romantic feelings that are not reinforced or are punished (by the parents' disapproval) would decrease in intensity. The frustration-aggression principle would suggest that thefrustrations produced by parental interference would lead to aggression that could be displaced onto one's mate, who is a safer and more available object for such aggression, and that such conflict would result in a diminution of love. The range of applicability of such seemingly incompatible principles is, of course, a major focus of this study. Parental Interference and Romantic Love Classical...