Experience of father and later relations to men. A systematic study of women's relations to their father, their partner and their son.

Using data from a longitudinal, prospective study of 69 women, their partners and first-born children, the woman's description of her parents was compared with her report about her relationships to her partner and child. Information was independently collected from partner and child. The woman's way of relating both to her partner and to her son was more strongly connected with her report about her early paternal than with her report about her early maternal contact. The woman's experience of her father was related to her way of interacting with her child in the case of a son but not in the case of a daughter. Thus, the specific importance of a woman's image of her father for her way of relating to other significant males was emphasized.