Monkey Think, Monkey Do: Importance of Parent Modeling

Abstract

The Monkey Think, Monkey Do Study is a cross-sectional study that addresses how parental relationship attributes and self-esteem impact who a child models their relationship after. Parent relationship attributes and self-esteem influence young adults across several regions of their life, including how to model their romantic relations. Parent relationship attributes and self-esteem are separate models. However, we observe the interaction between models and which parental relationship attributes impact modeling desires, a subject that has not often been studied. In a sample of college students at a rigorous university (N= 53), it was concluded that overall parental quality is the most important in modeling desires, followed by parental conflict, then parental relationship trust. The dimension of self-esteem does not play a significant role in modeling desires when compared to the importance of parent modeling and a healthy environment.