You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Broadly speaking, this book is a multiauthored study of the development, vicissitudes, and pathology of parenthood. The editors' particular focus is the special reciprocal, interpersonal relationship that is parenthood, and its concomitant impact on the intrapsychic structure and equilibrium of the involved persons. While the effect of the parent upon the psychic structure of the child has been studied very fruitfully, the reverse has not been true. Still any analyst who has analyzed a parent has noted the effect of children upon a parent's psyche.
The general introductory section opens with a fascinating chapter by Charles Kaufman on the biological basis for the development of parental behavior. (Kaufman's extensive bibliography is useful for further reading.) The next two chapters deal with the anthropological and sociocultural aspects of parenthood. The book's second section, written by Benedek, uses psychoanalytic developmental psychology as a base for a study of the transactional process between members of a family. The third section explores the developmental aspects of parenthood, delineating the phase-specific task of the child as a challenge to parental equilibrium and adaptation. The fourth section studies the pathology of parenthood, but unfortunately all of the chapters are focused on the mother. I believe the significance of the father deserves greater attention, particularly