What is it about?
In 7 studies, I explored compassionate love in the family. It was found that parents report very high levels of compassionate love for their young and adult children. Young adults also report high levels of compassionate love for their parents, especially their mothers. There also was evidence that people who are high in compassionate love provide more support to their family members.
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Why is it important?
Compassionate love is broadly defined as giving of oneself for the good of another. The more compassionate love people feel for their family members, the more likely they are to take their perspective, be willing to make sacrifices for them, and support them. Thus, it is important to cultivate this kind of love, beginning in early childhood.
Perspectives
Close relationships researchers have focused overwhelmingly on romantic love. More recently, attention is being paid to compassionate love, although most of that work has focused on compassionate love in the context of romantic relationships. However, compassionate love presumably begins "in the home". Thus, I felt it was important to examine compassionate love and its implications in familial relationships, starting with parents' compassionate love for their young children, all the way through to adults' compassionate love for their parents.
Beverley Fehr
University of Winnipeg
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Compassionate love and beneficence in the family., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, November 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/pspi0000479.
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