The Warmth Dimension: Foundations of Parental Acceptance-Rejection Theory

Ronald Rohner | English, 2000

This thought-provoking study is about love — the kind of love that parents can give or withhold from their children. The warmth dimension of parenting is characterized by parental acceptance at one end and by parental rejection at the other. This work examines the antecedents, consequences, and correlates of these phenomena in the United States and across many cultures. A vital question is posed: What gives some children the capacity to cope with perceived parental rejection more effectively than most children? The problematic relationship between perceived parental rejection and child abuse and neglect is also discussed. The author breaks new ground by offering a theoretical foundation posited in his parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory) for the study of these and other issues.

In addition to summarizing national, international, and cross-cultural comparative (holocultural) data collected by researchers over half a century, the book lays out PARTheory’s epistemological assumptions and postulates. The Warmth Dimension offers valuable insights for multidisciplinary audiences in academic, research, and practitioner-oriented settings. Raising many important but heretofore unanswered questions, this book contributes substantially toward a common conceptualization and vocabulary for the many disciplines dealing with families and children in jeopardy of child maltreatment.