Abstract
Picture two nine-year-old girls twirling a jump rope together. A third girl deftly leaps into the space vacated by the revolving cord and dodges it effortlessly as it skips by. The harmonious synchronization of bodies is amplified by the repetition of a simple, rap-like verse: “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Jean with a baby carriage.” Although the girls pay little attention to the meaning of their words, they are internalizing a culturally dictated plan for their futures. Love. Marriage. Parenthood. Create the next generation and nurture it within the loving confines of the family. In the process provide not only for the propagation of the species and the continuation of your particular culture, but for yourself, the parent, in the most unimaginable ways. Here we will explore adult fulfillment through the experience of parenthood.
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References
Calvin Colarusso, The Third Individuation: The Effect of Biological Parenthood on Separation-Individuation Processes in Adulthood, Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, vol. 45 (1990), pp. 170–194.
Judith Kestenberg, “Regression and Reintegration in Pregnancy,” Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association Supplement, Female Psychology #5, 24 (1976), pp. 213–250.
Calvin Colarusso and Robert Nemiroff, The Race Against Time: Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in the Second Half of Life (New York: Plenum, 1985).
David Guttman, “Psychological Development and Pathology in Later Adulthood,” New Dimensions in Adult Development, ed. Robert Nemir-off and Calvin Colarusso (New York: Basic Books, 1990), pp. 170–184.
Bertram J. Cohler and Robert M. Galatzer-Levy, “Self, Meaning, and Morale Across the Second Half of Life,” in New Dimensions in Adult Development, ed. Robert Nemiroff and Calvin Colarusso (New York: Basic Books, 1990), pp. 214–263.
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© 1994 Calvin A. Colarusso
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Colarusso, C.A. (1994). Creating New Life. In: Fulfillment in Adulthood. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6509-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6509-7_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-306-44769-3
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