As with all psychological or sexual conditions, it is widely claimed that kink has roots in the individual's family context. This approach emerges from psychoanalysis, though it is echoed in sociology. The concatenation of these theories is made complicated by the fact that psychoanalysis uses a much more general definition of "sadism" and "masochism," including "moral masochism" and other non-sexual concepts. Glickauf-Hughes and Wells (1991), for instance, referring to "masochism" in a very broad and normative sense: "a self-defeating way of loving and individuating." Oddly, Strauss (2001) cites this paper in a discussion of sexual masochism without distinguishing between the definitions.
In all events, Glickauf-Hughes analysis of moral masochism is quite comparably to Schad-Somers (1982) theory of the etiology of sexual sadomasochism based on erratic, self-absorbed parents who offer inconsistent praise and criticism. This potentially includes both persecution or "spoiling" the child. Kink results as a way for the child to re-enact and resolve these family dynamics.
Such studies, of course, lack serious empirical foundations. (Schad-Somers, for instance, uses a clinical sample of four people, all of whom have comorbid disorders, and she has no control group.) Moreover, the extremelly general nature of the proposed etiology embraces almost all versions of bad parenting, making this something of a shotgun approach.
There are a few studies of kink that do look at parenting styles.
Nordling et al (2006) report that, after controlling for sexual orientation, there is no discernible difference in parental attachment styles between kinky and non-kinky populations. However, Strauss (2001) finds that college students who had “warm parents” are less linkely to be masochistic, though his index variable is problematic.
Brame (2000) reports that the majority of her sample are “extremely or somewhat close” to both parents. 27% of the group describes their relationship with their mother as strained, estranged, or not applicable; 41% so describe their relationship with their father. Brame also reports that 36% of her sample grew up in houses where there was “domestic violence or emotional abuse, and 33% in families where there was drug or alcohol abuse or addictive behavior. However, there are no control variables in her study, so this does not leave us with much basis for comparison.
If kink is affected by parenting styles, it is presumably also affected by divorce. Coulter, for instance, is confident that kinky college students are the children of single mothers (Fox News 2006). Bienvenu and Jacques (1999) found that about 30% of kinky women and 17% of men feel that they came from a broken home. (A "broken home" can mean many things, but it's germance that between 1968 and 1978, about 17% of all children were being raised in non-dual-parent households. (US Census 2008)).
In all events, Glickauf-Hughes analysis of moral masochism is quite comparably to Schad-Somers (1982) theory of the etiology of sexual sadomasochism based on erratic, self-absorbed parents who offer inconsistent praise and criticism. This potentially includes both persecution or "spoiling" the child. Kink results as a way for the child to re-enact and resolve these family dynamics.
Such studies, of course, lack serious empirical foundations. (Schad-Somers, for instance, uses a clinical sample of four people, all of whom have comorbid disorders, and she has no control group.) Moreover, the extremelly general nature of the proposed etiology embraces almost all versions of bad parenting, making this something of a shotgun approach.
There are a few studies of kink that do look at parenting styles.
Nordling et al (2006) report that, after controlling for sexual orientation, there is no discernible difference in parental attachment styles between kinky and non-kinky populations. However, Strauss (2001) finds that college students who had “warm parents” are less linkely to be masochistic, though his index variable is problematic.
Brame (2000) reports that the majority of her sample are “extremely or somewhat close” to both parents. 27% of the group describes their relationship with their mother as strained, estranged, or not applicable; 41% so describe their relationship with their father. Brame also reports that 36% of her sample grew up in houses where there was “domestic violence or emotional abuse, and 33% in families where there was drug or alcohol abuse or addictive behavior. However, there are no control variables in her study, so this does not leave us with much basis for comparison.
If kink is affected by parenting styles, it is presumably also affected by divorce. Coulter, for instance, is confident that kinky college students are the children of single mothers (Fox News 2006). Bienvenu and Jacques (1999) found that about 30% of kinky women and 17% of men feel that they came from a broken home. (A "broken home" can mean many things, but it's germance that between 1968 and 1978, about 17% of all children were being raised in non-dual-parent households. (US Census 2008)).
At this point, these findings are hard to assemble into any conclusion. More focused work has been done on child abuse@ and corporal punishment.
Updated 1/8/10
Updated 1/8/10
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