From all that has been said above, it can be seen that such a factor as the image of the father has a great influence on future relationships with the partner. And this happens in all women, even those who did not know their father.
The main ways, where the influence of the image of the father on the relationship with the partner is manifested.
Let's consider, in what exactly ways the image of the father (at times not in an obvious way) influences relations with the future partners.
The main ways are three, this is a direct way, the way from the opposite and the most common mixed method. Let us consider them below.
1. Direct method of influence.
The direct way to influence the image of the father, as a rule, occurs in families with a good "climate", where both spouses love each other and their children. Then the daughter in the process of growing up observes this love and all its positive aspects. In this case, the image of the father is projected onto the future partner (ie, the girl subconsciously or consciously seeks a partner as close to her father as possible) in order to achieve with him the same depth of feelings that, and was with her parents.
2. The way of influence from the opposite.
The way that the father's image influences from the opposite (ie, the woman looks for the father's antipode) is most often found in those families where the atmosphere was unfavorable (scandals, quarrels, physical abuse of the child or between spouses). In this case, the girl develops a persistent antagonism to the image of her father, and the girl is looking for a partner that is not as much like him, sometimes it is projected not only on the qualities of the character, but also on the appearance. For example, if the father was tall blond, then the girl will like brunettes medium or below average height.
3. Mixed mode of influence.
This method is the most common for the reason that both conjugal and child-parent relations experience both conflict situations and times of complete harmony. With this way of influencing the image of the father, his image is taken as a basis and corrected (this happens, as a rule, unconsciously). Those features that are positioned in the girl as positive, are projected onto the future partner. The same features that do not like in the father, are leveled. This occurs in varying degrees of intensity and depth and in completely different combinations.
As already mentioned, the third type is most common, it is approximately 70-80% of cases. The remaining two roughly halve the remaining percentage.
Influence of the image of the father in women who grew up without him.
A separate item can be identified those women who did not know their father or did not have much contact with him at a conscious age. In this case, it is not said about the stepfather or adoptive parents, since it is entirely possible to assume that the stepfather or the adoptive father is quite consistent with the image of the father.
I'm talking about girls, mothers brought up by loners or inmates of orphanages, or grandparents. In such cases, as a rule, there is a large psychological burden on the child during the growing up period (this is due to the absence of a pattern of marital relations and the influence of the father on the formation of the personality). In this case, we can say (with a certain degree of assumption) that the image of the father will be compound and formed under the influence of mass media, literature, images of the fathers of those families that the woman observes during the formation of the personality. These images do not always turn out to be adequate to the realities of life, which sometimes causes such women problems in their relationships with men.
Of course, the image of the father is not the only factor that influences the relationship with the partner, but he can be called one of the key.