The emotional universe in parent-child interactions: An approach to a literature review

Abstract

The present literature review paper intends to reveal the ways in which various theoretical and investigative studies have understood emotional bonding within parent-child relationships. For this purpose, and using a hermeneutical approach, 69 articles published in Ibero-America and the Caribbean and some European countries in the last 13 years were exhaustively analyzed by the authors. This helped identify that emotions in parent-child interactions are understood as control mechanisms, interwoven threads throughout life and socio-historical-cultural constructs. The findings also suggest that despite the fact that researchers use various methods and integrate different perspectives, there is no clarity achieved about the complex interconnections of various processes that are present in the affective configuration.