Men's Psychological Development: A Relational Perspective

Abstract

Current theories of male psychological development emphasize the primary importance of the “self” and fail to describe the whole of men’s experience in relationship. Men as well as women are motivated by a primary desire for connection, and it is less accurate and useful to think of “self” than “self-in-relation” as a process. As with women, the sources of men’s misery are in disconnections, violations, and dominances, and in participating in relationships which are not mutually empowering. However, the specifics of men’s development differ in several important ways. This paper was originally presented at a Stone Center Colloquium on November 7, !990.