Childhood exposure to parental nudity, parent‐child co‐sleeping, and “primal scenes”: A review of clinical opinion and empirical evidence

1995/01/01 by Paul Okami · 2 citations
Psychology · Medicine · Social Sciences · #Child Abuse and Trauma #Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum #Gender Roles and Identity Studies #Harm #Antecedent (behavioral psychology) #Psychology #Empirical research #Developmental psychology #Empirical evidence #Human sexuality #Social psychology #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1080/00224499509551774

openalex publication_date 1995/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

In this article I compare clinical opinion with empirical evidence of psychological harm associated with childhood exposure to parental nudity, parent‐child co‐sleeping, and scenes of parental sexuality (“primal scenes”). Exceedingly scant empirical data could be located. Only in the case of parent‐child co‐sleeping is there any suggestion in the empirical literature of associated harm, and this harm—sleep disturbance—may be an antecedent rather than a consequence of co‐sleeping. A unique in‐progress 18‐year longitudinal study of adjustment is also described.

Citations

• The myth of sexual compulsivity
• Who Sleeps by Whom? Parent-Child Involvement in Urban Japanese Families†

Cited by

• “I Walked in on Them”: Young Adults’ Childhood Perceptions of Sex and Nudity in Family and Public Contexts
• Nudity and sexuality [wikipedia]