Mama’s boy. Daddy’s girl. These labels often mark a child deemed its mother’s or father’s favorite. Favoritism has long been a common problem within the family circle, especially between parents and children of the opposite sex. This phenomenon has even been the subject of ancient literature and mythology; today psychologists use the terms "Oedipal complex" and "Electra complex" to define an abnormal closeness between a mother and son or father and daughter. The 1997 film Eve’s Bayou also has a plot that centers on the issue of father daughter favoritism. Film critics like Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Joe Baltake, of the Sacramento Bee have recognized the film’s verisimilitude and therefore we will use it as an example in our study of father daughter relationships. We would like to make psychology students and professors aware that an abnormal closeness between father and daughter can have an adverse affect on the entire family.

The subjects of Eve’s Bayou, the Batiste’s are like any other family. They have their problems though, and many of these are related to the father, Louis’s obvious preference for his older daughter, Cisely, and the close bond they share. Various psychological theories suggest that other family problems, such as adultery, marital conflict, and sibling rivalry may all contribute to or result from this abnormal closeness. In one way or another, all the Batiste family’s problems correlate to Louis’s relationship with one of his female family members.

Traditionally, fathers’ importance to their families has been severely understudied. The earliest family studies focused on mother-child relationships (Hetherington, 1994), disregarding paternal influence because of fathers’ frequent absence from the home. In recent years, psychologists began recognizing the fathers’ importance outside of the traditional "provider" role (Biller, 1993). Contemporary studies have uncovered fathers’ importance in girls’ lives. These studies found that daughters who were close to their fathers reported fewer instances of depressed feelings than those who were rejected by, deprived of, or not favored by their fathers (Sarigiani & Camarena, 1993). Adolescent girls, such as Cisely, especially need paternal support and affection (Sarigiani & Camarena, p. 6), and due to this intense need for his approval and attention, may even compete with their mothers for the father’s affection (Biller, p. 100).

A study by Deanna Chalfant (1994) found that fathers often favor daughters over sons and first-borns over younger children (Chalfant, p. 254). They may view their daughters as delicate possessions that need coddling and protection (Shulman & Krenke, 1997). In the Batiste family, Cisely is indeed the oldest and Louis has no qualms about admitting to his sister, Moselle, that he adored Cisely most of all. In many instances Louis shows his preference for Cisely over his other children. In Eve’s opening scene the Batiste family entertains the Bayou’s elite and as part of that entertainment, Louis shows off Cisely. He calls her out of the crowd (and away from her younger sister Eve) to dance with him. Though others notice Eve’s obvious disappointment, Louis makes no attempt to follow his younger daughter as she flees the party (click here to see a clip from the movie). Instead, he twirls Cisely around and boasts, "Can’t my daughter dance?" Louis often refers to Cisely as "my daughter," a term of endearment that seems to disregard Eve’s existence. At Sunday dinner when his mother threatens to spank Cisely for sassing her mother, Louis snaps, "don’t threaten my daughter!" A disheartened Eve exclaims, "You let her threaten me!" an outburst that that further accentuates the pattern of favoritism.

The closeness between Louis and Cisely may support the psychological theory that in the presence of marital conflict, a forced closeness exists between father and daughter. The father turns to his daughter for support (Osborne, Grych & Fincham, 1994.). Brody, Copeland, Sutton, Richardson, and Guyer say this is an attempt to fulfill his own emotional needs (1998). In his letter to Moselle, Louis confesses that he commits adultery because he needs to be a hero. As long as he is Cisely’s favorite he will be a hero to her. After a disastrous Sunday dinner, Louis asks his daughter, "You love your Daddy, baby?" She replies, "You know I do Daddy," and at this he proclaims, "That’s all I need!" Cisely does take great care to protect and comfort her father. When eve tells her the story of Louis and Maddie in the shed, Cisely quickly refutes this account, offering an innocuous explanation for what Eve saw. When Roz and Moselle conference on Louis’s adultery, Cisely tries to keep her father from having to confront them. Cisely apparently feels that Roz is driving Louis away; as she tells Eve, she tries to "…make him feel better so he won’t leave [them]." As a continuation of this behavior, Cisely always takes her father’s side in arguments like the one that occurs at Sunday dinner.

The sequence of events during Sunday dinner shows how Louis and Cisely’s relationship now excludes other family members and even drives them away. For instance, Cisely displays a substantial lack of respect for her mother. This may be caused by the disrespect Louis himself shows toward Roz, through his unabashed adultery. Biller says that a mutual respect between parents is necessary to elicit children’s equal respect for each parent (Biller, p. 25). Children often form their opinions of each parent through the eyes of the other parent (Biller, p. 25), and Cisely’s closeness to her father is often the cause of her disrespectful behavior. For instance, after the party ends Roz tells Cisely to go inside and go to bed, but Cisely responds, "not till Daddy comes in," and stands on the porch, arms akimbo, until he does (click here to see a clip from the movie). A Sunday dinner provides the most crucial example of Cisely’s disdain for Roz. After Louis belittles Roz’s request that the children remain inside for the summer, the parents argue about his work habits and when Louis leaves the dinner table to make house calls, Cisely follows him to the door. After kissing him goodbye, Cisely returns to the table insulting her mother, calling her irrational for not wanting Louis to go to work. And in yet another act  of defiance, Cisely disregards her mother’s wishes that she remain indoors by walking to the hospital to visit her father. This touches off an argument between Roz and Cisely, illustrating how the interplay between Louis’s relationship with Roz and Cisely deteriorates the relationship between Roz and Cisely.

Just as the marital relationship affects the parent child relationship, a father’s relationship with his daughter has a significant impact on the family system. The special relationship between father and daughter may breed envy from excluded siblings and resentment from the mother (Hurlock, 1978). Though Cisely and Eve remain close (in fact, Cisely identifies Eve as her only friend). Eve’s distance from her father allows her to believe the worst of her father, that he has sexually abused Cisely on the night of their parents’ big argument. The emotional conflict within Eve, between her desire for a bond with her father, her resentment of his favoring Cisely, and her firsthand knowledge of his adulterous affairs, leads her to seek the aid of a voodoo priestess. Though she has sworn to kill Louis for hurting Cisely, in the end Eve realizes that she really does want her father around. However, this revelation comes too late. Professor Monroe, Maddie’s husband, shoots Louis, killing him and leaving Eve to believe it’s her fault. 

Louis’ death bars any final resolution to the Batiste family’s issues. However, in real life the chance for reconciliation presents itself continually. Many factors contribute to the reconciliation process but the foremost of these is communication. Children must let their parents know that they perceive favoritism, and parents must heed these notices. After Eve sees Louis in the shed, the two have a conversation in which Eve asks her father why he never dances with her. At first, Louis says, "Sugar, we dance all the time!" After Eve points out that he only dances with her in private, and never at parties like he does with Cisely, Louis promises to dance with Eve at every party from then on. 

Louis has just completed another crucial step to improving his relationship with Eve. He has agreed to start a ritual with a child who is not his favorite. It may be easy for parents to spend quality time with their favorite child (Louis and Cisely often enjoy late night dances and conversations), but parents should conscientiously seek out times to bond with each of their children. This can be accomplished in a weekly trip to the mall, a daily walk in the park, or a lunchtime conversation, and will be the foundation of a strong parent-child relationship. In some cases, parents may need to coax children out of some their rituals with their preferred parents. Roz attempted to do this when she ordered Cisely to stop waiting up for Louis at night. Roz’s attempt was unsuccessful and would have been more effective if she had had her husband’s support.

Since parents are more confident, competent and efficient when they have their partner’s support (Biller, p. 22), it is very important to strengthen the marital (or inter-parental) relationship before attempting to make changes within the family system. Parents should spend time alone with each other, communicate as much as possible, and take care to fulfill each other’s emotional needs. A loving, understanding relationship between mother and father will discourage a rivalry between parent and child for the other parent’s affection (Hurlock, p. 515). In addition, by showing respect for each other, parents will convey equal authority over their children, and therefore, eliminate any imbalance in respect from each child (Biller, p. 25). The parents must always support strong relationships within the rest of the family.

Since many relationships exist between one family system, it is important that parents facilitate quality time for the family as a whole (Hurlock, p. 504). When each family member has a chance to interact with all others at once, all the family relationships will be strengthened. Spending time together as a family decreases sibling rivalry, parental jealousy and alienation, strengthening the family as a whole. 

Fathers and daughters will always share a special bond, however it is possible for them to be too close and that closeness can divide the entire family. While it is good to see these fathers spending time with their daughters, it is still important for a man to be close to his family as a whole. In a time when more and more children are being raised by single mothers, psychologists are being forced to reevaluate the importance of fathers to their daughters and their families. It is our sincere hope that psychologists will be able to use this information to help strengthen today’s families, the threads that weave the fabric of society.

Baltake, J. (1997, November). The Sacramento Bee [Online]. Available FTP: http://www.sacbee. com/leisure/themovieclub/reviews/archives/97eve/eve.html

Eve's Bayou, set in the 1960s Louisiana Bayou, is a somewhat accurate depiction of an affluent Creole family, says Baltake. It is characterized by detailed depiction of events which occurred during the summer of the father's death. Baltake is impressed by the ease in which Eve allows the audience to step into her mind and thoroughly examine her recollection of the summer of 1962. Baltake maintains that all the scenes leading to the end have a significance in the story and are essential to the plot, however, he feels the ending is a digression from this pattern of "intense observation." Whereas the movie remains complex and intriguing through the first hour and a half, the final scenes are simple, predictable, and undetailed. The majority of the movie provides intricate description of people and events, so thorough as to be believable, and paces itself in a manner which allows the viewer to formulate an opinion of the events and a feeling for the characters. According to Baltake, Eve’s resort to voodoo, her sudden change of heart, and Louis’ encounter with Professor Monroe are all important scenes that were too lightly covered. Eve's ending, he says, leaves too much open to interpretation and moves so quickly that the viewer has little time to decide how s/he feels about what s/he is seeing, leaving at least one viewer thoroughly unsatisfied.

Biller, H. B. (1993). Fathers and families: paternal factors in child development. Connecticut: Auburn House. (p. 22-26, 99-101, 175-181.)

Biller asserts that husband-wife relationships directly affect parent-child relationships. Parents, specifically fathers, are more competent and confident when their partners support and respect them. Parents who understand their family roles and who share equal household dominance and decision making power, reduce the likelihood that their children will respect one parent more than the other. Each parent’s positive opinion of the other is essential, because it influences the child's image of its parent. Because many young children have romanticized views of their parents, it is normal for same-sex parent-child rivalries for the other parents affection to occur , however, this competition should last ephemerally. Biller maintains that understanding and respectful marital relationships ensure healthy parent-child relationships.

Brody, L. R., Copeland, A. P., Sutton, L. S., Richardson, D. R., & Guyer, M. (1998). Mommy and daddy like you best: perceived family favoritism in relation to affect, adjustment and family process. Journal of Family Therapy, 20 (3), (p. 269-291).

These five Boston University psychology professors define favoritism as an instance where parents exhibit positive treatment disproportionately to one child, with disfavoritism being the disproportionately negative treatment of one child. Through their research of existing psychological theory and past research, they identified several possible causes and effects of favoritism and disfavoritism. Favoring one child, they found, may be a manifestation of a parent’s desire to fill their own emotional needs. Conversely, when parents identify one of their own unfavorable characteristics within a child, they may disfavor that child. Brody et al conducted a study of 64 female (ages 17-27) and 63 male (ages 18-30) psychology students, as well as 62 of the participating students’ siblings. The participants completed numerous tasks and surveys. The results showed 64% of participants reporting favoritism in their family and an additional 24% reporting both favoritism and disfavoritism. As predicted, most sibling pairs agreed that family favoritism and disfavoritism occurs. Unexpectedly, students and siblings who presumed themselves to be favored or disfavored reported no difference in emotions such as fear, shame, guilt, anxiety and depression. The authors suggest that further study be done by observing families where one child exhibits a major difference from the others.

Chalfant, D. (1994). Birth order, perceived parental favoritism, and feelings toward parents. Individual Psychology, 50 (1), 52-56.

Chalfant notes that previous studies have shown that favoritism occurs in families of all sizes and that birth order effects parental preference and child perception of parental favoritism. Those studies also suggested that parents tend to favor opposite-sex or first-born children. Chalfant's study results, which uphold these findings, come from two participant group surveys. One group consisted of 28 males and 32 females, between 18 and 24 years old, and the other of 32 men and 32 women 25 years and older. Identified as "only child," "firstborn," " middle child," or "last born," the subjects took surveys in which they rated the frequency in which their parent showed affection or spent time with them. They identified who was their parents’ favorite, and since no definition for favoritism was provided, answers reflected the subject's personal perception. The results resembled previous study findings, with nearly half of all participants perceiving favoritism from the opposite sex parent, and about half of all subjects reporting the occurrence of favoritism. Subjects perceived mothers as warmer and more accepting than fathers, regardless to whether or not they thought she favored them.

Ebert, R. (1997). Eve's bayou. Chicago Sun-Times [Online]. Available FTP: http://www.suntimes. com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1997/11/110702.html

Ebert acclaims Eve’s Bayou as true to nature. In what Ebert describes as complex and descriptive dialogue, an adult Eve reexamines the summer of 1962, trying to understand exactly what happened between her philandering father, Louis Batiste, and the apple of his eye, Eve's older sister, Cisely, trying to explain Louis' death. According to Ebert, the story shows how stored up emotions can get out of control and cause things to happen that cannot be undone. He points out that each of the characters explains the reasons for his/her actions; Louis says he cheats because he needs to be a hero, Roz admits tolerating his infidelity in hopes that one day he'll appreciate her. Through the revealing dialogue and memories of each character, Ebert feels the audience can decide for itself what happened the night that Louis came home drunk and Cisley tried to comfort him. Just as in real life, Ebert says, two sides of the story are presented, and depending on the viewer's interpretation either one can be believed.

Hetherington, E. M (1994). Siblings, family relationships, and child development. Journal of Family Psychology, 8 (3), 251-253.

Hetherington’s essay serves as an introduction for a collection of articles on family relationships. Hetherington highlights the importance of studying family relationships, pointing out that past research was inconclusive and inadequate. While birth order, family size, and sibling spacing were the focal points of past research, more recent studies have had more specific foci. Sibling relationship development, its effects on personality and social relationships, and genetic and environmental causes for personality differences between siblings have been extensively researched in the past decade. Hetherington explains the theories that inspire research of sibling relationships, noting that, too often, studies focus on mother-child relationships, and exclude ties to father-child relationships and child development. Only recently have these subjects been included in family studies and Hetherington strongly recommends that future research delve deep into these areas.

Hurlock, E. B. (1978). Factors influencing family relationships. Child Development. New York: McGraw-Hill. (p. 501-518.)

In chapter seventeen, Hurlock discusses the various factors that affect family relationships. According to Hurlock, family size is the most important factor. As a family size increases, the number and type of family relationships changes, making the family system more complex and increasing family friction. Medium-sized families, those with three to five children, tend to breed the healthiest family relationships because parents tend to encourage closeness more than in larger families (because it is less strenuous), and more than in smaller families (because it is more obviously necessary). Friends, guests, distant relatives, and other non-family members, in and outside of the home, can also have a strong effect on family relationships, through their verbalized opinions and behavior. Family social status influences parent child relationships, because upper-class children respect their fathers, often responsible for the family’s affluence, over their mothers. Family composition, child/parent preference, and sibling relationships also influence family relationships.

Osborne, L. N, Grych, J. H, Fincham, F. D (1994). Does marital conflict cause child maladjustment? Journal of family Psychology, 8 (2), (p.128-139).

Osborne, Grych, and Fincham discuss theories on the relationship of marital conflict to parent-child relationships, in an attempt to decide how further research on the matter should be conducted. They note that intense, unresolved parental conflict is emotionally threatening to the child, however, a Simpson and Wilson study in 1993 showed that if children received assurance that the conflict had been resolved, emotional distress was minimized. Three different studies, observing sibling reactions to the same conflict, suggested that differences in child personality cause different reactions to parental conflict. Despite those differences, some kinds of conflicts consistently evoke a specific child reaction. Osborne, Grych, and Fincham discuss the theory that children observe and model their parents’ conflict resolution patterns. Therefore, constant conflict between parents will, at some point, inhibit the child’s ability to interact with its peers. The authors conclude with the recommendation that, since marital relationships intertwine with the other relationships in the family system, future research should include and relate all family relationships.

Sarigiani and Camarena argue that fathers are just as important as mothers to the emotional well being and adjustment of their children, especially daughters. The fact that girls who were not close to their fathers presented higher instances of depression than girls who were supports this assertion. The father-daughter relationship, they contend, is an important factor in the girl’s mental health. They emphasize adolescence as a critical phase when daughters need their fathers the most. Unfortunately, this is also the time when fathers are the least comfortable showing affection, due to the girl’s physical and emotional changes. During this stage, Sarigiani and Camarena urge fathers to try their hardest to maintain, or build, a strong relationship with their daughters.

Shulman, S. & Krenke, S. I (1997). The father and daughter relationship. Developmental and clinical perspectives.

Shulman and Krenke explain that the father-daughter relationship is more affectionate than that between father and son. They say fathers expect their sons to have a take-charge attitude, establish their own independence and their own egos and personalities, so they will be adequately prepared heads-of-households. In contrast, fathers tend to view their daughters as beautiful and delicate, and treat them as such. According to Shulman and Krenke, fathers often see their daughters as possessions, to be kept, and handed over only to a husband who will resume the care-taking. Shulman and Krenke provide a convincing argument that father-daughter relationships are characteristically stronger, more protective, and more concerned than any other family relationship.

Tatara feels that Eve’s Bayou has a fairy-tale quality, intensified by the picturesque imagery of the 1962 Louisiana Bayou summer. The cast and crew personally and uniquely depict a woman’s hazy memory of a childhood summer when her father was killed. Tatara notes that Eve’s opening phrase, "Memory is a collection of images, some illusive, others printed indelibly on the brain," allows for the possibility that what we see is not the reality of what happened, rather, it is Eve’s perception of those events. As an example, he suggests that Eve’s representation of her family’s social status may not be accurate, because it is not confluent with the lifestyle a black family in the 1960’s would have lived. According to Tatara, witnessing her father’s adulterous sexual encounter causes emotional conflict within Eve that propels the film’s plot. He refutes other reviewers’ opinions that the language is often too articulate and eloquent, and that the voodoo element is a cheap plot thickener, by emphasizing that the dialogue is an interpretation and that voodoo is a natural element of the Bayou setting. Tatara feels the purpose of this film is to highlight the importance of the family in times of crisis.