There are many divergent opinions as to how important the roles that parental examples play in a child's psychological, emotional and sexual development really are.  Many people believe that the behavior patterns set by parents and other authority figures really are the most important factor in how a child grows up, and forge the core of what kind of adult a child becomes.  These people feel that there is no overestimating how important the behavior of parents really is, and that the example that a child's parents set is a factor that is destined to strongly influence everything in the child's life while they are growing up and later when they are an adult.

Those who believe that the role that parent behavior plays in a child's emotional, psychological, and sexual development is the most important part of a child's growth believe that adult desires for physical attraction are forged in the cradle.  One of the most hotly debated questions in the world of psychology today is whether childhood experiences related to parents really do or do not have a large influence on adult cravings for physical attraction.  The famous psychologist and the father of modern psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud felt that parental examples was the cause of almost every shade of physical and sexual desire.  However, many modern scientists and doctors take a slightly more nuanced view.

Physical attraction is often tied up with sexuality, but it is just as often related to emotions as it is to sexual or carnal desire.  The desire for physical attraction can have as much to do with the satisfaction of being held as it does with the need to make love or have an orgasm.  When it comes to determining how important the part parents play in forging these kinds of desires really is, sexuality is one of the muddiest areas, but it is not the absolute muddiest by far.  Just as difficult to parse are the realms of love, friendship, and non-sexual physical affection like hugging.

There is no easy way to tell whether these role that parents play in a child's psychological development is really as important as some experts believe.  Many psychologists and other behavioral scientists feel that what determines the core of who we are as children and adults has as little to do with the behavior of our parents as it does with the color of sky when we are born.  Instead of following the idea that our personality and our desires are created by our childhood experiences and the models of behavior that we see our parents enact, these scientists believe instead that who we are is determined not by our experiences at the hands of our parents, but by our biological makeup.  Indeed, there are many professionals who believe that our desires and weaknesses, our traits and habits, are determined almost completely before we are even born by the makeup of our genes.  Still other scientists believe that the truth lies somewhere between these two extreme theories.  While there is no completely conclusive way to tell if parental examples really does influence a person's development, and if so how much it does, there is evidence to support the idea that our personalities are determined by a mixture of our genetic traits and of the roles that parental examples play in a child's psychological, emotional and sexual development.