marshal object with follow member create wrong reference attribute in xml file wrong xml output only occurs if dom4j driver is used. class BadSelfReference implements Serializable { private static final long serialVersionUID = 38772160335615698L; private BadSelfReference owner = this; private String aString = "1234"; private Long aLong = new Long(500); // getter setter omitted } output <testcase.BadSelfReference> <owner reference=".."/> <aString reference="..">1234</aString> <aLong>500</aLong> </testcase.BadSelfReference> how ever, the following class can marshal correctly class GoodSelfReference implements Serializable { private static final long serialVersionUID = 38772160335615698L; private String aString = "1234"; private Long aLong = new Long(500); private GoodSelfReference owner = this; // getter setter omitted } output <testcase.GoodSelfReference> <aString>1234</aString> <aLong>500</aLong> <owner reference=".."/> </testcase.GoodSelfReference>