Value attributions and value transmission between parents and children

• Published in: Journal of marriage and family Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 829 - 840
• Main Authors: Whitbeck, L.B, Gecas, V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden National Council on Family Relations 01.08.1988; Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: age differences; Animal parental behavior; Child. Socialization; Children; cognitive development; Congruence (Psychology); Correlations; Cultural Transmission; Ethics; Families & family life; Fathers; gender differences; influences; Intergenerational Relations; Morality; Mothers; Of General Interest; Parent Child Relations; parent-child relationships; Parents; Self esteem; Social conditions & trends; Social perception; Social research; Socialization; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Sons; Value Orientations; Values; United States
• ISSN: 0022-2445; 1741-3737
• DOI: 10.2307/352651

This study examines the effects of parental behaviors and accuracy of perception of parents' socialization goals on value transmission between parents and children. Parents' reports of their personal values and the values they were attempting to socialize in their children and children's reports of their personal values and their perceptions of their parents' socialization values were used to measure value congruency between parents and offspring. Attributions of values between the two generations were more strongly correlated than were their actual values. In addition, parental behaviors more strongly affected children's tendency to attribute their values to their parents than actual parent-child value congruence. The strongest predictor of parent-child value congruence was the accuracy of children's perceptions of parents' socialization values.