Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:35:50.874Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Accounting for Parent–Child Value Congruence: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Ariel Knafo  and
Shalom H. Schwartz
Edited by
Ute Schönpflug
Ute Schönpflug
Affiliation:
Freie Universität Berlin
Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Values are desirable abstract goals that apply across situations. Values serve as guiding principles in people's lives, as criteria to select and justify actions and to evaluate people and events (Rohan, 2000; Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz, 1992). Values relate meaningfully to numerous important behaviors such as alcohol consumption (Schwartz, Melech, Lehmann, Burgess, Harris, & Owens, 2001), risky sexual behavior (Goodwin, Realo, Kwiatkowska, Kozlova, Nguyen Luu, & Nizharadze, 2002), vocational behavior (Knafo & Sagiv, 2004; Sagiv & Schwartz, 2004), and pro- and antisocial behaviors (Bond & Chi, 1997; Knafo, 2003a). Parents invest heavily in trying to influence their children's values. Yet, their success is quite limited; the relationship between parental and child values is far from being congruent (Homer, 1993; Knafo & Schwartz, 2001; Troll & Bengtson, 1979).

This chapter addresses the processes that lead to parent–child value congruence. By value congruence, we mean that parents and their children attribute similar importance to a value. Levels of parent–child value congruence vary as a function of the substantive content of values. Congruence is usually high for religious values and lower for most other values that have been studied (Kalish & Johnson, 1972; Miller & Glass, 1989). It is therefore important to consider the content of values when studying value transmission. The crucial content aspect that distinguishes among values is the type of motivational goal that they express (Schwartz, 1992).

Type
Chapter
Information
Cultural Transmission
Psychological, Developmental, Social, and Methodological Aspects
 , pp. 240 - 268
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrahamson, A. C., Baker, L. A., & Caspi, A. (2003). Rebellious teens? Genetic and environmental influences on the social attitudes of adolescents. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1392–1408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acock, A. C., & Bengtson, V. L. (1980). Socialization and attribution processes: Actual versus perceived similarity among parents and youth. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 40, 501–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alwin, D. F. (1990). Cohort replacement and changes in parental socialization values. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 347–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambert, A. M. (1992). The effect of children on parents. New York: Haworth Press.Google Scholar
Aquilino, W. (1997). From adolescent to young adult: A prospective study of parent–child relations during the transition to adulthood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59, 670–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbuckle, J. L. (1997). AMOS Users Guide: Version 3.6. Chicago: Smallwaters Corp.Google Scholar
Arnett, J. J. (1995). Broad and narrow socialization: The family in the context of a cultural theory. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 615–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bachner-Melman, R., et al. (in press). Dopaminergic polymorphisms associated with self-report measures of human altruism: A fresh phenotype for the dopamine D4 receptor. Molecular Psychiatry.
Bakan, D. (1966). The duality of human existence: Isolation and communion in Western man. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belsky, J. (2000). Conditional and alternative reproductive strategies: Individual differences in susceptibility to rearing experience. In Rodgers, J., Rowe, D., and Miller, W. (Eds.), Genetic influences on human fertility and sexuality: Theoretical and empirical contributions from the biological and behavioral sciences (pp. 127–146). Boston: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boehnke, K. (2001). Parent–offspring value transmission in a societal context: Suggestions for a utopian research design with empirical underpinnings. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 241–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, M. H., & Chi, V. M. Y. (1997). Values and moral behavior in mainland China. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 40, 251–264.Google Scholar
Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review, 106, 676–713.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cashmore, J. A., & Goodnow, J. J. (1985). Agreement between generations: A two-process approach. Child Development, 56, 493–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, R. J. (1982). The pathways of parental socialization. American Politics Quarterly, 10, 139–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (1991). Explaining sex differences in social behavior: A meta-analytic perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 306–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaves, L. J., Martin, N. G., Heath, A. C., Schieken, R. M., Meyer, J. M., Silberg, J. S., Neale, M. C., & Corey, L. A. (1997). Age changes in the causes of individual differences in conservatism. Behavior Genetics, 27, 121–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freud, S. (1927). The ego and the id. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Funder, D. C. (1995). On the accuracy of personality judgment: A realistic approach. Psychological Review, 102, 652–670.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Furstenberg, F. F. (1971). The transmission of mobility orientation in the family. Social Forces, 49, 595–603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golombok, S., & Rust, J. (1993). The measurement of gender role behaviour in pre-school children: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 34, 805–811.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodwin, R., Realo, A., Kwiatkowska, A., Kozlova, A., Nguyen Luu, L. A., & Nizharadze, G. (2002). Values and sexual behaviour in Central and Eastern Europe. Journal of Health Psychology, 7, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grusec, J. E., & Goodnow, J. J. (1994). Impact of parental discipline methods on the child's internalization of values: A reconceptualization of current points of view. Developmental Psychology, 30, 4–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grusec, J. E., & Kuczynski, L. (Eds.). (1997). Parenting and the internalization of values: A handbook of contemporary theory. New York: Wiley.
Guttman, L. (1968). A general nonmetric technique for finding the smallest coordinate space for a configuration of points. Psychometric, 33, 469–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, J. R. (1995). Where is the child's environment? A group socialization theory of development, Psychological Review, 102, 458–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastings, P., & Grusec, J. E. (1997). Conflict outcome as a function of parental accuracy in perceiving child cognitions and affect. Social Development, 6, 76–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. (1971). Identification and conscience development. Child Development, 42, 1071–1082.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Homer, P. M. (1993). Transmission of human values: A cross-cultural investigation of generational and reciprocal influence effects. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 119, 343–367.Google Scholar
John, O. P., & Robins, R. W. (1994). Accuracy and bias in self-perception: Individual differences in self-enhancement and the role of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 206–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalish, R. A., & Johnson, A. I. (1972). Value similarities and differences in three generations of women. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 34, 49–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, L. M., Bouchard, T. J., Arvey, R. D., Segal, N. L., & Dawis, R. V. (1992). Work values: Genetic and environmental influences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 79–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knafo, A. (2003a). Authoritarians, the next generation: Values and bullying among adolescent children of authoritarian fathers. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 3, 199–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knafo, A. (2003b). Contexts, relationship quality, and family value socialization: The case of parent–school ideological fit in Israel. Personal Relationships, 10, 373–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knafo, A., Iervolino, A., & Plomin, R. (2005). Masculine girls and feminine boys: Genetic and environmental contributions to atypical gender development in early childhood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 400–412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knafo, A., & Sagiv, L. (2004). Values and work environment: Mapping 32 occupations. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 19, 255–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knafo, A., & Schwartz, S. H. (2001). Value socialization in families of Israeli-born and Soviet-born adolescents in Israel. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 213–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knafo, A., & Schwartz, S. H. (2003). Parenting and accuracy of perception of parental values by adolescents. Child Development, 73, 595–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knafo, A., & Schwartz, S. H. (2004a). Identity status and parent–child value congruence in adolescence. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22, 439–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knafo, A., & Schwartz, S. H. (2004b). Value transmission in the family: Effects of family background and implications for educational achievement. Jerusalem: NCJW Research Institute for Innovation in Education (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Knafo, A., & Schwartz, S. H. (2005). Identification with parents, parenting, and parent–child value similarity among adolescents. Submitted manuscript, The Hebrew University.Google Scholar
Kohn, M. L., & Schooler, C. (1983). Work and personality. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Kohn, M. L., Slomczynski, K. M., & Schoenbach, C. (1986). Social stratification and the transmission of values in the family: A cross-national assessment. Sociological Forum, 1, 73–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuczynski, L., Marshall, S., & Schell, K. (1997). Value socialization in a bidirectional context. In Grusec, J. E. & Kuczynski, L. (Eds.), Parenting and the internalization of values: A handbook of contemporary theory (pp. 23–50). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Miller, R. B., & Glass, J. (1989). Parent–child similarity across the life course. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 991–997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okagaki, L., & Bevis, C. (1999). Transmission of religious values: Relations between parents' and daughters' beliefs. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 160, 303–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parsons, T. (1955). Family structure and the socialization of the child. In Parsons, T. & Bales, R. F. (Eds.), Family, socialization, and interaction process. Glencoe: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., & Lohelin, J. C. (1977). Genotype-environment interaction and correlation in the analysis of human behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 309–322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rohan, M. J. (2000). A rose by any name? The values construct. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 255–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohan, M. J., & Zanna, M. P. (1996). Value transmission in families. In Seligman, C., Olson, J. M., & Zanna, M. P. (Eds.), The psychology of values: The Ontario symposium, Vol. 8 (pp. 253–276). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Sagiv, L. (1994). Cross-national variation in the components and meaning of universalism values. Paper presented at the Twelfth International Conference of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Pamplona, Spain.Google Scholar
Sagiv, L., & Schwartz, S. H. (2004). Values, intelligence, and client behavior in career counseling: A field study. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 19, 237–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of genotype-environment effects. Child Development, 54, 424–435.Google ScholarPubMed
Schönpflug, U. (2001). Intergenerational transmission of values: The role of transmission belts. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 174–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In Zanna, M. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 25 (pp. 1–65). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the content and structure of values? Journal of Social Issues, 50, 19–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, S. H. (1996). Value priorities and behavior: Applying a theory of integrated value systems. In Seligman, C., Olson, J. M., & Zanna, M. P. (Eds.), The psychology of values: The Ontario symposium, Vol. 8 (pp. 1–24). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schwartz, S. H. (in press a). Basic human values: Their content and structure across countries. In Tamayo, A. & Porto, J. (Eds.), Valores e trabalho [Values and work]. Brasilia: Editora Universidade de Brasilia.
Schwartz, S. H. (in press b). Robustness and fruitfulness of a theory of universals in individual human values. In Tamayo, A. & Porto, J. (Eds.), Valores e trabalho [Values and work]. Brasilia: Editora Universidade de Brasilia.
Schwartz, S. H., Lehmann, A., & Roccas, S. (1999). Multimethod probes of basic human values. In Adamopoulos, J. & Kashima, Y. (Eds.), Social psychology and culture context: Essays in honor of Harry C. Triandis (pp. 107–123). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, S. H., Melech, G., Lehmann, A., Burgess, S., Harris, M., & Owens, V. (2001). Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 519–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smetana, J. G. (1995). Parenting styles and conceptions of parental authority during adolescence. Child Development, 66, 299–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smetana, J. G. (2000). Middle-class African American adolescents' and parents' conceptions of parental authority and parenting practices: A longitudinal investigation. Child Development, 71, 1682–1686.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, T. E. (1982). The case for parental transmission of educational goals: The importance of accurate offspring perceptions. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 44, 661–674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taris, T. W. (2000). Quality of mother–child interaction and the intergenerational transmission of sexual values: A panel study. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 161, 169–181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taris, T. W., Semin, G. R., & Bok, I. A. (1998). The effect of quality of family interaction and intergenerational transmission of values on sexual permissiveness. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 159, 225–237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Troll, L., & Bengtson, V. (1979). Generations and the family. In Burr, W. R., Hill, R., F. I. Nye, & Reiss, I. L. (Eds.), Contemporary theories about the family, Vol. 1 (pp. 127–161). New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Ullman, J. B. (1996). Structural equation modeling. In Tabachnick, B. G. & Fidell, L. S. (Eds.), Using multivariate statistics (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Waller, N. G., Kojetin, B. A., Bouchard, T. J., Lykken, D. T., & Tellegen, A. (1990). Genetic and environmental influences on religious interests, attitudes, and values: A study of twins reared apart and together. Psychological Science, 1, 138–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westholm, A. (1999). The perceptual pathway: Tracing the mechanisms of political value transfer across generations. Political Psychology, 20, 525–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitbeck, L. B., & Gecas, V. (1988). Value attributions and value transmission between parents and children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50, 829–840.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winch, R. (1962). Identification and its familial determinants. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×