Intergenerational transmission of maternal and paternal parenting beliefs: The moderating role of interaction quality

Abstract

The finding that values, attitudes, and behaviour can be transmitted across generations is long standing. However, the role of fathers in this process has been underinvestigated. Furthermore, many researchers have not tested moderation effects. We extended the literature by investigating maternal and paternal transmission of harsh parenting beliefs to their children 23 years later. Furthermore, we examined the moderating role of interaction quality and included gender and socioeconomic status as control variables. Our data were collected in a unique longitudinal study of 128 families across 23 years. We found high positive associations between the harsh parenting beliefs of parents and their adult children, but only the mother-child transmissions were moderated by interaction quality. Mothers pass on low levels as well as high levels of harsh parenting beliefs to their children if their interaction quality is poor. These findings highlight the importance of investigating intergenerational transmission in both mother-child and father-child dyads.

Transgenerational Patterns of Communication Orientations and Depression Among Mothers and Adult Children

“…Numerous empirical studies demonstrate that individuals develop expectations for family interactions through observing parental behavior. Parenting styles such as punitive discipline and harsh parenting beliefs transmit across generations, as children tend to model discipline behaviors after their parents (Erzinger & Steiger, 2014;Lukek, 2015). Moreover, specific positive parenting behaviors such as warmth, responsiveness, and encouragement have transgenerational tendencies (Schofield, Conger, & Neppl, 2014).…”

The Roles of Parents in Shaping Fathering Across Generations in Cebu, Philippines

“…Through these processes, internal working models help shape individual differences in the formation of and engagement in nurturing, emotionally supportive relationships across the life course, including as parents (Capaldi, Pears, Patterson, & Owen, ; Chen & Kaplan, ; Hofferth et al, ). Consistent with these frameworks, longitudinal, multigenerational studies on the transmission of parenting in the United States, Europe, and other similar settings generally find continuity in such practices, such that close parent–child relationships and emotionally supportive, constructive familial interactions tend to be transmitted across generations (Chen & Kaplan, ; Erzinger & Steiger, ; Hofferth et al, ; Kerr, Capaldi, Pears, & Owen, ). Although some research has investigated intergenerational transmission of parenting in other settings, such as China and Japan, these studies used retrospective reports of the parents' experiences in childhood to correlate with their parenting behaviors toward their children (Kitamura et al, ; Niu, Liu, & Wang, ; Wang, Xing, & Zhao, ).…”

“…Although not inconsistent with the pathways explored in prior studies (noted previously), we suggest that this modeling framework could be tested by looking at the second generation's self‐concepts and identities as parents alongside their parenting behaviors (Adamsons, ; Chen & Kaplan, ; G. L. Fox & Bruce, ; Marsiglio & Cohan, ). To our knowledge, past longitudinal research in this area has not specifically tested for effects of parent–child experiences on future parenting identity, although some studies have focused on related cognitive processes for parenting beliefs (Erzinger & Steiger, ).…”

“…Yet, as Hofferth et al () point out, few studies explicitly model the importance of fathers in shaping their children's later life parenting, and maternal effects on their children's parenting remain much more thoroughly studied, particularly for mothers and daughters (Belsky et al, ; Bouchard, ; Neppl et al, ). When studies do bifurcate the contributions of mothering and fathering in Generation 1 (G1), the results vary in terms of whether maternal and paternal effects overlap, vary (i.e., separately predicting distinct patterns in Generation 2 [G2]), or singularly predict G2 outcomes (e.g., effects only related to mothering, see Belsky et al, ; Erzinger & Steiger, ; Hofferth et al, ). However, past U.S.‐based qualitative work has suggested that fathers typically use their own fathers, instead of mothers, as a reference point for their own parental roles (Daly, ).…”

“…One of the major goals of this article is to test hypotheses regarding the conditions that help shape individual differences in continuity from men's childhood experiences with their fathers to their engagement with their own children in a major metropolitan center in the Philippines. To help shed new light on the potential pathways through which such recapitulation occurs, we test whether parent–child experiences shape men's parenting identities, alongside their fathering behaviors, and whether those effects are independent of socioeconomic and demographic variables related to contextual risk (Capaldi et al, ; Erzinger & Steiger, ). To do so, we draw on data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS).…”