Intergenerational relations between parents’ and children’s authoritarian values

• In Event: Children’s Construction of the Self Across Contexts, People, and Time

Abstract

Adults hold strong socio-political values, which guide their actions in the world. However, questions regarding how socio-political values transfer intergenerationally from parents to young children remain unanswered. Authoritarian values — those emphasizing submission to authority and other conventional norms — have been theorized not to emerge until adolescence (e.g., Altemeyer, 1998). Yet, recent research suggests parents’ authoritarian values predict individual differences in young children’s behaviors (e.g., ingroup preferences; Reifen Tagar et al., 2014, 2017; Guidette et al., 2017), suggesting the adoption and influence of these beliefs may be present earlier in life.

To test this possibility, we measured parent-child variation in authoritarian value endorsement in two geographically and culturally different regions of the United States. Specifically, we tested 283 parent-child dyads (children ages 4–10) in the Northeastern (N=141) and Southeastern (N=142) U.S. We asked parents to complete the authoritarian child-rearing scale (Feldman & Stenner, 1997) in which they saw pairs of traits (one authoritarian, one non-authoritarian; e.g., obedience vs. self-reliance) and were asked which trait they prefer that their child display (Parent-actual). We created and administered a child-friendly version of this scale in which we asked children which trait (1) they prefer (Self); (2) their parents would prefer (Parent-perception); and (3) the majority of kids would prefer (Other children).

There was a significant interaction between participant age and perspective (Self, Parent-perception, Other children) on children’s reports, F(2,280) = 26.673, p < .001. With age, children in our samples increasingly endorsed authoritarian values less (Figure 1a) and thought other children would, too (Figure 1c); in contrast, with age, children viewed their parents as more authoritarian (Figure 1b). Next, we examined whether children’s reports related to parents’ actual values. Parents’ actual values reflected only in children’s Self values (Figure 2a; B=0.195, p < .001), but not in children’s perceptions of their parents’ values (Figure 2b; B=0.022, p = .686) or of other children’s values (Figure 2c; B=0.029, p = .653) (Parent-actual x perspective, F(2,280) = 3.212, p = .041). The relation between parents’ and children’s values remained statistically significant, even when controlling for family income, parent education, and parent political orientation, all of which meaningfully correlated with parents’ actual values, but not with children’s reports. Moreover, the relation between parents’ actual values and children’s own values changed with age (age x parent, F1,280 = 3.774, p = .053): although it was non-existent among the youngest children, the relation emerged around age 6 in both samples (Northeastern and Southeastern U.S. samples). Notably, there was little difference in authoritarian values or parent-child relations across the two samples, and the patterns described above hold within each.

Our results underscore the importance of considering the emergence of proto-political values early in life, and in understanding how children’s values relate to their perceptions of others’ (e.g., parents’, peers’) values across development. In a follow-up project, we re-recruited dyads from the Northeastern sample (68% of original dyads) an average of two years later to examine within-dyad changes and influences of authoritarian values over time. Preliminary results will be discussed.

Authors

• Isobel A Heck, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Molly C Gibian, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Elizabeth Gaither, Duke Univeristy
  Non-Presenting Author

• Vivian Zayas, Cornell University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katherine D. Kinzler, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author