PARENTAL BELIEFS, MORAL AFFECT AND CHILDREN'S ADJUSTMENT

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Family social processes play a critical role in determining the long-term mental health of children and the nature of their interpersonal relationships. In previous research, parents' childrearing attitudes, values, and behaviors have received considerable attention. Far less research has been directed towards the developmental outcomes associated with more general effective attributes of the parent, apart from depression. In the initial phases of this investigation, new child and adult measures of shame, guilt, and pride will be refined and their validation extended. The proposed intergenerational study of 5th- grade children, their parents, and their grandparents, will explore the developmental implications of parental attitudes, beliefs, and moral effective characteristics (e.g., empathy, shame, and guild). To clarify the paths by which parental characteristics shape children's social and emotional adjustment, this study will evaluate (1) the degree to which parenting attitudes/behaviors are reflective of more general parent and family characteristics, (2) the relative importance of parenting attitudes/behaviors and more general affective attributes of the parents for aspects of children's adjustment and psychosocial functioning, and (3) the manner in which these relationships vary as a function of the gender of the parent and child. Parallel measures will be obtained from parents and grandparents in order (1) to assess intergenerational continuities and discontinuities in parenting attitudes, parenting beliefs, and moral affective characteristics, and (2) to clarify, and in some cases provide a partial replication of, patterns observed in the parent/child data. Taken together, the results from this three generation study should enhance our understanding of socialization processes in the family context. Of special theoretical and clinical relevance would be insight into familial factors that foster the development of adaptive and maladaptive interpersonal and effective styles, and a clearer picture of the manner and degree to which parents shape their children's future styles of parenting.