Parent socialization and children’s values

This chapter begins with a historical overview of theoretical perspectives and research on parenting or childrearing, then moves to a discussion of five issues central for the understanding of parenting and socialization. These include the fact that much of the research on parenting yields confusing results because researchers fail to distinguish among different kinds of “good” and “bad” parenting, the importance of internalization given that personal acceptance of values is a significant goal of socialization, the point that biological and experiential variables are interwoven in a complex way, the roles played by culture in parental socialization, and methodological challenges faced by socialization researchers. The chapter then describes four theoretical approaches that have implications for understanding the acquisition of values: Self-determination theory, domains of social knowledge, domains of socialization, and prosociality and morality as innate predispositions. Classical and more recent research in parenting and value acquisition are then described. Finally, a suggestion is made as to why advice about childrearing is so full of disagreement and the practical implications of this disagreement, followed by a brief discussion of directions in which future research and theorizing about socialization might move.