title: Parent-child value similarity in families with young children: The predictive power of prosocial educational goals.
abstract: Value transmission from one generation to the next is a key issue in every society, but it is not clear which parents are the most successful in transmitting their values to their children. We propose parents' prosocial educational goals as key predictors of parent-child value similarity. Accordingly, we hypothesized that the more parents wanted their children to endorse values of self-transcendence (helping, supporting, and caring for others) and the less parents wanted their children to endorse the opposing values of self-enhancement (striving for power and achievement), the higher would be parent-child overall value similarity. Findings from two studies of families - Study 1: 261 Swiss families, children aged 7-9 years; Study 2: 157 German families, children aged 6-11 years - confirmed this hypothesis. The effect was even stronger after controlling for values that prevail in the Swiss and German society, respectively. We integrate evidence from this study of values in families with young children with existing findings from studies with adolescent and adult children, and we discuss potential pathways from parents' educational goals to parent-child value similarity.
authors.affiliation: University of Westminster, London, UK.
authors.forename: Anna K
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1557-6996
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Döring
authors.affiliation: University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Makarova
authors.affiliation: University of Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.affiliation: Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bardi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012945:Social Values; D013557:Switzerland
keywords: children's values; parent-child value similarity; prosocial educational goals; values in the family