The process of value transmission between parents and children is unanimously considered the hallmark of successful socialization. The outcomes of value transmission have been often solely measured in terms of parent–child value similarity, thus assuming that the higher is the parent–child value similarity, the more successful is the value transmission. The present study highlighted the dialectical nature of the intergenerational transmission of values and aimed at developing a different perspective on this process by introducing the concept of value “continuity.” This term etymologically means “hang together” and entails a flow and a progression across generations. The study involved 325 Italian mother–adolescent dyads, who were asked to fill in a self-report questionnaire. Results showed the importance of considering children’s autonomous motivations in accepting or rejecting their parents’ values to find more comprehensive meanings of parent–child value similarities and differences. Implications of the findings and future research developments are discussed.
AlbertI.FerringD. (2012). Intergenerational value transmission within the family and the role of emotional relationship quality. Family Science, 3(1), 4–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/19424620.2011.671496
2.
AronA.AronE. N.SmollanD. (1992). Inclusion of other in the self scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(4), 596–612. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.63.4.596
3.
BarniD. (2009). Trasmettere valori. Tre generazioni familiari a confronto [Transmitting values. A comparison among three family generations].Milano: Unicopli.
4.
BarniD.RosnatiR.RanieriS. (2013a). Value transmission between parents and their adolescent children: The process and its outcomes. A psycho-social perspective. In AlbertI.FerringD. (Eds.), Intergenerational relations in society and family: European perspectives (pp. 101–117). Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
5.
BarniD.AlfieriS.MartaE.RosnatiR. (2013b). Overall and unique similarities between parents’ values and adolescent or emerging adult children’s values. Journal of Adolescence, 36(6), 1135–1141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.09.002
6.
BarniD.RanieriS.ScabiniE.RosnatiR. (2011). Value transmission in the family: Do adolescents accept the values their parents want to transmit?Journal of Moral Education, 40(1), 105–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2011.553797
7.
BarniD.RanieriS.FerrariL.DanioniF.RosnatiR. (2019). Parents’ perceptions of their adolescent children’s personal values: Truth or bias?Journal of Family Studies, 25(3), 319–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2016.1259120
8.
BarniD.RussoC.ZagreanI.Di FabioM.DanioniF. (2022). Adolescents’ internalization of moral values: The role of paternal and maternal promotion of volitional functioning. Journal of Family Studies, 28(3), 1095–1107. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2020.1789494
9.
BoninoS.CattelinoE.CiairanoS. (2003). Adolescents and risk: Behaviors, functions and protective factors. Milano: Springer Verlag.
10.
CapannaC.VecchioneM.SchwartzS. H. (2005). La misura dei valori. Un contributo alla validazione del Portrait Values Questionnaire su un campione italiano [The measurement of values. A contribution to the validation of the Portrait Values Questionnaire on an Italian sample]. Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata, 246, 29–41.
11.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
12.
CollinsW. A.MaccobyE. E.SteinbergL.HetheringtonE. M.BornsteinM. H. (2000). Contemporary research on parenting: The case for nature and nurture. American Psychologist, 55(2), 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.2.218
De MolJ.LemmensG.KuczynskiL.KuczynskiL. (2013). Intergenerational transmission in a bidirectional context. Psychologica Belgica, 53(3), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.5334/pb-53-3-7
15.
DeciE. L.RyanR. M. (2000). The what and why of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
16.
GeorgeD.MalleryP. (2010). SPSS for windows step by step. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
17.
GoodmanR. (1997). The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 38(5), 581–586. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x
18.
GrusecJ. E. (2002). Parenting socialization and children’s acquisition of values. In BornsteinM. H. (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Practical issues in parenting (5, pp. 143–167). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
19.
GrusecJ. E.GoodnowJ. J. (1994). Impact of parental discipline methods on the child’s internalization of values: A reconceptualization of current points of view. Developmental Psychology, 30(1), 4–19. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.30.1.4
20.
HakoyamaM.KoH. J.MaloneBeachE. (2020). Value similarities with grandparents among college students: Gender, family lineage, and relationship closeness. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 19(2), 228–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/15350770.2020.1739587
KiesnerJ.DishionT. J.PoulinF.PastoreM. (2009). Temporal dynamics linking aspects of parent monitoring with early adolescent antisocial behavior. Social Development, 18(4), 765–784. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00525.x
23.
KiesnerJ.PastoreM. (2005). Differences in the relations between antisocial behavior and peer acceptance across contexts and across adolescence. Child Development, 76(6), 1278–1293. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00850.x
24.
KnafoA.AssorA. (2007). Motivation for agreement with parental values: Desirable when autonomous, problematic when controlled. Motivation and Emotion, 31(3), 232–245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-007-9067-8
25.
KnafoA.BarniD.SchwartzS. H. (2020). Parent-child value similarity: Broadening from intergenerational transmission to reciprocal influences, genetics, and environmental antecedents. In JensenL. A. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of moral development: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 164–185). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
26.
KoestnerR.OtisN.PowersT. A.PelletierL.GagnonH. (2008). Autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and goal progress. Journal of Personality, 76(5), 1201–1230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00519.x
27.
KuczynskiL.MarshallS.SchellK. (1997). Value socialization in a bidirectional context. In GrusecJ. E.KuczynskiL. (Eds.), Parenting and the internalization of values: A handbook of contemporary theory (pp. 23–50). New York, NY: Wiley.
28.
KuczynskiL.NavaraG. S. (2006). Sources of innovation and change in socialization, internalization and acculturation. In KillenM.SmetanaJ. G. (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 299–327). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
29.
KuczynskiL.ParkinC. M. (2007). Agency and bidirectionality in socialization: Interactions, transactions, and relational dialects. In GrusecJ. E.HastingsP. D. (Eds.), Handbook of socialization: Theory and research (pp. 259–283). New York City, NY: Guilford Press.
30.
KuczynskiL.PitmanR.MitchellM. B. (2009). Dialectics and transactional models: Conceptualizing antecedents, processes, and consequences of change in parent-child relationships. In ManciniJ.RobertoK. (Eds.), Pathways of development: Explorations of change (pp. 151–170). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
31.
LiJ. B.DelvecchioE.Di RisoD.LisA.SalcuniS. (2017). Early evidence of the Italian parent-report strengths and difficulties questionnaire. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 48(2), 335–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-016-0646-3
32.
Padilla‐WalkerL. M. (2007). Characteristics of mother‐child interactions related to adolescents’ positive values and behaviors. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(3), 675–686. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00399.x
33.
PianigianiO. (2004). Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana [Etymological vocabulary of Italian language]. Available at: https://www.etimo.it
34.
PrezzaM.TrombacciaF. R.ArmentoL. (1997). La scala dell'autostima di Rosenberg: traduzione e validazione italiana [The Rosenberg self-esteem scale: Italian translation and validation]. Giunti Organizzazioni Speciali, 223, 35–44.
35.
RosenbergM. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. New Jersey, NJ: Princeton University Press.
36.
RudnevM.VauclairC. M. (2018). The link between personal values and frequency of drinking depends on cultural values: A cross-level interaction approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1379. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01379
37.
RussoC.ZagreanI.MangialavoriS.DanioniF.CacioppoM.BarniD. (2019). Comportamenti di uso problematico in adolescenza: il ruolo dei valori personali come fattori di protezione e di rischio [Problematic behaviours in adolescence: The role of personal values as protective and risk factors]. Psicologia Sociale, 14(3), 385–404. https://doi.org/10.1482/94941
38.
RyanR. M.ConnellJ. P. (1989). Perceived locus of causality and internalization: Examining reasons for acting in two domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(5), 749–761. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.5.749
39.
ScabiniE.CigoliV. (2012). Alla ricerca del famigliare. Il modello relazionale-simbolico [In search of the family. The relational-symbolic model]. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
40.
ScabiniE.IafrateR. (2019). Psicologia dei legami familiari [Psychology of family relations]. Bologna: Il Mulino.
41.
SchӧnpflugU. (2001). Intergenerational transmission of values: The role of transmission belts. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(2), 174–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022101032002005
42.
SchönpflugU.BilzL. (2009). The transmission process: Mechanisms and contexts. In SchönpflugU. (Ed.), Cultural transmission: Psychological, developmental, social, and methodological aspects (pp. 212–239). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
43.
SchwartzS. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (25, pp. 1–65). Cambridge, MA: Academic Press.
44.
SchwartzS. H. (2015). Basic individual values: Sources and consequences. In SanderD.BroschT. (Eds.), Handbook of value (pp. 63–84). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
45.
SchwartzS. H. (2017). The refined theory of basic values. In RoccasS.SagivL. (Eds.), Values and behavior: Taking a cross-cultural perspective (pp. 51–72). Berlin: Springer.
46.
SchwartzS. H.MelechG.LehmannA.BurgessS.HarrisM.OwensV. (2001). Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(5), 519–542. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022101032005001
47.
SheldonK. M.Houser-MarkoL. (2001). Self-concordance, goal attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: Can there be an upward spiral?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1), 152–165. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.80.1.152
48.
SmithP. K. (1991). The psychology of grandparenthood: An international perspective. London, UK: Routledge.
49.
TrommsdorffG. (2009). Intergenerational relations and cultural transmission. In U. Schönpflug (Ed.), Cultural transmission sychological, developmental, social, and methodological aspects (pp. 126–160). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
50.
VienoA.KiesnerJ.PastoreM.SantinelloM. (2008). Antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms: Longitudinal and concurrent relations. Adolescence, 43(171), 649–660.
