This study investigated parental socialization of adolescent political reasoning from a Vygotskian cognitive socialization perspective. Discussions between mothers and their adolescent sons or daughters were examined using a transactive dialogue system and were related to the adolescent's age and gender and to family parenting style. These discussions were predicted to influence the complexity of adolescents' subsequent reasoning about political issues. As hypothesized, older adolescents showed more complexity of political reasoning on a pretest than did younger adolescents. Mothers used more sophisticated transacts with sons than with daughters in the discussions. As well, older female adolescents used more higher level operational transacts than did younger females. This predicted developmental trend did not occur for males. Also as predicted, authoritative family styles were linked to greater complexity of adolescent political reasoning on the pretest, but there was no evidence that the brief discussions enhanced the complexity of adolescent political thinking on a posttest 1 week later Nevertheless, variations in family processes may be linked to differential socialization ofpolitical reasoning over the long tenn, consistent with a cognitive socialization model.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Baker-Brown, G.
, Ballard, E. J., Bluck, S., deVries, B., Suedfeld, P., & Tedock, P. E. (1992). Coding manual for conceptualintegrative complexity. Vancouver: University of British Columbia.
2.
Baumrind, D.
(1968). Authoritarian vs. authoritative parental control. Adolescence, 3, 255-272.
3.
Baumrind, D.
(1991). Effective parenting during the early adolescent transition. In P. A. Cowan & E. M. Hetherington (Eds.), Family transitions (pp. 111-163). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
4.
Berkowitz, M.
(1980a). The role of transactive discussion in moral development: The history of a 6-year program of research-Part 1. Moral Education Forum, 5b, 13-26.
5.
Berkowitz, M.
(1980b). The role of transactive discussion in moral development: The history of a 6-year program of research-Part 2. Moral Education Forum, 5a, 15-27.
6.
Berkowitz, M.
, &-Gibbs, J. C. (1983). Measuring the developmental features of moral discussions. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 29, 399-410.
7.
Berkowitz, M.
, & Gibbs, J. C. (1985). The process of moral conflict resolution and moral development. New Directions for Child Development, 29, 71-83.
8.
Berkowitz, M.
, Oser, F., & Althof, W. (1987). The development of sociomoral discourse. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Moral development through social interaction (pp. 322-352). New York: Wiley.
9.
Damon, W.
(1988). The moral child: Nurturing children 's natural moral growth. New York: Free Press.
10.
Damon, W.
, & Killen, M. (1982). Peer interactions and the process of change in children's moral reasoning. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 28, 347-367.
11.
deVries, B.
, & Walker, L. J. (1986). Moral reasoning and attitudes toward capital punishment. Developmental Psychology, 22, 509-513.
12.
Dornbusch, S. M.
, Carlsmith, J. M., Bushwall, S. J., Ritter, P. L., Leiderman, H., Hastorf, A. H., & Gross, R. T. (1985). Single parents, extended households, and the control of adolescents. Child Development, 56, 326-341.
13.
Dombusch, S. M.
, Ritter, P. L., Leiderman, P. H., Roberts, D. F., & Fraleigh, M. J. (1987). The relation of parenting style to adolescent school performance. Child Development, 58, 1244-1257.
14.
Kohlberg, L.
(1981). The philosophy of moral development: Moral stages and the idea ofjustice. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
15.
Kruger, A. C.
(1992). The effect of peer and adult-child transactive discussions on moral reasoning. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 38, 191-211.
16.
Kruger, A. C.
, & Tomasello, M. (1986). Transactive discussions with peers and adults. Developmental Psychology, 22, 681-685.
17.
Kuhn, D.
(1991). The skills of argument. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
18.
Lamborn, S. D.
, Mounts, N. S., Steinberg, L., & Dombusch, S. M. (1991). Patterns of competence and adjustment among adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful families. Child Development, 62, 1047-1065.
19.
Leadbeater, B.
(1988). Relational processes in adolescent and adult dialogues: Assessing the intersubjective context of conversation. Human Development, 31, 313-326.
20.
Maccoby, E.
, & Martin, J. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family. In P. Mussen & E. M. Hetherington (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4 (4th ed., pp. 1-101). New York: Wiley.
21.
Meadowcroft, J. M.
(1986). Family communication patterns and political development: The child's role. Communication Research, 13, 603-624.
22.
Moore, S. W.
, Lare, J., & Wagner, K. A. (1985). The child ' political world: A longitudinal study. New York: Praeger.
23.
Noller, P.
, & Bagi, S. (1985). Parent-adolescent communication. Journal of Adolescence, 8, 125-144.
24.
Porter, C. A.
, & Suedfeld, P. (1981). Integrative complexity in the correspondence of literary figures: Effects of personal and societal stress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 321-330.
25.
Pratt, M. W.
, Diessner, R., Hunsberger, B., Pancer, M. S., & Savoy, K. (1991). Four pathways in the analysis of adult development and aging: Comparing analyses of reasoning about personal life dilemmas. Psychology and Aging, 6, 666-675.
26.
Pratt, M. W.
, Kerig, P., Cowan, P. A., & Cowan, C. P. (1988). Mothers and fathers teaching 3-year olds: Authoritative parenting and adults' scaffolding of young children's learning. Developmental Psychology, 24, 832-839.
27.
Rogoff, B.
(1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. New York: Oxford University Press.
28.
Roth, D.
(1991, April). Linking the family and the world of peers: Parenting style and sociocognitive competence of adolescents. Poster presented at the meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.
29.
Schroder, H. M.
, Driver, M. J., & Streufert, S. (1967). Human information processing. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
30.
Suedfeld, P.
, & Tetlock, P. (1977). Integrative complexity of communications in international crises. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 21, 169-184.
31.
Tapp, J.
, & Kohlberg, L. (1971). Developing senses of law and legal justice. Journal of Social Issues, 27, 65-91.
32.
Tetlock, P. E.
(1988). Monitoring the integrative complexity of American and Soviet policy rhetoric: What can be learned?Journal of Social Issues, 44, 101-131.
33.
Turiel, E.
, Hildebrandt, C., & Wainryb, C. (1991). Judging social issues: Difficulties, inconsistencies, and consistencies. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, No. 224, 56(2), 1-119.
34.
Vygotsky, L. S.
(1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
35.
Walker, L. J.
, & Taylor, J. H. (1991). Family interactions and the development of moral reasoning. Child Development, 62, 264-283.
36.
Weitzman, N.
, Birns, B., & Friend, R. (1985). Traditional and nontraditional mothers' communication with their daughters and sons. Child Development, 56, 894-898.
37.
Wertsch, J. V.
(1991). Voices of the mind: A sociocultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
