This article reports the result of a test of Melvin Kohn's hypothesis that the more parents value self-direction in their children, the more likely will they be to punish them on the basis of the child's intent rather than on the consequences of the child's behavior. Data are from 309 parents in Dublin, Ireland, who were selected to provide a sample comparable to Kohn's. All the respondents had a sixth-grade son about whom they were interviewed. For both mothers and fathers there was a small correlation between their socialization values and their punishment behavior, but only for fathers was this correlation statistically significant. However, when we controlled for social class of the respondents, the correlations were reduced to insignificance. I conclude that the values/ behavior link in Kohn's theory is not supported.
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