Browsing by Author "Pakkanen, Anna"

Objectives. Earlier studies have shown intergenerational continuity in child-rearing attitudes. The child-rearing attitudes reflect the atmosphere of childhood. There is only a few longitudinal studies of this topic and temperament has not been studied earlier in this context. The purpose of this study was to examine the intergenerational transmission of parental child-rearing attitudes (i.e. parent's perception of emotional significance and tolerance towards her offspring) using longitudinal data. Also, the role of sociability as a mediating factor for the child-rearing attitudes was examined. There were two hypothesis of the study: There is intergenerational continuity in child-rearing attitudes, and sociability mediates the relationship between child-rearing attitudes of the two generations. Methods. The participants of this study (N=1034) were derived from the ongoing prospective Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study. It was started in 1980, when the participants were 3-18 years old. The subsample of this study consisted of six age cohorts (63,2 % women) and their mothers. The self-rated child-rearing attitudes towards the offspring were measured in 1980 by the participants' mothers and 2007 by the participants. The sociability temperament trait was measured by the participants themselves in 1992 at the age from 15 to 30. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between sociability and child-rearing attitudes. Sobel test was also performed to examine the mediating role of sociability. Results and conclusions. In line with the hypothesis, the child-rearing attitudes were transferred from the older generation to the younger one. The intergenerational transmission was stronger with emotional significance and weaker with tolerance towards the offspring. Sociability did not act as a mediating factor in either one of the child-rearing attitudes. However, sociability was associated with parent's perception of emotional significance of the offspring. The more sociable the participant was at the age of 15-30, the more emotionally significant he/she perceived his/her own offspring in 2007, 15 years later. The interventions that support parenting have long-term effects for future generations because the child-rearing attitudes are intergenerationally transferred.