Intergenerational Transmission of Perceived Parental Acceptance–Rejection and Psychological Adjustment: Grandmothers, Mothers, and Adult-Granddaughters

Abstract

Parent–child relationship quality has a lifelong impact on individuals’ psychological adjustment, and the family system includes recurring relational patterns across generations. The aim of the current study was to examine the intergenerational transmission of perceived parental acceptance-rejection and psychological adjustment across three generations of the same family lineage. Data were collected from three generations of female members of 246 families. The repeated measures ANOVA and latent growth curve modeling were used for both group-based and family lineage-based comparisons. In addition, autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was used to examine the theoretical model of intergenerational transmission. Results provided sufficient evidence for a modest linear decrease in overall score of perceived parental rejection across generations. However, the positive changes in perceived paternal attitudes emerged with a one-generation time lag compared to perceived maternal attitudes. The model provided an indirect transmission across generations, and second-generation mothering mediated the transmissions between grandmothers and granddaughters. Consecutive generations provided appropriate conditions for readjusting the perceived quality of parent–child relationship established in the previous generations, and the current study mainly highlighted the change in relational patterns across generations.