Parents' Goals and Values for Children

Abstract

Parents' long-term goals and values for their children vary across U.S. ethnic groups. Researchers have found that ethnic minority groups tend to promote interdependence, and European Americans tend to promote independence, yet evidence of both orientations has also been found within each ethnic group. To compare both the similarities and variations between ethnic groups, this study used a multiethnic questionnaire measuring multiple dimensions of each orientation. A sample of 343 parents from four ethnic groups completed a parental goals questionnaire, and exploratory factor analysis suggested five scales: tradition and conformity, relatedness, benevolence and prosocial, agency and self-direction, and power and achievement. All groups highly valued dimensions of both independence and interdependence, and ethnicity explained differences in all five scales, controlling for parental education level. Using an ecocultural perspective that views parent—child relationships within multiple intersecting ecologies, this study provides evidence for the coexistence of dimensions of independence and interdependence in parents' cultural models in the United States.