Intergenerational Socialization Research Articles

Chronicity of Violence Foretold: Toward an Integrated Theory of Intimate Partner Violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a worldwide social problem. The current study explores underlining mechanisms of phenomenon by tying together intergenerational transmission theory, socialization theory, and trauma theory. It learns from men how the father figure shaped by their childhood experiences has contributed to their violence, how the father's socialization to manhood has affected their intimate relations, and how they understand the effect of being exposed to the father's violence on their own intimate relationships and violence. Interviews with 25 Israeli men were analyzed thematically in the phenomenological approach. Thematic analysis revealed five themes describing men's experiences of their father's aggression and detachment; men's experience of their intimate relations; men's image of women; men's fear of being infected or conquered by their partners' emotionality; and an overarching theme describing the understanding that men and women are destined to live in an intractable conflict that only violence can end. The interviewees explained that when hardened detached men raised by violent fathers interact with an emotional woman, they experience painful feelings and are threatened by her emotionality; consequently, they will use violence against that threat to stop their pain. The findings support a multidimensional integrative perspective of IPV and call for a theoretical synthesis of these men's models of violence. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Parents' anti-Black messages, empathic reactions toward racism, fear of Black individuals, and perceived ability to engage in anti-racism advocacy among Asian American emerging adults.

Asian Americans, historically oppressed and influenced by White supremacist norms, may internalize anti-Blackness (beliefs of behaviors that minimize, marginalize, or devalue Black individuals) as they navigate White-dominated environments to survive and seek acceptance. However, there is limited research addressing the intergenerational socialization of anti-Blackness within Asian American communities and its impact as a barrier to cross-racial solidarity and involvement in anti-racism efforts. Thus, we tested whether parents' anti-Black messages were associated with fear of Black individuals and lack of empathic reactions to anti-Black racism, and in turn, related to hindrance in the perceived ability to engage in anti-racism advocacy among Asian American emerging adults. With data from 205 participants (Mage = 19.92, SD = 2.64, online convenience sample), we conducted a path analysis of parents' anti-Black messages indirectly associated with perceived ability in advocacy against anti-Black racism through fear of Black individuals and empathic reactions to anti-Black racism. Parents' anti-Black messages were associated with greater fear of Black individuals, which was associated with lower empathic reactions to racism, and in turn, ultimately associated with a lower perceived ability to engage in advocacy against anti-Black racism. This pathway was the best-fitting model compared with an alternative parallel model (fear and empathy as separate mediators) and a model with empathy as the first mediator. Our study suggests that clinicians, educators, and researchers should target parents' anti-Black messages and Asian American emerging adults' emotional responses (fear, empathy) to anti-Black racism in disrupting anti-Blackness at parental/family and individual levels.

Rise From the Ashes: The Modeling–Compensation Hypothesis Applied to Parent Financial Socialization

According to family financial socialization theory and previous research, parent financial modeling (i.e., children learning financial matters by observing parental behavior) is positively associated with emerging adults’ financial behaviors and financial outcomes. However, qualitative evidence and the modeling–compensation hypothesis suggest that emerging adults can intentionally compensate for negative modeling (i.e., those whose parents performed bad financial behaviors can intentionally enact good behaviors themselves). Using a diverse sample of 4,182 US emerging adults, this study is the first to quantitatively explore the modeling–compensation hypothesis in the context of parent financial modeling. We identified four groups: Intergenerational Financial Flourishers (received positive modeling and were good money managers; 56.6%), Financial Phoenixes (received negative modeling and were good money managers; 21.6%), Socialization Squanderers (received positive modeling and were bad money managers; 15.9%), and Intergenerational Financial Flounderers (received negative modeling and were bad money managers; 5.9%). In terms of financial outcomes (financial independence, financial satisfaction, and financial distress), the Intergenerational Financial Flourishers were the best off, followed by the Financial Phoenixes. Thus, while high-quality parent financial modeling is ideal, there is hope for those who received negative modeling, and financial educators and practitioners can help.

When Stories Turn Institutional: How TikTok Users Legitimate the Algorithmic Sensemaking

Educational, political, or moral/religious content is increasingly present on TikTok, so contemporary social dynamics legitimize the process of digital mediation regarding these institutional values. Based on 286 open-ended survey answers and subsequent interviews with 45 Romanian TikTok users, this article applies social constructivism to explore the intersubjective side of algorithmic experiences. The significance of such a framework lies in its ability to elucidate the manner in which users actively construct their social environments, which may initially appear as isolated individual experiences but ultimately unveil shared algorithmic interpretations. Thus, the participants highlight three recurrent institutional themes in relation to TikTok’s algorithm: (1) algorithm as political profiling, (2) algorithm as moral plethora, and (3) algorithm as educational benchmark. Findings show that users’ stories related to algorithms are widely conceived within institutional frameworks. These narratives play a role in shaping what Berger and Luckmann call “intersubjective sedimentation” within the intricate interconnection between institutional and algorithmic realities. The ways in which TikTok users legitimize the presence of these institutional actors on their For You page should be seen as a form of agency negotiation between users and machines. The legitimating role of stories about algorithms also highlights the institutional necessity of intergenerational socialization, which is why the contents made by such institutional actors are more and more actively mediated through TikTok.

Intergenerational psychological intervention programme - PIN - Exploratory study with children and seniors

Intergenerational programs involving children and seniors are a form of psychological and social intervention that promote the development of cognitive, linguistic, motor, emotional and social skills and well-being, with significant results and benefits described for both children and seniors, such as intergenerational socialization and increased self-esteem and self-efficacy, intellectual development, increased happiness, and improved quality of life. In Portugal, programmes intervening in the psychological domain are scarce, which justifies our proposal. We present a P-IN Program: Intergenerational Psychological Intervention Program: Cri(activ)age, Health and Well-Being focused on the promotion of creativity, cognitive preservation/development and well-being associated with intergenerational coexistence. 
 The P-IN programme aims to: (i) Promote through an intergenerational psychological intervention, cognitive development/preservation, creativity and well-being, in children (5-6 years) and seniors (+60). (ii) To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention on cognitive development/preservation, creativity and well-being. This paper presents the conceptual structure of the programme, its organization into three main components: Beliefs and attitudes; Emotions and well-being; Cognitive stimulation and creativity, and its operationalization in 10 90-minute sessions. Finally, we present the evaluation plan of the quality and effectiveness of the programme based on a qualitative methodological approach using semi-structured interviews to the participants (N= 23 children and 18 seniors; professionals= 4). Of the results we highlight: increase in autonomy, self-confidence and social participation in both groups. In specific terms, the increase in the emotional well-being and psychosocial and physical autonomy of the seniors is highlighted.

Listen to Me: Quality of Communication and Intergenerational Political Socialization

Intergenerational political socialization is alive and well in the polarized American polity. But, by what mechanism do parental views transmit to children? We develop a theory ( dyadic social learning theory) which posits the importance of dyadic familial communication in facilitating attitudinal concordance between parents and children. Using original survey data of 1,048 dyadic pairs of American parents and middle school-aged children, we develop a novel measure of political perception that combines the perceptive accuracy of parents with the perceptive accuracy of their children. This measure of parent-child alignment, which we argue signals quality communication in families, is a powerful determinant of parent-child congruence on political views and emotions, particularly polarization. When a dyadic pair accurately perceives each other politically, the likelihood of congruent views and shared polarization increases. This research has implications for how we understand political transference of polarized views, and for broader theories of how children are socialized into the political world. It also suggests that solutions to polarization will have to address the role of parents in initiating polarization.

Qualitative Methods and Interpersonal Citizen-State Encounters: Interpreting Policing in the United States

The heart of the citizen-state encounter is the interpersonal interaction, and quantitative methods alone cannot fully capture its nuances. The interpersonal citizen-state encounter entails emotions, antecedents, and perspectives that inform present interactions and require interpretation, all hallmarks of qualitative methods. To demonstrate the complexity of the citizen-state encounter and the necessity of listening to interpret interactions, I examine how historical antecedents of African Americans’ encounters with police can create intergenerational socialization into police distrust that informs how police are seen today. Myriad influences enter police interactions, including the knowledge of continuous racism in police history. Administrators untrained in qualitative methods will not be able to appropriately listen and interpret. This project initially planned to explore symbolic representation in policing but, over its course, it became clear that history influenced how respondents viewed police, further highlighting the importance of listening.

“I had a mother that i could always go to”: gender role development and the intergenerational socialization of Indigenous women

ABSTRACT Previous research exploring gender role conceptualization within the United States has predominantly centred white, middle-class individuals’ experiences. These analyses are therefore limited based on their lack of attention to ethnic, legal/political, and cultural differences within the United States, especially in regard to Indigenous populations. Building on previous exploring the family as a site of gender role development, and resilience, Tribal Critical Race Theory is used in this article to contextualize our findings with particular attention to how colonization has reinforced patriarchy and served to elevate European American thought and experiences. In semi-structured life-history interviews, participants described shifting gender norms in attempts to resist assimilation ideals and a perception of motherhood as holding capacity for challenging settler culture and reclaiming power. Prominent themes for participants included: (a) the role of strong women within the community; (b) the continuum of patriarchal to egalitarian gender norms and beliefs; (c) the roles of mothers and impact of motherhood; (d) norms surrounding early childbearing and marriage; and (e) gendered caretaking. This research finds that tribal women, as primary sources of socialization for children and community, are resisting patriarchal and colonial gender-related expectations and messages and forging a path of strength and resiliency.

Intergenerational gaps in West Bank Jewish communities

ABSTRACT This article examined the differences between the political attitudes of two generations of religious Zionists settlers in the West Bank. Theoretical approaches on intergenerational socialization were reviewed, predicting trends of continuity vis-à-vis change in intergenerational attitudes. Also, previous studies of the religious Zionist sector subgroups, the settlements, and their residents were reviewed. The study was conducted with a quantitative method, while the research tool was an online research questionnaire. The study findings verify the research hypothesis regarding the intergenerational differences in political attitudes, as most issues that were examined found that the younger generation holds more hawkish attitudes in comparison to their parents. Finally, the young Torani were emphasized in the research as the secondary group of settlers who, in most cases, hold the most extreme political attitudes.

“Where Your Voice Burns Like Fire”: Visual art and radio broadcasting as semiotic practices of intergenerational political socialization among the Purépecha of Cherán, México

This article analyzes visual art and radio broadcasting as semiotic practices that serve as crucial sites of child and youth participation in Indigenous social movements. Looking specifically at a movement against organized crime, political corruption, and environmental exploitation that emerged in 2011 among the Purépechan people of Cherán, Michoacán, México, we show how young people’s creative practices present a significant challenge to hegemonic models of adult- directed political socialization and participation, although they do not result in a total flattening of age-based hierarchies. Drawing on multimodal ethnographic fieldwork and personal experience in the movement, we show how the creative practices of youth activists facilitate the production and circulation of visual and sonic content that conveys historical and onto-epistemological frameworks which guide the movement. We also show how the circulation of this content generates the potential to influence those who come into contact with it, including both Purépechans and non-Purépechans who reside well beyond the borders of Cherán. In doing so, we demonstrate that multimodal ethnographic attention to the ways in which young people’s diverse semiotic repertoires are deployed in contexts of political activism can provide valuable insights about political socialization, intergenerational relationships, and the entanglement of a variety of politically charged semiotic forms in everyday life.

Adulthood in Children's Literature by Vanessa Joosen

Reviewed by: Adulthood in Children's Literature by Vanessa Joosen Jéssica Amanda de Souza Silva ADULTHOOD IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE. By Vanessa Joosen. Series: Bloomsbury Perspectives on children's literature. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018, 243 pages. ISBN: 978-1-350-04978-9 While scholars of children's literature focus mostly on aspects linked to the children's universe, Vanessa Joosen, in her work Adulthood in Children's Literature, invites readers to look at an object of study that is little observed: the understanding of adulthood and how it is constructed and performed by adult characters in children's books. The cover image sets the scene. As the author explains in her introduction, the cover is taken from Marita De Sterck's and An Candaele's picture book Koekeloeren (2008), and shows the children watching their parents through a huge keyhole. As such, it presents the topic of the study and invites readers to explore the representation of adulthood as a stage of life in children's literature. Divided into six chapters, the book offers valuable contributions by analyzing well-known novels and picturebooks by Dutch, Flemish, and English writers and illustrators. The corpus encompasses children's books for children up to twelve years old, published between the 1970s and today, excluding those books intended for young adults, in which adulthood appears as a more frequent subject. Through a verb-iconic appreciation of the books, taking into account the social and historical context, Joosen examines how the idea of adulthood "is represented by adult characters... or expressed in meta-reflections" (p.19). To this end, Joosen draws on theories from childhood studies, children's literature studies, and, above all, Age Studies. Based on the assumption that "age and life course are socially constructed [factors]" (p.21), the historical and cultural context and other social factors—such as gender, sexuality, and economic class—must be taken into account. Her approach highlights the importance of interdisciplinary perspectives within children's literary studies as well as age studies. In her first chapter, based on Neil Postman's The Disappearance of Childhood (1982), Joosen analyzes several literary works to reflect on the definition and relationship between "adulthood" and "childhood" in children's books. In the second chapter, she focuses on the study of adult characters who assume roles as protagonists by showing how their presence is important for the perception of the heterogeneity of adulthood. This overcomes closed and polarized visions about what it means to be a child versus what it means to be an adult. In this section, the author also emphasizes that the presence of these adult characters is important to raise awareness of intergenerational socialization and solidarity. The third chapter analyzes the representations of the body of the adult in children's literature. This is regardless of their role as parents, uncles, grandparents, teachers, and so on, focusing, mostly, on the representation of body hair as a marker of adulthood. Proposed by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, the concept of "infantilism" as a form of discrimination against children is thoroughly examined by Joosen in the fourth chapter. Here she also reveals adult characters that are considered hostile, intimidating, or [End Page 102] frightening to child readers. Such negative characters are contrasted with the sympathetic adult writer (the author's alter ego) in the next chapter. Finally, the sixth chapter focuses on the last stage of adult life, old age, emphasizing the intergenerational relationship of old characters and children. While there are many adults represented as "old mentor" or "old storyteller, "other narratives, reinforce stereotypes and prejudices by portraying the aging process as decline. Besides paving the way for new interdisciplinary research in children's literature studies and highlighting the potential for intergenerational dialogue that children's books can promote, Adulthood in Children's Literature legitimizes the topic of adulthood as a possible object of study among researchers in these fields, shedding light on what previously seemed to be, as the author herself states, a "blind space" (14). Jéssica Amanda de Souza Silva PhD Research in Literary Studies, University of Aveiro Copyright © 2021 Bookbird, Inc.

Religious Socialization and Moral Development: How Similar? How Different?

Among Vern Bengtson’s contributions to research on aging, religion, and the family was the finding of strong patterns of intergenerational religious socialization within families. Professor Bengtson and colleagues published at least one book and a dozen journal articles documenting the strong evidence of intergenerational religious socialization, although they also documented specific variations of this general pattern. More recently, social scientists in the culture and cognition tradition have focused on moral development. Most of this research is based on studies of adolescents and emerging adults and concludes that families influence morality at these life stages, but that the effects of peers are even stronger. Some of this research explicitly links morality to religion; most does not. This paper compares research on religious socialization and morality, focusing on similarities and differences in findings, the potential of each tradition to inform and advance the other, and how that can be accomplished. Part of a symposium sponsored by the Religion, Spirituality and Aging Interest Group.

Gerontology at the Intersection of Religion and Families: Honoring the Legacy of Vern Bengtson

The topic of religion and spirituality in later life has received intermittent but regular attention in the field of social and behavioral gerontology over the past few decades. To the extent that religion and spirituality have been linked to better health, improved well-being, and harmonious family functioning has renewed interest in this area of scholarly inquiry. Along with these positive outcomes, religion has also been examined as the basis for family conflict, as well in terms of its inverse in the transmission of secularity across generations. This symposium will communicate empirical results, theoretical insights, and conceptual developments inspired by the career contributions of Dr. Vern Bengtson, whose landmark studies have enriched the field of gerontology in the areas of intergenerational solidarity, spirituality in later life, the transmission of religion across generations, and life-course approaches to the study of family relationships. Five eminent scholars whose work touches on these areas will be represented in this symposium. The paper by Linda George compares intergenerational religious socialization and moral development. The paper by Robert Taylor and Linda Chatters examines the role of supportive church and family networks among older African-Americans. The paper by Ellen Idler addresses aging and religious in a context of secularization. The paper by Andy Achenbaum considers spiritual dimensions of friendship and meanings of aging. The paper by Merril Silverstein integrates intergenerational and temporal continuity in religious practice and identity. The discussant Monika Ardelt has contributed important scholarly work in the areas of religion, spirituality, and wisdom in later life. Religion, Spirituality and Aging Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

Multiscalar research on family language policy and planning in China: commentary

ABSTRACT This commentary foregrounds factors and tensions involved in intergenerational language socialization in Chinese-speaking communities and homes. Of particular interest is the manner in which younger generations in homes in which other Chinese dialects (fangyans) are spoken almost invariably seem to be shifting to Mandarin, and some of the consequences of that shift for language maintenance, cultural vitality and legitimacy, and intergenerational communication. Collectively, the reported research raises concerns about the relative status of different fangyans vis-à-vis the powerful standard variety, Mandarin, which is promoted heavily through media and language policies (as is English), in conjunction with both formal and informal education at different levels. Practical considerations favor the adoption of Mandarin to facilitate communication and successful social integration within large, diverse urban centers with a growing population of migrants from other regions and dialect areas of China. A more linguistically homogeneous Chinese population theoretically confers on individuals and society certain social, educational, and economic advantages, and thus potential opportunities for upward social mobility. However, the situation also raises deep concerns regarding cultural sustainability for ethnolinguistic and regional minorities and their rich traditions and heritage, and exposes vast social disparities within and across communities.

The Art of Living as a Community: Profiguration, Sustainability, and Social Development in Rapa Nui

This article analyzes the challenges faced by the inhabitants of the island of Rapa Nui in connection with climate change-related environmental and socio-economic problems, and the survival of the islanders’ cultural identity and their very sustainability. A qualitative research methodology was adopted, using observation and in-depth interviews within a life course approach. An innovative and creative methodology was employed, cross-referencing and comparing data from 2011 and 2020. This methodology has led to the further strengthening of a new concept in sociology and the social sciences in general: profiguration (intergenerational and interdependent socialization). Based on the results of this study, some analytically robust descriptions were made of the socio-cultural and environmental situation in Rapa Nui, and of an increasingly sustainable social development model. It is a model of social development that is on the way to being sustainable, intercultural, intergenerational, and promoted by the community.

Age-Graded Differences and Parental Influences on Adolescents’ Obligation to Obey the Law

Legal socialization is the study of how individuals develop their attitudes towards the law and its authorities. While research on perceptions of legal authorities has increased, studies have not adequately examined developmental trends in youths’ obligation to obey the law in particular. This study uses a cross-sectional sample of 218 adolescent-parent dyads in two states and utilizes two assessment strategies for the obligation to obey the law. The results indicate that paralleling the age-crime curve, the obligation to obey the law exhibits a curvilinear trend, declining during adolescence before increasing into adulthood. Second, parental perceptions of the obligation to obey the law were consistently associated with their children’s obligation to obey the law throughout adolescence. Development and intergenerational socialization emerge as vital components in understanding youths’ perceived obligation to obey the law.

Intergenerational transmission of cultural socialization and effects on young children's developmental competencies among Mexican-origin families.

The current 3-generation (N = 204 families), 3-year longitudinal study examined the intergenerational transmission of cultural socialization among Mexican-origin young mothers and their own mothers (i.e., children's grandmothers) and, in turn, whether young mothers' cultural socialization informed their children's developmental competencies (i.e., interactive play with peers, receptive language, and internalizing and externalizing problem behavior) one year later. Results indicated that mediation was significant, such that grandmother-mother cultural socialization, when children were 3 years old, informed greater mother-child cultural socialization when children were 4 years old, which, in turn, informed children's greater receptive language and interactive play with peers when children were 5 years old. Findings highlight the importance of intergenerational cultural socialization on young children's developmental competencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Fundamentalism and Democracy: A Dynamic Perspective

<p>We analyse the dynamics of the distribution of democratic values in a population where<br />agents have heterogeneous preferences about democracy, distinguishing between<br />fundamentalist-antidemocratic agents and pro-democracy agents. Cultural traits and norms<br />are acquired through a process of intergenerational cultural transmission and socialization.<br />The driving force in the equilibrium selection process is the education effort exerted by<br />parents; this depends on the distribution of democratic values in the population and on<br />expectations about future policies affecting formal and informal institutions.<br />The main result is that when fundamentalism is sufficiently diffused in all institutional<br />dimensions of social life, the imposition of formal democratic rules do not significantly affect<br />social preferences. On the other hand the model shows how a cruel fundamentalist<br />dictatorship cannot wholly destroy democratic preferences in the population; the sole result is<br />a fictitious homologation of manifested attitudes, with no preferences dynamics and the<br />previous real attitudes immediately emerging as soon as dictatorship falls.</p>

The Prisonized Old Head: Intergenerational Socialization and the Fusion of Ghetto and Prison Culture

Over the last four decades, the United States’ criminal justice system has undergone a historic expansion, which has disproportionately impacted poor urban neighborhoods. The meteoric rise in the percentage of the urban poor either on their way to, in, or recently released from jail or prison has led a number of scholars to theorize a “fusion of ghetto and prison culture” (Wacquant 2001). The exact sources and contours of this fusion, however, remain unspecified. How, concretely, are the cultural contexts of prisons transmitted to poor urban neighborhoods? This article proposes that intergenerational socialization is a key mechanism in this process. We contend that the dramatic expansion of the criminal justice system over the last four decades has given rise to an unexpected and peculiar form of socialization, provided by a new social actor—what we term the “prisonized old head.” We define the prisonized old head as an individual who exhibits three particular characteristics. They are (1) older individuals with extensive experiences in, and wisdom about, the criminal justice system; who (2) informally socialize neighborhood residents to embrace the cultural schemas and routines learned inside penal spaces; to (3) navigate the daily exigencies routinely faced in the neighborhood context. Stated simply, prisonized old heads leverage ways of life developed “on the inside” as strategies for living life “on the outside.” We articulate the emergence, mechanisms, and implications of this form of socialization drawing on fieldwork data in Los Angeless’ Skid Row neighborhood—one of the premier reentry communities in the United States. We show that although this socialization may contribute to desistance and self-transformation, it can simultaneously constrain upward mobility and limit reintegration.

Health lifestyles in early childhood.

This study integrates two important developments, the concept of health lifestyles (which has focused on adults and adolescents) and the increased attention to early childhood. We introduce the concept of children's health lifestyles, identifying differences from adult health lifestyles and articulating intergenerational transmission and socialization processes shaping children's health lifestyles. Using the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (2001-2007; N ≈ 6,150), latent class analyses identify predominant health lifestyles among U.S. preschoolers. Five distinct empirical patterns representing health lifestyles emerge, two capturing low and medium levels of overall risk across domains and three capturing domain-specific risks. Social background predicts children's health lifestyles, but lower household resources often explain these relationships. Across kindergarten measures of cognition, behavior, and health, preschool health lifestyles predict children's development even after controlling for social disadvantage and concurrent household resources. Further research on health lifestyles throughout childhood is warranted.