Abstract:
Parenting goals are the behavioral, cognitive, and affective outcomes that parents
implicitly or explicitly strive to achieve during specific interactions with their children. In
the present study, intergenerational parenting practices and goals in Italian-Canadian and
Anglo-Canadian families were examined. The association between parenting goals,
parents' socialization practices, and the quality of relationship between parent and child
were investigated. Participants included individuals ranging in age from 1 8-26 years and
their mothers from Anglo-Canadian (n= 31) and Italian-Canadian families (n= 50). The
young adults and their mothers were asked to imagine how their respective parents would
have reacted to five hypothetical vignettes depicting difficult parent-child interactions.
Young adults and their mothers were also asked to rate the importance of parenting goals
within these parent-child situations. In addition, young adults assessed the perceived
quality of their present relationships with each parent. Cultural differences were revealed
such that Italian-Canadian parents endorsed more authoritarian parenting strategies and
relationship-centered goals than Anglo-Canadian parents. However, Italian-Canadian and
Anglo-Canadian parents were not found to differ on their endorsement of parent-centered
goals. Italian-Canadian parents' who did use authoritarian strategies were found to have
young-adult children who perceived their relationship with their parents as less satisfying,
intimate, affectionate and having relatively high levels of conflict than parents who did
not use authoritarian strategies. Anglo-Canadian parents' authoritative strategies were
correlated with a better perceived relationship quality by young-adult children.
