Sonia Ranieri

Value transmission in the family: do adolescents accept the values their parents want to transmit?

This study focused on value transmission in the family and assessed adolescents’ acceptance of the values their parents want to transmit to them (socialisation values), identifying some factors that may affect the level of acceptance. Specifically, actual value agreement between parents, parental agreement as perceived by adolescents, parent–child closeness and promotion of child’s volitional functioning, were considered as predictors. Participants were 381 family triads (father, mother and adolescent child) from northern Italy; the adolescents (46.2% male) were all high‐school students from 15 to 19 years of age. Both parents and their children filled out self‐report questionnaires. Findings showed a moderate level of acceptance in families, suggesting the presence of similarities as well as differences between parents’ socialisation values and adolescents’ personal values. All the predictors considered except parents’ actual agreement, were found to be significantly and positively related to acceptance. Implications for moral development are discussed and suggestions for education and future research are provided.

Value similarity among grandparents, parents, and adolescent children: Unique or stereotypical?

A core issue in family research on value transmission is the extent of value similarity between generations, similarity which can originate from the transmission process within the family and from the social-cultural context in which the family lives. The general aim of this three-generational study was to measure parent-child value similarity, removing the effect of the social-cultural context in order to uncover that value similarity that stems from the unique and specific relationship between members of a family. Participants were 381 Italian family triads (father, mother, and one adolescent child); for 257 families one grandmother was also involved. Subjects completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire. Findings empirically showed the strong interaction between family and social-cultural context in determining the level of value similarity.

Family and Social Relationships and Psychosocial Well-Being in Italian Families With Internationally Adopted and Non-Adopted Children

This study compared mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of family and social relationships (marital relationship quality and social support) and psychosocial well-being (self-esteem, anxiety, child-rearing stress, and satisfaction) in adoptive and non-adoptive families. Participants were 163 Italian international adoptive and 195 non-adoptive couples (mothers and fathers) with children aged between 7 and 11. Adoptive parents reported a higher marital relationship quality, more social support, and better well-being than the non-adoptive parents. Moreover, in both adoptive and non-adoptive families fathers were less anxious than their wives and mothers relied on a broader social network.

Family and other social contexts in the intergenerational transmission of values

This special issue includes seven studies concerning the role of family relationships and other social contexts in the intergenerational transmission of values between parents and their children. Recent research has shown that value transmission is a complex, bi-directional, and selective process, which involves various pathways and transmission belts, and may produce intergenerational similarity as well as intergenerational change. Together, the studies reported in this special issue provide a complex picture of this process and of parent–child value similarity, as one of the possible outcomes of the transmission. The results of these studies illustrate the interdependent, but not exchangeable, contribution of different sources (family, value climate, group membership, etc.) in childrens value acquisition, and suggest implications for parenting practices and for social policies in promoting value continuity.

Parent–child relationship and adoptees’ psychological well-being in adolescence and emerging adulthood: Disentangling maternal and paternal contribution

This study focused on the parent–child relationship and children’s psychological well-being in families with internationally adopted adolescents and emerging adults. The study’s goal was twofold: (1) to analyze parent–child conflict, communicative openness in regard to adoption, and promotion of children’s volitional functioning as key aspects of parent–child relationship; and (2) to measure the relative importance of each of the above-mentioned parent–child relationship aspects in predicting adoptees’ psychological well-being. In the analyses, parent and child genders and child developmental stage (adolescence vs. emerging adulthood) were taken into account. Participants were 160 Italian international adoptees, aged between 15 and 24 years, who were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. Results showed significant differences in the level of the quality of parent–child relationship according to parents’ gender, child’s gender and developmental stage. Additionally, mother–child relationship and father–child relationship predicted adopted children’s well-being differently, also according to child’s gender and developmental stage.

Divorce and coparenting: A qualitative study on family mediation in Italy

This qualitative study intended to assess how intergenerational transformative family mediation is a resource in promoting and supporting coparenting during the transition of divorce. There were 2 goals: to assess parents’ perceptions of key topics of family mediation and to compare their perceptions concerning different moments of the intervention. Fifteen Italian parents were interviewed using an ad hoc semistructured interview. Data were analyzed using the textual analysis software T-LAB. Findings showed mediator, pragmatic aspects, and family relationships as the most salient aspects of mediation. Significant differences emerged among the beginning, the middle phase, and the end of this intervention.

Promoting Coparenting After Divorce: A Relational Perspective on Child Custody Evaluations in Italy

ABSTRACT This study intended to explore how child custody evaluations might help in supporting parents during the transition of divorce to continue to be parents together. Sixteen Italian divorced parents were interviewed using an ad hoc semistructured interview. Data were analyzed by T-LAB software. Findings indicated a shift from the structural aspects of the intervention to the dynamic ones, as well as from an individual vision of the child to a more relational one, from the problems and the conflicts to resources, mutual respect, and trust. Results are discussed in relation to practical implications for intervention.

Launching adoptees into adulthood: Mothers’ and fathers’ promotion of volitional functioning

ABSTRACT In the psychological literature, there is growing evidence that parental support of children’s volitional functioning is one of the most prominent protective factors during adolescence and the transition to adulthood. According to the Self-Determination Theory, children cope best with developmental tasks when they acquire a sense of self-governance and self-endorsed functioning. In the field of adoption research, however, the parental promotion of volitional functioning (PVF) and its relation to the adopted child’s development are still underinvestigated. The present study involved 160 Italian internationally adopted adolescents and emerging adults and both their parents. It was aimed at examining the extent to which PVF, as reported by each family member, was related to the child’s adoptive filiation. Overall, findings showed significant associations between maternal and paternal PVF and adoptive filiation that, however, varied according to the informant and to the child’s gender and age. Results have been discussed in relation to the intervention with adoptive parents and children.

Ethnic Prejudice and Intergroup Contact in Prospective Adoptive Parents

ABSTRACT While ethnic prejudice is considered a key factor in parental cultural socialization strategies, there is nonetheless a lack of research about this topic among prospective transracially adoptive parents and the extent of their contacts with members of minority ethnic groups. Participants in the current study were 175 couples: 102 prospective adoptive parents pursuing international adoption in Italy and 73 couples who at the time of the study neither had children nor were involved in the adoption process. Results showed, first, that prospective adoptive parents reported lower levels of ethnic prejudice and more positive intergroup contacts than the comparison group and, second, that adoptive status, together with a more positive intergroup contact, predicted lower levels of negative prejudice. Implications for pre- and post-adoption interventions are discussed.

Parents’ perceptions of their adolescent children’s personal values: truth or bias?

ABSTRACT Interest in research and theory of the transmission of values between generations has increased markedly in the past few years. Numerous studies have shown that parents’ effectiveness in socializing their children may depend on their own perceptions of their children’s attributes. Focusing on parents’ perceptions of their adolescent children’s personal values, this study compared parental perceptions to adolescents’ self-reported personal values and examined the relative importance of adolescents’ personal values (the ‘truth’), parents’ socialization values (‘ideal-bias’), and parents’ personal values (‘self-bias’) in guiding parental perceptions. In all analyses, gender of both parents and adolescents was taken into account. Participants were 325 family triads (father, mother, and one adolescent child) who completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire. Findings pointed to significant differences between parents’ perceptions of their adolescent children’s personal values and adolescents’ self-reported values, and showed that parents’ perceptions are a mix of truth and ideal-bias, which vary according to gender composition of the parent–adolescent dyads.