Do Values Matter in Parenting? Findings and Insights from a Psychosocial Study with Mothers and Fathers of Adolescents

This study examines the relationship between parents’ values and their parenting styles. Although values are widely recognized as guiding principles in life and crucial factors in intergenerational and family relations and dynamics, few studies have examined their role in shaping individual and couple parenting practices. These few studies have mainly conceptualized parental values as standards of desirability that guide parents’ decisions in selecting approaches to child-rearing. Building on Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Human Values, the present contribution aims to explore the diverse roles of parents' values (i.e., personal values), the values they perceive their adolescent children hold (i.e., perceived children’s values), and those they wish to transmit to them (i.e., socialization values). In doing so, the study considers the interdependence between parents, as it is reasonable to expect that the values held by both partners have a reciprocal impact on behaviors and attitudes, just as parenting styles can mutually affect each other. The sample consists of 418 Italian parental couples (mothers: Mage = 44.93, SD = 4.68; fathers: Mage = 48.19, SD = 5.46), all with at least one adolescent child. They separately completed a self-report questionnaire, including the Portrait Values Questionnaire and the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire. The data analysis is still in progress, and the forthcoming results will be discussed in relation to their potential implications for parenting and the enhancement of parent-child relationship quality during adolescence.