Intergenerational transmission of perceived parenting

A study is reported in which the possible occurrence of a significant relationship between the experience of parenting, in a large series of parent–offspring pairs from 67 multigenerational families, aged 17–90 yr was investigated. The sample generated 448 parent–offspring pairs. Both parents and offsprings, independently of each other, completed the EMBU (a Swedish acronym for ‘early memories of parental rearing’). Consistently with other studies in the literature, in which different approaches were used, several significant correlations were found, especially concerning the experience of emotional warmth in fathers and a similar experience both in sons and daughters. Correlations between the experience of mothers and those of offsprings proved to be weaker and mostly refer to dysfunctional rearing attitudes (overprotection and rejection). Even though, the reported findings add to the body of knowledge as to a possible intergenerational transmission of parenting, they cannot answer the question concerning the extent to which temperamental characteristics contribute to the correlations which were presented. Suggestions for further studies to elucidate this and other relevant issues are therefore, warranted.