Parenting methods in relation to norm awareness, social success, and perspectives of family in adulthood

Abstract

The importance of parenting methods applied in the home to child development is broadly acknowledged. However, there has not been much empirical research showing how parenting methods later relate to personality formation and social success in adulthood. In this study, we asked adults in Japan to recall messages received from parents during early childhood, and we then tested the strength of the relationships of the messages with performance in adulthood. Messages passed from parents to children were investigated from the following three aspects: (1) the norm message passed from parent to child, (2) how the message was delivered to the child, and (3) how the child received the message. Our general conclusion is that the ways in which messages are passed from parents to children in the course of a child’s development can have a long-term and material effect on the child. This conclusion is valid for the message itself, for the method of delivery, and for the way in which it is received.