Personality, Marital Relationships, and Parenting in Two Generations of Mothers

It has been suggested that early experiences in families may be related to one’s parenting as an adult. Conceptual models were tested that investigated how personality and marital relationships are linked to parenting within and between generations. Eighty mother-grandmother pairs completed questionnaires concerning personality, marital relationships, and parenting. Restrictive and nurturant parenting of grandmothers was positively correlated with restrictive and nurturant parenting of mothers, but these relationships were attenuated in the presence of marital relationship and personality variables when structural equation models were tested. Personality characteristics and marital relationships were linked to parenting within and across generations.