Internalization and discipline practices, intergenerational continuity and change

Abstract

Previous research has failed to examine the combined effects of parental discipline interventions and the child's perceptions of those interventions on intergenerational internalization of discipline practices. Questionnaires were used to collect data from fifty-six mother and adult daughter dyads about the daughters' experiences of power assertive and nonpower assertive discipline interventions, during adolescence. A regression analysis was carried out to test the hypothesis that the combination of the frequency with which daughters experienced various disciplinary interventions, the accuracy of daughters' perceptions of the content of the mothers' message during disciplinary encounters, and the accuracy of daughters' perceptions of the importance that their mothers attached to the disagreement issue would predict internalization more fully than frequency of experience alone. The frequency with which power assertive interventions were experienced was found to be a significant predictor of those interventions. However, the cognitive variables were not found to be significant predictors of the internalization of either power assertive or nonpower assertive interventions.