Family Influence or Zeitgeist? Evidence for Developmental Differences in the Intergenerational Transmission of...

Amid rapid social change, whether parent-child value similarity can be sustained through family socialization, and how the Zeitgeist shapes intergenerational transmission, remain key issues. Grounded in Ecological Systems Theory, this study examined the sources and developmental differences of parent-child value similarity from both family and sociocultural perspectives. Using 1,055 Chinese parent-child dyads with adolescents and emerging adults, we compared real and pseudo dyads and applied multiple indicators to assess value similarity. The results revealed a clear family-specific pattern of intergenerational association in parent-child values, such that value similarity was significantly higher in real parent-child dyads than in pseudo dyads. Importantly, this similarity exhibited systematic developmental differences across age groups. In the emerging adults sample, differences between real and pseudo dyads in certain value dimensions (e.g., Distinction and Achievement) were no longer significant, suggesting that these value dimensions may be more strongly shaped by the broader social context (i.e., the Zeitgeist). Further analyses examining the associations between parental values, parental value congruence, and children's values showed differentiated patterns across developmental stages. Specifically, the associations between parental values and children's values varied across developmental stages: higher parental values and greater parental values congruence were significantly associated with higher levels of children's values. In contrast, parental value incongruence was associated with value-dimension-specific and developmental-stage-specific effects. Overall, these findings provide empirical evidence for understanding the relative roles of family processes and sociocultural influences in the intergenerational transmission of values during periods of social transformation, and they offer implications for family education and value guidance.