Perceived similarity versus contrast between kibbutz parents and their preadolescent children's adjustment

Parents' characteristics and the behavioral manifestations of 100 two-parented, 10- to 13-year-old kibbutz children were analyzed in a 2 x 2 fractiorial design (boys versus girls x girls x parents similar versus different) to assess the effect to parental degree of socially perceived similarity on their children's adjustment. It is found that children of similar parents had more positive interpersonal relationships but more fears, especially the boys, while children of contrasting parents had more negative interpersonal relationships, with the boys exhibiting fewer fears. It seems that a unified family structure reinforces a normative social behavior, but it fosters dependency and restricts breadth of preception and possibilities for exercising diversity in behavior. It leaves boys, even within the kibbutz egalitarian educaiton, less confident in acting independently.