Problem-solving rigidity of children on perceptual tasks as a function of parental authoritarianism

The effect of parental authoritarianism on the rigid problem-solving behavior of 25 10- to 12-year-old children was examined. Children were tested on three perceptually ambiguous tasks in an experimentally induced ego-involving situation. Authoritarianism in one parent was associated with authoritarianism in the other. Children's greater difficulty on all three tasks was associated with higher parental authoritarianism; opposite sex correlations betweens sons' and mothers' and between daughters' and fathers' scores are stronger than same sex correlations. Children were consistent across all three tasks on rigid problem-solving behavior. It is suggested that rigid problem-solving behavior may mediate the transmission of authoritarianism from parent to child.