Van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (1992). Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting: A Review of Studies in Nonclinical Populations. Developmental Review, 12(1), 76-99.

Abstract

In this review, intergenerational transmission of parenting is defined as the process through which purposively or unintendedly an earlier generation psychologically influences parenting attitudes and behavior of the next generation. A model of intergenerational transmission of parenting is outlined, in which genetic and contextual continuity is taken into account as well as grandparenting. Through PsychLit, relevant studies on nonclinical populations have been collected, and a narrative review is presented in which strengths and weaknesses of pertinent studies are discussed. It is concluded that the traditional cross-sectional studies on the basis of questionnaires have failed to reach their goals. Observational research and studies based on the Adult Attachment Interview should be regarded as promising. These studies revealed substantial intergenerational transmission of parenting styles, but their designs preclude definite causal interpretations of the variance shared between different generations.