The Relationship between Moral Character and Adolescents' Perception of Parental Behavior

Summary The objective was to determine to what extent and in what ways various child rearing practices are related to the moral character structure of young adults. One hundred forty-four male and female college students completed a 137-item self-report questionnaire which assessed the moral character dimensions of socialization, empathy, autonomy, and ethical attitudes identified by Hogan. The Ss were also asked to rate their parents retrospectively as to their child rearing practices. Six scales were created for each parent through a factor analysis of the 40-item parental practices inventory. The results indicate a number of significant correlations (p < .01) between parental practices and socialization and empathy. The accepting, inductive, and lax controlling parent variables were positively correlated with socialization and empathy. Rejecting, strict controlling, and power assertive parental variables were negatively related to socialization and empathy. Autonomy and ethical attitudes were not linearly related to the parent variables. Nonlinear and interactive effects between the parent-child and moral character variables were also examined.