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J Adult Dev (2011) 18:204213

DOI 10.1007/s10804-011-9129-8

Relationship of Adult Representations of Childhood Parenting


and Personality Tendencies to Adult Stressors and Political
Ideology
Carolyn A. Blondin Jeff L. Cochran
Eun Jung Oh Cora M. Taylor Robert L. Williams

Published online: 12 October 2011


! Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Abstract Undergraduate students in a Southeastern US


University (n = 232) responded to an inventory that
included retrospective measures of their parents style of
parenting (authoritarian vs. authoritative) and their own
childhood psychological tendencies (insecurity vs. confidence), as well as their adult stressors and political orientation. Authoritative parenting positively correlated with
childhood confidence and negatively correlated with both
childhood insecurity and adult stressors. Conversely,
authoritarian parenting was positively associated with
childhood insecurity and adult stressors but was not significantly correlated with childhood confidence. For the
most part, parenting styles, early childhood tendencies, and
adult stressors were unrelated to adult political ideology,
contrary to previous longitudinal research reporting these
connections.
Keywords Retrospective research ! Parenting !
Childhood security ! Stressors ! Political ideology

the relationship between childhood parenting and both


childhood and adult characteristics. However, observing
parenting behavior and childrens tendencies may produce
more reliable and valid data than asking adults to describe
their parent(s) behavior and report their own tendencies as
children. Ones recall of childhood parenting and personal
characteristics could be affected by numerous experiences
between childhood and adulthood, as well as by personality
tendencies and beliefs during adulthood.
On the other hand, there are practical disadvantages of
longitudinal research, including sample access, plus time
and resources to track persons and data trends across significant portions of the lifespan. The retrospective approach
provides a viable alternative to understanding how persons
develop across time. This approach can serve to confirm
longitudinal findings and build a reliable knowledge base
through larger samples and the possibilities of numerous
studies across similar variables and similar or varied
populations.
Retrospective Research Findings

Introduction
There are two major ways to study the relationship between
childhood experiences and adult characteristics: (a) longitudinally tracking the same individuals from childhood to
adulthood and (b) asking adults to report memories of their
childhood experiences and their current adult characteristics. The former is a more highly regarded way to examine

C. A. Blondin ! J. L. Cochran ! E. J. Oh !
C. M. Taylor ! R. L. Williams (&)
Educational Psychology and Counseling, The University of
Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-3452, USA
e-mail: bobwilliams@utk.edu

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Adult reflections on childhood may not be entirely objective but those reflections may profoundly affect other
aspects of adult lives. Asking adults to retrospectively
report events from their childhood gives researchers access
to a multitude of childhood experiences that would otherwise be lost if only longitudinal data were used. The current research is based on the assumption that retrospective
research is a reliable and valuable way to determine how
adults experienced childhood. Consistent with this
assumption, MacDonald et al. (2009) found that lifestyle
characteristics and physical activity could be accurately
recalled for a period of 25 years in samples of both
younger and older adults.

Relationship of Adult Representations

A sampling of studies that have used the retrospective


approach to investigate the linkage between childhood
variables and various adult characteristics/experiences
includes Alea et al. (2004), Dolbin-MacNab et al. (2009),
Faith et al. (2008), Gumpel and Ish-Shalom (2003), and
Knabb et al. (2009). Alea et al. concluded from their
research that theories of emotion and aging could be
informed by memories of negative life events. DolbinMacNab et al. reported that adults who had been reared by
grandparents evidenced intense emotional bonds with their
grandparents and regarded those relationships as equivalent
to parentchild relationships. Faith et al. found that
reported teasing during childhood was linked to later
symptoms of psychological distress. Gumpel and Ish-Shalom studied the long-term effects of peer rejection in
childhood and adolescence, as well as protective factors
that promoted remission of earlier peer rejection. Knabb
et al. investigated retrospective meaning-making of Protestant adults whose parents had divorced during the adolescence of the participants.
The retrospective studies most directly linked to the
focus of the current study include Heer (2008), Klein et al.
(1996), and Renk et al. (2005). One of the salient findings
of the Heer study was that authoritative parenting from
both mothers and fathers predicted secure attachments in
adult relationships. Klein et al. reported that an authoritative style of parenting in childhood generally predicted
positive self-perceptions in adulthood, whereas an
authoritarian style generally predicted negative self-perceptions. Renk et al. found that college students and their
parents moderately agreed in their recollections of the
college students externalizing and internalizing problems
during childhood. Overall, these retrospective studies
suggest that adult ratings of the parenting received as
children predict self-concept and social attachments in
adulthood. Additionally, parents and college students
generally agreed in their reporting of college students
problem-coping tendencies as children.
Related Longitudinal Research Findings
The rather limited retrospective literature on childhood
parenting and adult psychological tendencies is complemented by one major longitudinal study (Block and Block
2006) of the personality characteristics of nursery-school
children and their personality and political ideology as
young adults. Particularly unique about the Block and
Block study is the linkage between childhood personality
characteristics and adult political ideology. Early childhood descriptors reflective of insecurity (e.g., fearful, rigid,
vulnerable) were positively associated with adult conservatism, whereas childhood descriptors conveying confidence (e.g., self-reliant, resilient, close peer relationships)

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were positively associated with adult liberalism. Additionally, childhood personality tendencies predicted adult
personality characteristics similar to the childhood patterns: Adult liberals were rated as being bright, having
wide interests, and tending toward non-conformity,
whereas conservatives were rated as uneasy with ambiguity, traditionally sex-typed, and moralistic.
Although their findings present clear trends regarding
early childhood and adult personality characteristics of
liberals and conservatives, Block and Block (2006)
acknowledged that aspects of their available sample may
limit the generalizability of their findings. The parent
sample was diverse with respect to social class and education level but relatively small (n = 128 children) and
skewed toward liberalism. The authors also noted that the
study was conducted in one location (Berkeley and Oakland, California) widely recognized for its liberalism.
Additionally, the authors acknowledged that the correlations
between nursery school descriptors and adult liberalism
conservatism measures may be considered unimpressive
(correlations mainly in the 0.20s to 0.40s).
Other than these acknowledged limitations, Block and
Blocks (2006) methods appear sound and comprehensive.
All the ratings were done independently by individuals or
sets of individuals without knowledge of the overall design
and the expectations of the study. Furthermore, the ratings
were based on extensive contact with the participants. For
example, the two sets of three teachers who judged the
personality characteristics of the youngsters had been with
the children daily over a 7-month period. The six psychologists who rated the adult characteristics had done
extensive interviewing or observing of the participants. The
psychologists did their ratings independently of and prior
to the assessment of liberalism and conservatism. Assessment of political ideology included self-assessment,
agreement with positions usually distinguishing liberal
from conservative views, and other scales related to
political rights, political activism, conservatism, and liberalism. Certainly, the assessment of childhood personality
tendencies, adult personality characteristics, and adult
political ideology was broadly based, greatly decreasing
the probability of bias resulting from singular measures of
variables.
To our knowledge, the Block and Block (2006) study is
the only published longitudinal investigation of how
childhood characteristics translate into adult political ideology. The study was conducted over approximately a
20-year period. Such studies, particularly with the methodology used by Block and Block, are labor-intensive. For
that reason in particular, the study deserves much attention
in the empirical literature on the development of conservatism and liberalism. Nonetheless, their skewed sample
and the small to medium correlations between childhood

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characteristics and adult political ideology suggest the need


for both replication and extension of selected aspects of the
Block and Block study.
An issue needing attention in the Block and Block
(2006) study is what contributed to the correlation between
childhood personality tendencies and adult political values.
One possibility would be a difference in parenting experienced by young adult liberals and conservatives. Drawing
from the same longitudinal data set used in the Block and
Block (2006) study, Feld (1995) earlier reported that the
parenting behavior experienced by adult liberals during
childhood had been generally more supportive than that
experienced by adult conservatives. Parents of adult liberals were generally described as tender, playful, affectionate, easy going, and supportive, whereas parents of
adult conservatives were described more as cold, tense,
punitive, and authoritarian. One exception to this overall
trend was fathers treatment of their daughters: Fathers of
conservative daughters were inclined to be easy going and
firm, whereas fathers of liberal daughters were described as
unsupportive and distant.

Parenting Styles and Childrens Psychological


Tendencies
Parenting styles have often been classified as authoritarian,
authoritative, and permissive (Burl 1991; Robinson et al.
1995). The major distinctions between these categories
relate to the source and nature of parental control in childrens lives (Baumrind 1971). The principal source of
control in both authoritarian and authoritative parenting
rests with the parent(s), although the nature of control
differs between these two categories. Authoritarian parents directives are final and are not to be questioned by
their children. Authoritative parents also set limits for their
children but allow them to question and sometimes negotiate those limits. Permissive parents attempt to follow their
childrens lead and otherwise set minimal limits on their
childrens choices and behavior.
Although parents and children can reciprocally affect
each other, most findings suggest that parenting style
influences the development of childrens behavior and
traits, rather than childrens psychological tendencies
affecting parenting style (e.g., Aguilar 1998; Kitamura
et al. 2009; Lytton 1990; Patterson 1982). In this vein,
Bornsteins (1992) review of developmental, social, and
clinical studies of dependency concluded that overprotective, authoritarian parenting leads to child dependency and
eventually to a variety of problems (e.g., depression,
alcohol use and dependence, tobacco dependence, obesity, and eating disorders). Soenens et al. (2005) reported
links from mothers and fathers psychological control to

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daughters maladaptive perfectionism. Haycraft and Blissett


(2010) found authoritarian and permissive parenting styles,
but not authoritative, to be related to higher eating disorder
symptoms. Berge et al. (2010) also found authoritarian
parenting to be associated with higher overweight status
among teenage sons.

Continuity of Psychological Patterns Across


the Lifespan
Existing research suggests that childhood personality characteristics may predict adult tendencies, including stress
level or accumulated stressors. A longitudinal study with
104 participants linked key personality traits in children as
young as 34 years old to personality traits or tendencies
1220 years later (Block 1993). Block concluded that childrens tendencies toward ego-control (a capacity to control
impulses, desires, or actions) are identifiable from early
childhood and continue to distinguish individuals at least
into early adulthood. Similarly, differences in ego-resilience
(the ability to cope with or adapt to stress or change) were
identifiable in young children and tended to remain stable for
boys from childhood to young adulthood. From the same
longitudinal data set, Block et al. (1988) found tendencies
within the traits of ego-control and ego-resiliency at preschool age to be related to drug-use patterns in adolescence.
Further, Block et al. (1991) linked ego-control and egoresilience in early childhood to depressive tendencies in late
adolescents. Ego-under-control from early childhood in
boys predicted later tendencies toward dysthymia, while
ego-over-control in young girls predicted later depressive
tendencies.
From her review of related research, Hampson (2008)
concluded that personality traits have an enduring effect
on well-being and that childrens reactions to stress may
play a role in adult stress. As Hampson illustrates, a
child who reacts to stress with hostility may become
entrapped in a cycle of reciprocal hostility, resulting in
chronic stress. Along that same line, a 19-year longitudinal study (Dennissen et al. 2008) found that less
resilient personality types in children predict later difficulties in young adult roles, including difficulties with
leaving the parental home, establishing a first romantic
relationship, and getting a part-time job. The less resilient personality types included both under-controlling (a
lack of ego-control or restraint of impulses, which linked
to aggression) and over-controlling (excessive ego-control, which linked to shyness). With respect to the current study, we predicted that children prone toward
insecurity would experience a greater magnitude of
stressors in their adulthood than individuals who were
confident as children.

Relationship of Adult Representations

Research Connecting Psychological Tendencies


to Political Leanings
The final link in the framework of Block and Blocks
(2006) longitudinal study was the relationship of childhood
and adult personality characteristics to adult political
leanings. Recent studies seem to concur with parts of Block
and Blocks findings. A series of three studies conducted
by Jost et al. (2007) showed that uncertainty avoidance
(e.g., need for order, intolerance of ambiguity, and lack of
openness to experience) and threat management (e.g., death
anxiety, system threat, and perceptions of a dangerous
world) each contributed independently to conservatism (vs.
liberalism) (p. 989). In a meta-analysis of 88 samples
across 12 countries and 22,818 cases, Jost et al. (2003)
concluded that several psychological variables predict
political conservatism: death anxiety, perceived threats to
social stability, intolerance of ambiguity, openness to
experience (negative relationship), fear of threat and loss,
and self-esteem (negative relationship).
In another series of three different studies that included
multiple domains and measurement techniques, Carney
et al. (2008) claimed consistent and converging evidence
that personality differences between liberals and conservatives are robust, replicable, and behaviorally significant
(p. 807). Recently, Inbar et al. (2009) added to the body of
literature linking psychological tendencies to political orientations, finding that a predisposition to feel disgust is
associated with more conservative political attitudes and
that this relationship is strongest for purity-related issues
specifically, abortion and gay marriage.

Framework of the Current Study


Our study investigated whether the principal relationships
reported in the Block and Block (2006) and Feld (1995)
studies would be supported in a retrospective study of the
linkage between childhood and adult experiences. However, we added parenting style as a way to possibly account
for some potential linkages between childhood and adult
characteristics. As opposed to incorporating a general
measure of adult personality, as was done by Block and
Block, we used a more focused measure of adult stressors.
We predicted that authoritarian parenting would be positively associated with childhood insecurity, adult stressors,
and adult conservatism but negatively related to childhood
confidence and adult liberalism. In contrast, authoritative
parenting style was expected to be positively correlated
with childhood confidence and adult liberalism but negatively associated with childhood insecurity, adult stressors, and adult conservatism. Following from Block and
Blocks (2006) findings, we also expected early childhood

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psychological tendencies recalled by college students to


predict adult stressors and political ideology.

Method
Participants
Students in the teacher-education program of a Southeastern American University (N = 232) responded to an
inventory that included all the measures targeted in this
study. In this sample, 168 of the participants were women
and 64 were men. With respect to academic classification,
most of the participants were 2nd- and 3rd-year students:
1st year (n = 18), 2nd year (n = 113), 3rd year (n = 65),
4th year (n = 27), and graduate students (n = 9). Most of
the participants had been reared in two-parent homes: two
parents (n = 128), single parent (n = 20), and not indicated (n = 84).
Procedures
Students responded on an out-of-class basis to an inventory
containing all the measures included in the study. This
inventory was posted at the course website at the beginning
of the semester. Students were given scan forms on which
they indicated their answers to the items on a 5-point scale
spanning strongly representative to strongly non-representative, very often to never, or strongly support to
strongly oppose. Item responses to the combined inventory
were electronically scanned into a comprehensive data file.
With the exception of an integrated conservative-liberal
scale, high scores on each scale represented support for the
concept assessed (i.e., authoritative parenting, authoritarian
parenting, childhood insecurity, childhood confidence, and
adult stressors). An integrated conservative-liberal scale
was scored in the direction of a liberal political orientation,
with higher scores representing liberalism and lower scores
representing conservatism.
Targeted Measures
Items on the authoritarian and authoritative parenting
subscales were adapted from a larger instrument that also
included a measure of permissive parenting (Burl 1991).
Burl reported that the testretest reliability of the
authoritarian and authoritative scales over a 2-week period
ranged from 0.78 to 0.92 and their Cronbachs alphas
ranged from 0.82 to 0.87. In our adaptation of the scale, we
used the term caretaker(s) to represent the primary
person(s) (mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, other
relative, and/or acquaintance) who had reared the student.
We assumed the person(s) portrayed as the caretaker(s) in

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an individuals inventory responses represented the


adult(s) with whom the respondent spent the most time
during childhood and who had the greatest influence on the
respondent. Students responded to the items in these subscales on a (1) strongly representative to (5) strongly nonrepresentative basis.
The authoritative and authoritarian themes reflected
conventional interpretations of these parenting styles.
Authoritative parenting represented a caretakerchild
relationship in which caretaker(s) established limits for
their children but not without input from the children.
Children could question those limitations, with the possibility that their questions might cause caretaker(s) to alter
the limitations. On the other hand, authoritarian caretaker(s) set limits for their children without regard to their
childrens input. Authoritarian caretaker(s) demanded
respect and obedience from their children under all
circumstances.
The measures of childhood personal tendencies (i.e.,
insecurity versus confidence) were adapted largely from
Block and Block (2006), who used a Q-set scale to evaluate
the behavioral tendencies of youngsters in kindergarten.
Three teachers in two different nursery schools independently identified several patterns that represented what we
referred to in our study as childhood insecurity (e.g.,
feeling unworthy, easily offended, being anxious about
uncertainties) and confidence (e.g., being resourceful,
behaving autonomously, reflecting pride in their accomplishments). Our 8-item measure of these two scales
included 4 items that reflected childhood insecurity and 4
items that represented childhood confidence. Students
indicated how often they felt a particular way as a child on
a 5-point scale from 1 (very often) to 5 (never).
Our measure of adult psychological characteristics
assessed the magnitude of stressors for college students, in
contrast to Block and Blocks (2006) broader measure of
adult personality characteristics. Our measure of adult
stressors was adapted from Feldts (2008) College Student
Stress Scale. This scale includes 11 items, all of which
represent potential stressors for college students (e.g.,
personal relationships, family matters, financial matters,
academic matters). Items were answered on a 5-point
continuum from 1 (very often) to 5 (never) indicating how
frequently students felt distressed about each domain. Feldt
reported the internal consistency (coefficient alpha) for the
stressor scale to be 0.87 and the testretest reliability over a
5-week period to range from 0.62 to 0.86 for individual
items, with a mean of 0.73 for the total scale.
The final measure in our study was an integrated measure of political liberalism and conservatism. We adapted
one of several measures used by Block and Block (2006) to
assess political conservatism and liberalism. They used the
Kerlinger Liberalism Scale (1984) that contained 15 items

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indicating issues on which liberals and conservatives tend


to disagree: liberal issuescivil rights, racial equality,
socialized medicine, the United Nations; conservative
issuespatriotism, capitalism, law and order, moral
standards. Our adaptation included eight of the Kerlinger
items plus three others more reflective of contemporary
issues (e.g., same-sex marriage, civil rights for suspected
terrorist, higher taxes for the rich). Political ideology was
assessed on one dimension because both conservatism and
liberalism are determined not only by what individuals
favor but also by what they oppose. Students responded to
the political issues on a 1 (strongly support) to 5 (strongly
oppose) scale. Our adapted and expanded version of the
Kerlinger scale yielded a lower alpha (0.66) than that
reported by Block and Block (0.87) for the original scale.

Results
The primary questions addressed in the study were
(a) whether retrospective assessment of parenting styles
would complement the relationships highlighted in the
Block and Block (2006) longitudinal study and (b) whether
the relationships reported by Block and Block between
childhood tendencies and political ideology would be
found in a retrospective investigation with a Southeastern
U.S. college sample. Whereas the Block and Block study
was a prospective longitudinal study conducted over a
period of 20 years, our study first assessed college students retrospective perceptions of treatment from their
parents and their own levels of insecurity vs. confidence
during childhood and then assessed their contemporaneous
perspectives of their stressors and political ideology as
adults.
Parenting Styles and Psychological Measures
in Childhood and Adulthood
Although Feld (1995) suggested that parentchild relationships were linked to childhood personality characteristics, as well as adult personality and political orientations,
his study did not explicitly assess authoritarian versus
authoritative parenting styles. Table 1 indicates that
authoritative parenting in our study was negatively correlated with childhood insecurity and positively correlated
with childhood confidence (p \ .001). On the other hand,
authoritarian parenting was positively related to childhood
insecurity (p \ .001) but not significantly related to
childhood confidence. The two parenting styles evidenced
opposite relationships with adult stressors: authoritative
parenting was negatively related to magnitude of adult
stressors (p \ .001), whereas authoritarian parenting was

Relationship of Adult Representations

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Table 1 Overview of correlations between parenting styles, childhood psychological tendencies, and adult psychological tendencies (N = 232)
Parenting styles

Authoritative
Authoritarian

Childhood tendencies

Adult variables
Stress

Political

-0.21**

-0.18*

Authoritative

Authoritarian

Insecurity

-0.25**

-0.43**

Child insecurity
Child confidence
Adult stress

Confidence
0.39**

0.19**

-0.11

0.20**

-0.05

-0.50**

0.34**

0.09

-0.24**

0.00

0.04

* p \ .01; ** p \ .001

positively related to magnitude of adult stressors


(p \ .001).
A major departure from the expected relationships
between parenting styles and adult characteristics occurred
in their relationships with adult political orientations. The
only significant relationship (p \ .01) was between
authoritative parenting and the liberal/conservative continuum. However, even that relationship was weak and
opposite the expected direction (r = -0.18), suggesting
that the authoritative parenting style was inversely related
with liberalism. Consequently, although parenting style
was predictably related to some elements of childhood and
adult psychological characteristics delineated by Feld
(1995), the negative relationship between authoritative
parenting and political ideology was opposite what might
have been expected from Felds research.
Although one might be inclined to consider the relationship between authoritative parenting and political ideology an outlier, the magnitude of that relationship is not
that different from other relationships involving parenting
(e.g., -0.21 between authoritative parenting and magnitude of adult stressors, 0.20 between authoritarian parenting and magnitude of adult stressors, 0.19 between
authoritarian parenting and childhood insecurity). However, using Howells (1992) procedure for testing the difference in two correlations computed from the same
sample, we found the magnitude of authoritarian parenting
relationships with childhood insecurity (0.19) and confidence (-0.11) to be significantly lower (p \ .05) than the
correlations between authoritative parenting styles and
childhood insecurity (-0.43) and childhood confidence
(0.39).
Childhood Insecurity/Confidence and Adult Measures
Although the principal finding in the Block and Block
(2006) research was the relationship between childhood
personality tendencies and adult political ideology, they
also found that childhood personality characteristics predicted adult psychological tendencies. Table 1 indicates
that childhood insecurity and confidence in our study both

significantly predicted the magnitude of self-reported adult


stressors. Childhood insecurity was positively related to
adult stressors (r = 0.34), whereas childhood confidence
was negatively related to adult stressors (r = -0.24). The
difference between these two correlations proved statistically significant (p \ .001), based on Howells (1992) test
of the difference between two correlations computed from
the same sample.
Correlations between childhood characteristics and adult
political ideology were negligible and non-significant for
both insecurity and confidence. Thus, although our findings
were consistent with Block and Blocks (2006) proposed
linkage between childhood and adult personality characteristics, our results did not confirm the relationship
between childhood characteristics and adult political ideologythe most crucial and controversial finding in the
Block and Block study. Instead, recalled childhood characteristics were unrelated to adult political perspectives.
Group Differences Between Adult Conservatives
and Liberals
Because our measure of political orientation did not correlate substantially with any other variable in the study, we
explored the possibility that the political spectrum distribution was too homogeneous to correlate significantly with
the other variables. Indeed, we found that students tended
to be centrist in their responses to political issues, obtaining
a mean score (33.15) precisely in the middle of the political
spectrum (ambivalent). The highest mean rating on any one
item was 3.50 on welfare for the poor, and the lowest
mean rating on an item was 2.40 for display of the Ten
Commandments on public property, representing
approximately a one-point difference between the most
extreme item means. This limited variability in item means
suggests that our sample was relatively homogenous with
respect to specific political issues.
Because the centrist response tendency to the political
items may have limited the possibility of obtaining significant correlations between political perspectives and
responses to the other measures, we then identified the top

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C. A. Blondin et al.

Table 2 Political-ideology item means for political quartiles


Quartile
Abortion rights
Government health insurance
Welfare for the poor
Military interventionsa
Civil rights for terrorists
Affirmative action
Government gun control
Environmental regulation
Taxes for rich

Item means

SD

15

-14.12

0.000

15

-14.02

0.000

15

-8.69

0.000

15

-5.75

0.000

15

-10.01

0.000

Conservative

55

1.56

1.05

61

4.16

0.93

Conservative

55

1.78

0.96

Liberal

61

4.05

0.78

Conservative

55

2.82

0.88

Liberal

61

4.07

0.66

Conservative

55

2.47

0.90

Liberal

61

3.51

1.02

Conservative

55

1.82

0.80

Liberal

61

3.43

0.92

Conservative
Liberal

55
61

2.53
3.38

1.10
0.86

15

-4.65

0.000

15

-10.40

0.000

15

-9.54

0.000

15

-8.42

0.000

15

-11.42

0.000

15

-10.29

0.000

1155

-29.92

0.000

Conservative

55

1.96

0.96

Liberal

61

3.82

0.96

Conservative

55

3.33

0.90

Liberal

61

4.66

0.57

Conservative

55

2.31

1.02

61

3.92

1.04

Same-sex marriage

Conservative

55

2.09

1.36

Liberal

61

4.48

0.85

Ten commandmentsa

Conservative

55

1.60

0.87

Liberal

61

3.41

1.00

Sig.

Liberal

Liberal

Political preference

t ratios

Possible range

Conservative

55

24.27

3.39

Liberal

61

42.87

3.30

Reversed scored: disagreement weighted higher than agreement

and bottom quartiles of the political spectrum (top = liberal


and bottom = conservative). Table 2 indicates that these
two groups differed significantly on their total political
spectrum means, as well as on every item on this scale. The
bottom quartile obtained a mean of 24.25 on the combined
political items, and the top quartile obtained a mean of 42.87
on the combined items. Analysis of differences in item
means indicated that abortion rights [t(115) = -0.14.12,
p \ .001] and government health insurance [t(115) =
-14.02, p \ .001] were the two items on which our conservative and liberal groups differed the most.
The major purpose of the group analyses was to determine whether the conservative and liberal groups would
differ significantly on the other variables included in the
study. Table 3 shows that out of five comparisons across the
groups, only one comparison produced a significant difference: conservatives had a higher recollection of authoritative parenting than did liberals [t(231) = -2.71,
p \ 0.01]. This finding is consistent with the weak, significant, and negative correlation between authoritative parenting and adult conservatism. Whether this finding is an
outlier or a bona fide relationship that can be replicated in
future research remains open to question. Otherwise, our

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Table 3 Differences in comparison-variable means for conservative


and liberal quartiles
Conservative
(n = 55)

Liberal
(n = 61)

Sig.

Authoritative

38.05

34.38

0.01

Authoritarian

34.42

32.95

ns

Child insecurity
Child confidence

10.24
15.15

11.00
14.93

ns
ns

Adult stress

32.73

33.00

ns

ns non-significant

group comparisons failed to show any differences between


the political groups on the comparison variables. We concluded that, even at the extremes, political preferences were
generally not related to the other variables in the study.

Discussion
Our retrospective measures of childhood parenting and
early childhood psychological tendencies proved to be
significantly related to one another and predictive of

Relationship of Adult Representations

current adult stressors. These findings appear consistent


with the longitudinal findings of Block and Block (2006)
and Feld (1995), as well as findings in related retrospective
studies (e.g., Heer 2008; Klein et al. 1996; Renk et al.
2005). Parenting styles appear linked to early childhood
psychological tendencies in predictable directions:
authoritative parenting facilitates childhood confidence but
authoritarian contributes to childhood dependency (Bornstein 1992). Additionally, authoritative parenting predicts
positive tendencies in adulthood: secure attachments in
adult relationships (Heer 2008) and positive self-concept
(Klein et al. 1996). In contrast, authoritarian parenting may
lead to negative self-concept, depression, substance abuse,
obesity, and eating disorders in adulthood (Bornstein 1992;
Klein et al. 1996).

Predictive Potential of Parenting Styles and Early


Childhood Characteristics
Although our findings are consistent with several major
findings regarding the psychological implications of parenting styles, our correlations between recalled authoritative
parenting and early childhood measures were significantly
stronger than those between recalled authoritarian parenting
and childhood measures. In other words, relationships
between authoritarianism and childhood characteristics
appeared somewhat muted, compared with moderate relationships between authoritativeness and childhood characteristics. Perhaps certain aspects of authoritarian parenting
can promote childhood security. For example, parental limits
are clear and unequivocal in authoritarian parenting. Also,
parents are often perceived as knowing best and their
judgments regarded as absolutely dependable. Although
authoritative parenting involves more bilateral communication with children than does authoritarian parenting, both
parenting styles emphasize clear limits on a childs behavior
that must be respected. Certainly, the two approaches to
parenting are not mutually exclusive. The small negative
correlation between the two parenting styles leaves considerable potential for overlap between them.
The effects of both recalled parenting and childhood
characteristics appear somewhat enduring. By adulthood,
recalled parenting and childhood characteristics were significantly correlated in opposite directions with adult stress.
Recalling parents as being authoritative was negatively
related to adult stress, whereas recalling parents as being
authoritarian was positively related with adult stress.
Although different in directionality, these correlations were
similar in magnitude and relatively weak (Cohen 1988).
Thus, the effects of recalled parenting endured into adulthood but not to a substantial degree. Similarly, both
recalled childhood insecurity and confidence significantly

211

predicted adult stress. Both the directionality and magnitude of these correlations were different, with childhood
insecurity more strongly linked in a positive direction with
adult stress than childhood confidence was linked in a
negative direction with adult stress.
Prediction of Adult Political Perspectives
To this point in our analysis, our findings would be substantially consistent with those reported by Block and
Block (2006) and Feld (1995) regarding the inter-relationships between parenting styles, childhood well-being,
and adult psychological characteristics. However, these
previous researchers also found significant relationships
between most of these variables and adult political ideology. Feld reported that parenting behavior experienced by
adult liberals tended to be more supportive than parenting
experienced by adult conservatives. Block and Block found
that early childhood characteristics significantly predicted
adult political ideology. Our study generally did not confirm the relationships of parenting and childhood characteristics with adult political ideology.
Due to abundant differences in methodology and sample
composition between our study and those of Block and
Block (2006) and Feld (1995), the failure of retrospective
measures of childhood parenting and psychological security to predict adult political ideology should not be considered a challenge to the earlier longitudinal findings.
Without question, Block and Blocks methodology was
more diverse and psychometrically stronger than our
methodology. A precise replication of their methodology
might have produced findings similar to theirs. However,
two-decade follow-ups similar to those of the Block and
Block and Feld studies will likely appear infrequently in
the literature due to the practical challenges of the longitudinal approach (e.g., keeping track of participants living
in diverse locations over a period of several years).
What accounts for the differences between our findings
and those of Block and Block (2006) is not entirely clear.
One possibility is that regional differences contributed to
differences in results. Our students generally came from a
cultural background considered highly conservative in
national voting patterns since 2000, whereas the Block and
Block sample came from one of the most liberal regions in
the country (Dave Leips Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - 2008 n.d.). A liberal political orientation would be
largely incongruous with the cultural background of most
of our students, whereas the liberal orientation in the Block
and Block study would have been highly consistent with
the cultural background of their participants.
Being out of step with mainstream political values in
ones culture may contribute to tension in relationships
with family members, friends, and acquaintances outside of

123

212

a university setting. Coming from a conservative background and attending a university where liberal ideas are
explored is a psychologically different experience than
coming from a liberal background and attending a university where liberal ideas predominate. This incongruity
for our liberal students with respect to their cultural
background and their college experience may have blurred
some relationships between political ideology and other
variables in the study.
Despite the surface appeal of the cultural-incongruity
argument, our assessment of adult stressors did not support
that notion. Specifically, if holding political views counter
to the mainstream in ones culture contributes to tension in
relationships, that difference should have been evident in
the respective stress levels of our conservative and liberal
students. However, the stress means of the two political
groups did not differ. The latter finding might be attributable to how conservatives and liberals handle incongruity
between their beliefs and cultural influences. Previous
research suggests that liberals may be more open to such
incongruity than are conservatives. This tolerance of
incongruity might temper the stress liberal students would
otherwise experience from this incongruity (Jost et al.
2003, 2007; Sibley and Duckitt 2008).
Another possible explanation for the differences in
findings between our study and those of Block and Block
(2006) was that our measure of political ideology did not
adequately differentiate students political values. Students mean responses to political items tended to be
centrist, with relatively low standard deviations. However,
when we compared the political means of the top and
bottom quartiles on the political measure, we found that the
groups differed significantly on the overall political measure and on every item subsumed in that measure. But
when we then compared these groups on all the other
variables, we found that they differed significantly on only
one variable, authoritative parenting, with the conservative
group regarding their parents as having been more
authoritative than did the liberal group. Therefore, our
measure appears to have clearly differentiated the most
conservative and the most liberal students with respect to
specific political issues, even though those two groups did
not differ significantly on most other variables.
Concluding Perspectives
Researchers who investigate highly sensitive sociopolitical
issues in one region of the country should be cautious about
generalizing their findings to other regions. However, it is
important to underscore that virtually all of our relationships between parenting styles, childhood insecurity/confidence, and adult stressors would complement the Block
and Block (2006) findings. Nonetheless, political ideology

123

C. A. Blondin et al.

was minimally related to any of these variables in our


study. Current psychological tendencies are more likely to
influence representations of childhood relationships and
childhood psychological tendencies than current political
ideology is to influence those representations of past
experiences. Perhaps this notion helps to explain why adult
stress was significantly related to perceptions of childhood
relationships and personality characteristics but that adult
political ideology generally was not.
In general, our retrospective methodology appears not to
have been a critical factor in differentiating our findings
from the longitudinal findings of the Block and Block
(2006) and Feld (1995) studies. Nonetheless, when the
findings of a 20-year longitudinal study are contrasted with
those of a retrospective study in which participants reconstruct relationships and personality tendencies of early
childhood, several factors (e.g., the time lapse, self-reported versus observable responses, and influence of present
experiences on memory of past experiences) all make retrospective data more questionable than longitudinal data.
However, the potential accuracy of retrospective data
should not be discounted. We noted earlier that MacDonald
et al. (2009) reported evidence that recall of past experiences can be accurate over a 25-year period. Even if one
considers retrospective data simply as recollection or
reconstruction of past experiences, rather than as an
accurate account of the past experiences, those retrospective data are still important. That being the case, the most
defensible conclusion from our study is that what students
reported about past and present experiences supported most
of the Block and Block and Feld findings but did not
support the reported relationships between childhood
characteristics and adult political ideology.

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