Mamakind or papakind? [Mom's child or Dad's child]: Parent-specific patterns in early adolescents' intergenerational academic value transmission

The present study investigates the intergenerational transmission of the valuing of math within family. We tested if there are groups of students showing differential intergenerational transmission patterns. Based on a two-wave longitudinal sample of 1198 German fifth graders, their mothers (N = 874), and fathers (N = 733), structural equation mixture models showed two groups of students. In the first group, only the mothers' valuing of math predicted the students' own values in this domain, while in the other group the fathers' valuing of math was the only significant predictor. Parental school involvement and parenting styles were ruled out as causes for this pattern. Dyad gender composition, however, predicted group membership. The results are discussed in terms of parent and student characteristics affecting patterns in intergenerational values transmission. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.