Abstract
Within the fields of socialization and moral development, the relationship of parenting to adolescents’ sense of morality and self has been understudied. This study investigated the relationships between perceived parental disciplinary techniques and moral identity among early and middle adolescents. Participants included 93 (54% female) 5th, 8th and 10th graders, as well as their mothers. Students completed self-report measures concerning their mothers’ disciplinary techniques and moral self-concept; mothers reported specifically on parental discipline frequency. The parental discipline measure was structured in terms of Hoffman’s typology of induction, love withdrawal, and power assertion. Adolescents reported the frequency of their mothers’ disciplinary techniques, as well as their perceptions (fairness or appropriateness evaluations, emotional reactions) concerning their mothers’ most frequently used technique. Parental induction (orienting the transgressor to the plight of the victim) and expression of disappointed expectations were viewed as more appropriate and responded to with more positive emotion and guilt relative to other disciplinary techniques (e.g., power assertion). In addition, parental use of inductive discipline (including parental disappointment) during the adolescent years related to higher moral identity, defined in terms of the ascription of specifically moral (e.g., fair, kind) over non-moral (e.g., athletic, smart) qualities to the self. In contrast, love withdrawal and power assertion did not relate to moral identity. The findings suggest that parental expression of disappointed expectations, especially when perceived favorably, plays an important role in the formation of moral identity during the adolescent years.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aquino, K., & Reed, A. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1423–1440.
Arnold, M. L. (1993). The place of morality in the adolescent self. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University.
Barnett, M. A., Quackenbush, S. W., & Sinisi, C. S. (1996). Factors affecting children’s, adolescents’, and young adults’ perceptions of parental discipline. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 157(4), 411–424.
Barriga, A. Q., Morrison, E. M., Liau, A. K., & Gibbs, J. C. (2001). Moral cognition: Explaining the gender difference in antisocial behavior. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 47, 532–562.
Baumeister, R. F., Stillwell, A. M., & Heatherton, T. F. (1994). Guilt: An interpersonal approach. Psychological Bulletin, 115(2), 243–267.
Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology, 4(Pt. 2), 1–103.
Bikhazi, S. L. (2006). Understanding psychological control though differences between shame and disappointment: Implications for childhood aggression. Unpublished master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, UT.
Bugental, D. B., & Grusec, J. E. (2006). Socialization processes. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed ed., pp. 366–428). New York: Wiley.
Carlo, G., Fabes, R. A., Laible, D., & Kupanoff, K. (1999). Early adolescence and prosocial/moral behavior II: The role of social and contextual influences. Journal of Early Adolescence, 19(2), 133–147.
Carlo, G., Knight, G. P., McGinley, M., and Hayes, R. (2010). The roles of parental inductions, moral emotions, and moral cognitions in prosocial tendencies among Mexican American and European American early adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence, Published Online First: 11 June 2010. doi:10.1177/0272431610373100.
Colby, A., & Damon, W. (1993). The uniting of self and morality in the development of extraordinary moral commitment. In G. G. Noam & T. E. Wren (Eds.), The moral self (pp. 149–174). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Damon, W. (1995). Greater expectations: Overcoming the culture of indulgence in America’s home and schools. New York: Free Press.
Damon, W., & Hart, D. (1988). Self-understanding in childhood and adolescence. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Eisenberg, N. (2000). Emotion, regulation, and moral development. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 665–697.
Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., Guthrie, I. K., Murphy, B. C., & Shepard, S. A. (2005). Age changes in prosocial responding and moral reasoning in adolescence and early adulthood. Journal of research on adolescence, 15(3), 235–260.
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. L. (2006). Prosocial development. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed ed., pp. 646–718). New York: Wiley.
Eisenberg, N., & Valiente, C. (2002). Parenting and children’s prosocial and moral development. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Vol. 5. Practical issues in parenting (2nd ed ed., pp. 111–142). Mahwaj, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gershoff, E. T., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Lansford, J. E., Chang, L., Zelli, A., Deater-Deckard, K., et al. (2010). Parent discipline practices in an international sample: Associations with child behaviors and moderation by perceived normativeness. Child Development, 81, 480–495.
Gibbs, J. C. (2010). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg and Hoffman (2nd ed ed.). Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon.
Gibbs, J. C., Basinger, K. S., Grime, R. L., & Snarey, J. R. (2007). Moral judgment development across cultures: Revisiting Kohlberg’s universality claims. Developmental Review, 27, 443–500.
Grusec, J. E., & Goodnow, J. (1994). Impact of parental discipline methods on the child’s internalization of values: A reconceptualization of current points of view. Developmental Psychology, 30(1), 4–19.
Hardy, S. A. (2006). Identity, reasoning, and emotion: An empirical comparison of three sources of moral motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 207–215.
Hardy, S., Bhattacharjee, A., Aquino, K., & Reed, A. (2010a). Moral identity and psychological distance: The case of adolescent parental socialization. Journal of Adolescence, 33, 111–123.
Hardy, S. A., & Carlo, G. (2005). Identity as a source of moral motivation. Human Development, 48(4), 232–256.
Hardy, S. A., Carlo, G., & Roesch, S. C. (2010b). Links between adolescents’ expected parental reactions and prosocial behavioral tendencies: The mediating role of prosocial values. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(1), 84–95.
Hart, D., Atkins, R., & Donnelly, T. M. (2006). Community service and moral development. In M. Killen & J. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 633–656). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hart, D., & Fegley, S. (1995). Prosocial behavior and caring in adolescence: Relations to self-understanding and social judgment. Child Development, 66, 1346–1359.
Hoffman, M. L. (1963). Childrearing practices and moral development: Generalizations from empirical research. Child Development, 34, 295–318.
Hoffman, M. L. (1970). Conscience, personality, and socialization techniques. Human Development, 13, 90–126.
Hoffman, M. L. (1980). Moral development in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 295–343). New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Hoffman, M. L., & Saltzstein, H. D. (1967). Parent discipline and the child’s moral development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 45–57.
Holmbeck, G. N., Paikoff, R. L., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1995). Parenting adolescents. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting (Vol. 1, pp. 91–118). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Horton, N. K., Ray, G. E., & Cohen, R. (2001). Children’s evaluations of inductive discipline as a function of transgression type and induction orientation. Child Study Journal, 31(2), 71–93.
Janssens, J. M. A. M., & Dekovic, M. (1997). Child rearing, prosocial moral reasoning, and prosocial behavior. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20(3), 509–527.
Joireman, J. (2004). Empathy and the self-absorption paradox II: Self-rumination and self-reflection as mediators between shame, guilt, and empathy. Self and Identity, 3(3), 225–238.
Krevans, J. A. (1992). Parents’ use of inductive discipline: Relations with children’s empathic responses and prosocial behavior. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University, Columbus.
Krevans, J., & Gibbs, J. C. (1996). Parents’ use of inductive discipline: Relations to children’s empathy and prosocial behavior. Child Development, 67, 3263–3277.
Lapsley, D. K., & Lasky, B. (2001). Prototypic moral character. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 1(4), 345–363.
Lewis, M. (2008). Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame and guilt. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed ed., pp. 742–756). New York: The Guilford Press.
Lickona, T. (1983). Raising good children. New York: Bantam.
Miller, S. A. (2007). Developmental research methods (3rd ed ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.
Moshman, D. (2011). Adolescent rationality and development: Cognition, morality, and identity (3rd ed ed.). New York: Taylor and Francis.
Padilla-Walker, L. M. (2008). ‘My Mom Makes Me So Angry!’ Adolescent perceptions of mother-child interactions as correlates of adolescent emotions. Social Development, 17(2), 306–325.
Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Carlo, G. (2004). “It’s not Fair!” Adolescents’ constructions of appropriateness of parental reactions. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33(5), 389–401.
Paikoff, R. L., Collins, W. A., & Laursen, B. (1988). Perceptions of efficacy and legitimacy of parental influence techniques by children and early adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 8(1), 37–52.
Patrick, R. B. (2009). Adolescents’ perceptions of parental discipline techniques: Induction and the moral self (doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from the OhioLINK Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Center. Accession Number: OSU1259613582.
Patrick, R., & Gibbs, J. C. (2007). Parental expression of disappointment: Should it be a factor in Hoffman’s model of parental discipline? The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168, 131–145.
Patrick, R. B., and Gibbs, J. C. (2008, October). Adolescents’ perceptions of parental discipline techniques: Expression of disappointment and the moral self. Paper presented at the 34th Annual meeting of the Association for Moral Education, Notre Dame, IN.
Patrick, R. B., and Gibbs, J. C. (2010, March). The perceived parental discipline (PPD). Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Philadelphia, PA.
Peterson, G. W. (2005). Family influences on adolescent development. In T. P. Gullotta & G. R. Adams (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent behavioral problems: Evidence-based approaches to prevention and treatment (pp. 27–55). New York: Springer.
Power, C. F., & Khmelkov, V. T. (1998). Character development and self-esteem: Psychological foundations and educational implications. International Journal of Educational Research, 27(7), 539–551.
Pratt, M. W., Hunsberger, B., Pancer, M. S., & Alisat, S. (2003). A longitudinal analysis of personal values socialization: Correlates of a moral self-ideal in late adolescence. Social Development, 12(4), 563–585.
Strayer, J. (2004). Children’s anger, emotional expressiveness, and empathy: Relations with parents’ empathy, emotional expressiveness, and parenting practices. Social Development, 13(2), 229–254.
Tangney, J. P., & Dearing, R. L. (2002). Shame and guilt. New York: The Guilford Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Patrick, R.B., Gibbs, J.C. Inductive Discipline, Parental Expression of Disappointed Expectations, and Moral Identity in Adolescence. J Youth Adolescence 41, 973–983 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9698-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9698-7