Cultural values, parenting and child adjustment in Sweden

Abstract

To examine whether mothers' and fathers' individualism, collectivism and conformity values are significantly related to parenting behaviours and child adjustment during middle childhood, mothers (n = 95), fathers (n = 72) and children (n = 98) in Sweden were interviewed when children were, on average, 10 years old. Mothers' collectivism was significantly correlated with mothers' and fathers' higher expectations for children's family obligations. Fathers' collectivism was significantly correlated with mothers' and fathers' higher warmth and with fathers' higher expectations for children's family obligations. Fathers' conformity values were significantly correlated with fewer child internalising problems. Fathers' higher collectivism was associated with more paternal warmth even after taking into account the other cultural values, child gender and fathers' education. Our findings indicate that individual‐level cultural values are correlated with some aspects of parenting and child adjustment in Sweden.