Supervision and Conformity: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Parental Socialization Values

This paper integrates the existing theories on the antecedents of parental values in socialization, drawing heavily on the work of Kohn; Barry, Child, and Bacon; Stephens; and Olsen. Their theories, although varying in specific hypotheses, may be partially subsumed under the general proposition that supervision of the parent in salient behavioral domains is positively related to a parental value on conformity and negatively related to a value on self-reliance. Hypotheses derived from this theory are tested on a sample of 122 cultures drawn from the Human Relations Area Files and the Standard Cross-cultural Sample and are generally supported. Implications for further theoretical development are discussed.