THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARENTS AND THE IR CHILDRENS PERSONALITIES

In this paper, we discuss the relationships of personalities between s tudents, aged from 12 to 23, and their important agents of socializati on: their parents. We use Japanese family data in the 1980's. These da ta were collected by three independent surveys (father, mother and chi ld) which were conducted as a part of the study of ''Work and Personal ity''. The data were processed in one data set in order to analyze the triadic relationships. We focus on four social attitudes and the psyc hological functioning of each of the three family members. The linear structural equation models (LISREL) are applied to confirm our hypothe ses and to measure the correlations between the same aspects of each m ember's personality. We find various patterns in triadic relationships . Correlation is high between mother and child in ''authoritarian cons ervatism'' and between father and child in ''ideational flexibility''. Correlation between father and mother is fairly high in ''self-esteem '' and in ''ideational flexibility''. We find, though, little or no co rrelation among the three family members in other attitude: ''anxiety' '. This suggests, contrary to general assumptions, that the influences of parents vary according to personality domain.