Personality, marital relationships, and parenting in two generations of mothers

It has been suggested that early experiences in families may be related to one's parenting as an adult. Conceptual models were tested that investigate d how personality and marital relationships are linked to parenting within and between generations. Eighty mother-grandmother pairs completed question naires concerning personality, marital relationships, and parenting. Restri ctive and nurturant parenting of grandmothers was positively correlated wit h restrictive and nurturant parenting of mothers, but these relationships w ere attenuated in the presence of marital relationship and personality vari ables when structural equation models were tested. Personality characterist ics and marital relationships were linked to parenting within and across ge nerations.