The influence of parent–child relations on the transmission of religious/secular values

This article examines the influence of parent–child relations on the transmission process of religious versus secular values in religious, secular and mixed (religious-secular) families. By way of doing so, the study investigates parent–child relationship and their impact on the intergenerational transmission of values among 211 Jewish families with heterogeneous religious-secular parental dyads in comparison to family groups that are homogeneously religious or homogeneously secular. Results illustrate that the socialisation of children’s values is more similar to the values of their parents when the parent–child relationship is one of care rather than overprotection. With respect to the overprotective relationship measure, the study’s results show that when the family type is homogeneous (i.e. when both parents are either religious or secular), the overprotective relationship measure does not disturb the intergenerational transmission process due to the strong parent–parent relationship that seems to withstand the destructive effect of the overprotective relationship measure. By contrast, in families of mixed type, both parent–parent relations and parent–child relations are conflictual, resulting in failed transmission of values from parents to children.