TABLE 3.
Intergenerational differences in parenting goals and practices reported by mothers.
| N | p | |
| General goals | ||
| Grandmothers’ goals more collectivistic, mothers’ goals more individualistic | 20 | |
| Grandmothers’ goals more individualistic, mothers’ goals more collectivistic | 10 | <0.001 |
| Specific goals | ||
| Grandmother wants child to be happy | 6 | 0.0178 |
| Mother wants child to be happy | 16 | |
| Grandmother wants child to be a regular person | 4 | 0.0401 |
| Mother wants child to be a regular person | 12 | |
| Grandmother wants child to have freedom to choose a satisfying career | 2 | 0.0081 |
| Mother wants child to have freedom to choose a satisfying career | 12 | |
| Academics | ||
| Achievement more important to grandmother | 6 | <0.001 |
| Achievement more important to mother | 24 | |
| Grades and class ranking more important to grandmother | 10 | 0.0014 |
| Grades and class ranking more important to mother | 17 | |
| Grandmother provided more academic guidance and control | 6 | <0.001 |
| Mother provided more academic guidance and control | 23 | |
| Extracurricular courses | ||
| Mothers had more | 0 | <0.001 |
| Children have more | 30 | |
| Children’s happiness | ||
| More important to grandmothers | 2 | <0.001 |
| More important to mothers | 28 | |
| Children’s social adjustment | ||
| More important to grandmothers | 0 | <0.001 |
| More important to mothers | 30 | |
| Conflict between academic competitiveness and socioemotional well-being | ||
| Mother perceives child has or had this conflict | 25 | <0.001 |
| Mother does not perceive child has or had this conflict | 4 | |
| Conflict greater for mothers | 1 | <0.001 |
| Conflict greater for children | 29 | |
| Health/well-being more important for children than academic achievement | ||
| Grandmothers | 15/30 | <0.001 |
| Mothers | 30/30 | |
Whereas the N in Table 2 is 60 because respondents reported separate information about each generation, the maximum N in Table 3 is 30 in most cases because, for each variable, each of the 30 mothers was asked to make one comparative judgment concerning generational differences. In all variables except for Specific goals, an N of less than 30 indicates missing data. Except for specific goals, binomial tests assessed whether respondents experienced one direction of generational difference significantly more often than would be expected by chance. The chance level was considered to be a situation where generational differences occurred equally frequently in both directions.
For the last variable, a separate judgment was made for the mothers and grandmothers, so the N is 60.
For specific goals, participants could list as many or as many or as few goals as they wished. Therefore binomial tests were done separately for each goal, and the total N for all specific goals together is more than 30.
Each binomial test assesses whether one generation was associated with a particular childrearing goal more frequently than the other. The chance level for each goal was considered to be equal number of mentions for both generations.