Transmission of family interdependence/independence in Germany, Turkey, and India

This study analyzes the parent-offspring transmission of person-oriented compound measures of familial interdependence and independence across and within three cultures (Germany, Turkey, and India) using data from the international “Value of Children and Intergenerational Relations”-Project (Trommsdorff & Nauck, 2005). Overall, N = 919 mother-adolescent dyads participated in this study (Germany n = 311, Turkey n = 308, India n = 300). Based on the background of Kagitcibasi’s (2007) model of family change, compound measures of family model value profiles were identified in a pan-cultural cluster analysis of five theoretically relevant variables: Individualism, Collectivism, Family Values, Utilitarian/Normative Value of Children, and Emotional Value of Children. Three clusters were identified representing value profiles that can be related to Kagitcibasi’s three ideal-typical family models: Family Model of (Total) Interdependence, Family Model of Independence, and the synthetical Family Model of Emotional Interdependence. The latter combines traditional family closeness with low material dependencies/rising autonomy (cf. also Mayer, 2009). As expected, the three clusters were distributed very unequally across cultural groups: In Germany most participants (mothers and adolescents) showed an independent value profile, while the majority of Turkish and Indian participants favored a value profile of emotional interdependence and of (total) interdependence, respectively. Furthermore, in Turkey and India, participants from rural areas reported more interdependent value profiles than participants from urban areas. Intergenerational transmission of value profiles was analyzed using nominal association measures of cluster membership within cultural groups. Value-profile similarity between generations was only partly significant and relatively weak in all groups except urban India, where a substantial transmission of value profiles was observed. In general, results showed that in all groups many adolescents reported a more independent value profile than their mothers. The discussion focuses on the effects of cultural change and individual development on the formation and transmission of family values