Parenting practices and intergenerational associations in cognitive ability
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Cognitive ability is an important contributor to life chances, with implications for cycles of advantage or disadvantage across generations. Parenting practices are known to influence offspring cognitive development, but the extent to which these mediate intergenerational continuities and discontinuities in cognitive ability has not been adequately studied. METHODS: We used factor analysis to derive summary measures of parenting practices, and regression analyses and path modelling to test associations between these and cognitive function at age 8 years in 1690 first offspring of the British 1946 birth cohort. Analyses allowed for direct and indirect effects of parental original and achieved social circumstances, educational attainment and own childhood cognitive ability. Additional covariates were provided by indicators of parental physical and mental health. RESULTS: Regression analyses revealed that three aspects of parenting, intellectual home environment, parental aspiration and cognitive stimulation, were positively and independently associated with offspring childhood cognitive ability, whereas coercive discipline was negatively and independently associated. Path modelling was appropriate for intellectual environment, which also revealed direct and indirect effects of parental cognitive ability and educational and occupational attainment on offspring cognitive ability. CONCLUSION: Parenting practices, particularly provision of an intellectual environment, were directly associated with offspring cognitive development. These data add to the relatively few studies that examine intergenerational continuity and discontinuity in cognitive ability.
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The home reading culture is important for children's early cognitive scores.
“We know that the home reading culture is important for children's early cognitive scores (Byford et al. 2012).”
From Reading for pleasure and progress in vocabulary and mathematics (2015) · cites this paper as Byford et al. 2012
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Cohort Profile: The 1946 National Birth Cohort (MRC National Survey of Health and Development)
Wadsworth, M., Kuh, D., Richards, M., & Hardy, R. (2006) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/dyi201 · Cited by 515 · see citing works
Self-citationIntergenerational transmission of harsh parenting
Simons, R. L., Whitbeck, L. B., Conger, R. D., & Wu, C.-I. (1991) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.27.1.159 · Cited by 441 · see citing works
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Reading for pleasure and progress in vocabulary and mathematics
Sullivan, A., & Brown, M. (2015) · British Educational Research Journal · doi:10.1002/berj.3180 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
- Authors
- Byford, M., Kuh, D., & Richards, M.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Richards, M
- Venue
- International Journal of Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2011-11-29
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 263-272
- ISSN
- 0300-5771 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-3685
- PMC
- PMC3304524
- OpenAlex
- W2103885102
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 12.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- International Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Education › Parental Involvement in Education
- Keywords
- parenting practices, intergenerational transmission, cognitive ability, child cognitive development, cognitive stimulation, coercive discipline, parental education, parental health, 1946 birth cohort
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Educational Measurement, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Parent-Child Relations, Prospective Studies, Regression Analysis, Social Environment, Parenting, Intergenerational Relations, Young Adult
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