The term "family values" has lately become a catchphrase in the political arena. However, while it is widely accepted that parents play a crucial role in children's development of social and moral values, the mechanisms through which values are acquired are more difficult to pin down.

Recent research points to significant limitations and needed additions to the view that has held sway in the psychological community for the past quarter century, which maintains that parents who are firm but considerate of the child's point of view communicate values more effectively than strict disciplinarians. Influences from culture, the immediate community, the parent-child relationship, and the child's own agency must be considered in any optimal parenting strategy.

In Parenting and Children's Internalization of Values, leading advocates of these emerging points of view explain the approach to socialization taken in their work, and review recent developments in theory and research that have influenced their conclusions.

The book begins with a historical overview of parental influence and child-rearing philosophies, which sets the stage for the examination to follow. The text then turns to an exploration of the developmental context of parenting strategies in toddlers, young children, and adolescents. The next section of the book focuses on how parenting strategies affect value transmission, presenting and integrating a variety of theoretical formulations.

The final section of the book covers parental influence in social and biological contexts. This comprehensive handbook offers a thorough analysis of the complexities of the parental role in children's moral development. It is an important addition to the bookshelves of child developmental psychologists, theorists, and researchers.