The Limits Of Family Influence: Genes, Experience, And Behavior

Challenging firmly established assumptions about the influence of child rearing on the development of children's personalities and intelligence, this book contends that there has been too heavy an emphasis on the family as the bearer of culture. It draws from behavior genetic research to reveal how environmental variables such as social class, parental warmth, and one- versus two-parent households may be empty of causal influence on child outcomes.The book examines the theoretical basis of socialization science and describes, in great detail, what behavior genetic studies can teach us about environmental influence.


Most parents believe that their child's personality and intellectual development is a direct result of their child-rearing practices and home environment. This belief is supported by many social scientists who contend that the influences of "nature" and "nurture" are inseparable. Challenging such universally accepted assumptions, The Limits of Family Influence argues that socialization science has placed too heavy an emphasis on the family as the bearer of culture. Similarly, it reveals how the environmental variables most often named in socialization science--such as social class, parental warmth, and one- versus two-parent households--may also be empty of causal influence on child outcomes such as intelligence, personality, and psychopathology.