African-American mothers' perceptions of grandparents' use of proverbs in value socialization of grandchildren

The purpose of this study was to examine the mothers' perceptions of (a) the intergenerational transmission of values and (b) the transgenerational transmission of the mothers' perception of grandparents' values. Specifically, this study was aimed at determining the relationship between these variables on the value socialization of grandchildren. Further this study explored the usefulness of Ecosystem and Social Exchange Theory in understanding the influence of the proverb transmission process.;The population for this study consisted of 127 mid-western African American mothers. The Family Values Survey was used in this study. The analysis of data included the use of t-tests, correlations, and regressions to determine the existence of there relationship specified in the hypotheses. The.05 level of significance was used to analyze the results.;The results of the study suggest that: (1) There was a relationship between the mothers' intergenerational value transmission and the value socialization of their children. (2) There was a relationship between the grandmothers' transgenerational value transmission and the value socialization of their grandchildren. (3) There was no relationship between the grandfathers' transgenerational value transmission and the value socialization of their grandchildren.;Taken as a whole, the findings suggested the usefulness of incorporating propositions drawn from Exchange and Ecosystems Theory into the examination of family values. This study supports the assumption that the child's socialization is related to the parent's and grandparent's value orientation. This study also supports the need to further evaluate the father and grandfather role in the value socialization process their children.