The Limits of Family Influence

Book excerpt: 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.