Intergenerational continuity of social competence via parent-child bonding

We examined whether parental social competence in adolescence was associated with parent-child bonding and, by extension, offspring’s social competence in childhood. Using a sample of prospective data collected over two decades from n = 389 parents (73% mothers) with n = 555 children (54% girls) who participate in the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) cohort and its next-generation spin-off study (TRAILS NEXT), we modelled links between parental social competence at age 11, parent-child bonding when offspring were 3 months old, and offspring’s social competence at age 2.5. Adolescents’ assertion and cooperation were linked to parent-child bonding 20 years later, although indirect effects were not significant. We also found no evidence for intergenerational continuity of social competence in form of a direct effect. The results suggest that parent-child relationship quality predicts offspring’s social competence better than parents’ social competence but origins of variance in the latter partly precede parenthood.