SOWING THE SEEDS OF WISDOM: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF CHILDHOOD ANTECEDENTS OF WISDOM

摘要

Using data collected over 26 years, we examined the possibility that children are put on the path toward wisdom long before wisdom manifests. Specifically, we proposed that parents foster wisdom over the long-term by supporting their children’s autonomy (e.g., offering choices, providing rationale for limit setting, reflecting feelings) and avoiding psychological control (e.g., minimizing use of reward and punishment). We tested this hypothesis in Sears, Maccoby, and Levin’s (1957) Patterns of Child Rearing dataset, which interviewed mothers of 5-year-old children in 1951–52 and followed up with children at age 31. Maternal interviews (N = 76) were reliably coded for autonomy support and control in 18 parenting domains. As predicted, wisdom at age 31 was positively correlated with maternal autonomy support and negatively correlated with psychological control during childhood, suggesting that the seeds of wisdom are sown by mothers quite early on in the lifespan.