Politics and Parenting

Abstract

This chapter assesses how parenthood may functionally influence political attitudes. Becoming a parent is a keystone life event that has numerous psychological and physiological implications. There are several theoretical reasons to predict a functional relationship between parenthood (as well as individual differences in parenting motivation) and socially conservative attitudes, primarily related to an increased sensitivity to threat and a reduced interest in short-term mating. Moreover, initial work has found correlational, mediational, and experimental support for a functional and causal relationship between parenting and increased social conservatism and out-group prejudice. However, many unanswered questions remain, as do multiple fruitful avenues for future research.