{"title":"Justified overstep: Children endorse caregivers' paternalistic decisions despite recognizing negative feelings.","authors":"Dylan Morrow, Fan Yang","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag165","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autonomy is a fundamental psychological need, yet parents often override it for children's own good--practicing paternalism. Do children see this as morally justified? In three preregistered studies, U.S. children aged 4-9 (N = 413; 51% female; 61% White) by default reacted more positively to caregivers' pro-autonomy decisions than to anti-autonomy decisions. However, when anti-autonomy decisions benefited them (Study 1), or another child acting out of ignorance (soft paternalism; Study 2) or deliberation (hard paternalism; Study 3), children judged such decisions to be fair and justified, despite recognizing that pro-autonomy decisions would make them feel better. These findings reveal an early moral appreciation of caregiver paternalism, which may serve as an important social-cognitive mechanism that makes children receptive to parental guidance.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Child development","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag165","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Autonomy is a fundamental psychological need, yet parents often override it for children's own good--practicing paternalism. Do children see this as morally justified? In three preregistered studies, U.S. children aged 4-9 (N = 413; 51% female; 61% White) by default reacted more positively to caregivers' pro-autonomy decisions than to anti-autonomy decisions. However, when anti-autonomy decisions benefited them (Study 1), or another child acting out of ignorance (soft paternalism; Study 2) or deliberation (hard paternalism; Study 3), children judged such decisions to be fair and justified, despite recognizing that pro-autonomy decisions would make them feel better. These findings reveal an early moral appreciation of caregiver paternalism, which may serve as an important social-cognitive mechanism that makes children receptive to parental guidance.
期刊介绍：
As the flagship journal of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Child Development has published articles, essays, reviews, and tutorials on various topics in the field of child development since 1930. Spanning many disciplines, the journal provides the latest research, not only for researchers and theoreticians, but also for child psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers, specialists in early childhood education, educational psychologists, special education teachers, and other researchers. In addition to six issues per year of Child Development, subscribers to the journal also receive a full subscription to Child Development Perspectives and Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.
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