ArticlePloS one2026
Cultural transmission of attitudes and behaviours from parents, peers and grandparents.
Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study investigates how attitudes and behaviours are transmitted across generations and social networks, focusing on the relative influence of parents, grandparents, and peers. Building on the influential work of Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman (1982), we aimed to disentangle vertical and horizontal pathways of cultural transmission and assess their contribution to the stability and variation of cultural traits in a contemporary population. We conducted a large-scale survey involving 1905 university students in Australia and 4000 of their parents, grandparents, and friends. Participants reported their attitudes and behaviours across domains such as religiosity, politics, environmentalism, health, and leisure. Responses were analysed using factor analysis, path modelling, correlational analysis, and simulations based on additive transmission models. Our results show that cultural resemblance is strongest for religiosity, political orientation, environmentalism, and health behaviours. These traits exhibited clear vertical transmission from parents to children, with additional indirect influence from grandparents. Peer similarity was also evident, suggesting horizontal transmission and/or peer selection. Traits such as media use, music, and reading habits showed weaker familial resemblance and appeared more influenced by non-familial or contextual factors. Simulations confirmed that cultural traits are more likely to be adopted when shared by both parents and peers, though for some traits (especially left-wing political views and non-religiosity) external influences predominated. The findings demonstrate that cultural transmission is domain-specific and shaped by both family structure and social networks. Vertical and horizontal pathways contribute jointly, but their strength varies by trait. These results underscore the importance of integrating biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors to understand the persistence and evolution of beliefs and behaviours over generations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.