Perceived parental conditional regard and autonomy support as predictors of young adults' self- versus other-oriented prosocial tendencies

The current research examined the relations of parental conditional regard and autonomy-supportive parenting with levels of internalization and self- versus other-oriented helping tendencies. As predicted from self-determination theory, college students' perceptions of parental conditional regard correlated positively with introjection internalization and self-oriented helping tendencies. Autonomy-supportive parenting predicted fuller internalization and other-oriented helping. Results suggest that the relations between parental practices and prosocial orientations are mediated by the level of internalization that was predicted by each parental practice.