To address the role of maternal coping and control beliefs in the development of coping and locus of control in their adolescent children, 68 yoked pairs of Israeli mothers and their male, seventh- and eighth-grade children completed questionnaires related to coping styles and locus of control. Regression analyses revealed a strong similarity between adolescents' coping profiles and those of their mothers in a manner relecting the hypothesized impact of modeling. As expected, locus of control was found to be associated with the active patterns of coping in mother and adolescent alike. However, little empirical support was found for the hypothesis of developmental similarities in locus of control Rather, the pattern of findings was consistent with an alternate interpretation involving the potential impact of maternal coping on the development of adolescent locus of control. Study findings are discussed in regard to models of cross-generational transmission.
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