Whose Values Matter in Family Higher-Education Decisions? Actor, Partner, and Value-Congruence Effects in 801 Parent–Student Dyads
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background: International higher-education decisions are often negotiated within families, but research rarely separates the association of a person’s own values with their decision psychology from the association of a family member’s values or the degree of value congruence between them. Methods: A cross-sectional survey produced 801 linked Indian parent–student dyads (1,602 respondents) engaged in international higher-education decisions. Parents and students completed the Security–Status–Freedom Orientation Scale and measures of Decision Clarity and Decision Strain. Role-specific actor–partner models estimated actor and partner associations; pooled interaction models tested role differences; and polynomial regression with response surface analysis, supplemented by discrepancy-controlled models, tested value-congruence effects. Results: Parent–student correspondence was weak for Security, Status, and Freedom (r = .15–.18) and non-significant for Decision Clarity and Decision Strain. Ten of twelve actor coefficients were significant, whereas none of twelve partner coefficients was significant. Models explained 14.0%–33.1% of outcome variance. Actor–partner patterns did not differ significantly by role. Across twelve response-surface models, nonlinear and cross-product terms added negligible explanatory power beyond linear terms (mean ΔR² = .003; all nested p ≥ .16). One of twelve discrepancy coefficients was nominally significant but did not survive correction for multiple testing. Conclusions: In this cross-sectional self-report study, each family member’s contemporaneous decision clarity and strain were associated more strongly with their own values than with the other member’s values or value congruence. The findings do not establish that family influence is absent; rather, they indicate that direct cross-partner associations were small in this design and that value disagreement alone was not a reliable marker of decision strain.
Source: Research Square
Authors: Karan Gupta, Karan Gupta Consulting
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204998795