EMPIRICAL ARTICLE
Predictors of Young Adults' Primal World Beliefs in Eight Countries
Jennifer E. Lansford,
Laura Gorla, W. Andrew Rothenberg,
Marc H. Bornstein,
Lei Chang, Jeremy D. W. Clifton,
Kirby Deater-Deckard,
Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Sevtap Gurdal, Daranee Junla, Paul Oburu, Concetta Pastorelli,
Ann T. Skinner, Emma Sorbring, Laurence Steinberg,
Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado,
Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong,
Liane Peña Alampay,
Suha M. Al-Hassan,
Dario Bacchini,
Corresponding Author
Jennifer E. Lansford
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Correspondence:
Jennifer E. Lansford ([email protected])
Search for more papers by this authorW. Andrew Rothenberg
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Mailman Center for Child Development, Miami, Florida, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMarc H. Bornstein
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
UNICEF, New York, New York, USA
Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK
Search for more papers by this authorJeremy D. W. Clifton
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Search for more papers by this authorKirby Deater-Deckard
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Search for more papers by this authorConcetta Pastorelli
Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
Search for more papers by this authorLaurence Steinberg
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Search for more papers by this authorLiliana Maria Uribe Tirado
Universidad de San Buenaventura, Medellín, Colombia
Search for more papers by this authorSaengduean Yotanyamaneewong
Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Search for more papers by this authorLiane Peña Alampay
Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon, Philippines
Search for more papers by this authorSuha M. Al-Hassan
Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Search for more papers by this authorDario Bacchini
University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
Search for more papers by this authorJennifer E. Lansford,
Laura Gorla, W. Andrew Rothenberg,
Marc H. Bornstein,
Lei Chang, Jeremy D. W. Clifton,
Kirby Deater-Deckard,
Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Sevtap Gurdal, Daranee Junla, Paul Oburu, Concetta Pastorelli,
Ann T. Skinner, Emma Sorbring, Laurence Steinberg,
Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado,
Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong,
Liane Peña Alampay,
Suha M. Al-Hassan,
Dario Bacchini,
Corresponding Author
Jennifer E. Lansford
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Correspondence:
Jennifer E. Lansford ([email protected])
Search for more papers by this authorW. Andrew Rothenberg
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Mailman Center for Child Development, Miami, Florida, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMarc H. Bornstein
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
UNICEF, New York, New York, USA
Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK
Search for more papers by this authorJeremy D. W. Clifton
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Search for more papers by this authorKirby Deater-Deckard
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Search for more papers by this authorConcetta Pastorelli
Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
Search for more papers by this authorLaurence Steinberg
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Search for more papers by this authorLiliana Maria Uribe Tirado
Universidad de San Buenaventura, Medellín, Colombia
Search for more papers by this authorSaengduean Yotanyamaneewong
Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Search for more papers by this authorLiane Peña Alampay
Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon, Philippines
Search for more papers by this authorSuha M. Al-Hassan
Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Search for more papers by this authorDario Bacchini
University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
Search for more papers by this authorFirst published: 23 April 2025
Funding: This research was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant RO1-HD054805, Fogarty International Center grant RO3-TW008141, and Templeton Religion Trust grant TRT0298.
ABSTRACT
Primal world beliefs (“primals”) capture understanding of general characteristics of the world, such as whether the world is Good and Enticing. Children (N = 1215, 50% girls), mothers, and fathers from Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and United States reported neighborhood danger, socioeconomic status, parental warmth, harsh parenting, psychological control, and autonomy granting from ages 8 to 16 years. At age 22 years, original child participants reported their primal world beliefs. Parental warmth during childhood and adolescence significantly predicted Good, Safe, and Enticing world beliefs, but other experiences were only weakly related to primals. We did not find that primals are strongly related to intuitive aspects of the materiality of childhood experiences, which suggests future directions for understanding the origins of primals.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data are not publicly accessible but are available from the first author upon reasonable request. The analytic code is available from the first author. The measures necessary to attempt to replicate the findings presented here are publicly accessible at the following URL: parentingacrosscultures.org. The analyses presented here were preregistered. The preregistration is available at the following URL: https://osf.io/sy5xk/?view_only=9ac7c1c90cac4d79a3871bf9da21f6b4.
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