The social development of right-wing authoritarianism: The interaction between parental autonomy support and societal threat to safety

•Societal threat to safety fosters right-wing authoritarianism.•The effect is observed only for people with low parental autonomy support.•Parental autonomy support buffers authoritarian responses to threat.

We tested the hypothesis that parental support for autonomy moderates the effects of societal threat to safety on the development of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). In a quasi-experimental study performed on 241 Italian university students, societal threat to safety fostered RWA only among participants who reported low levels of parental support for autonomy.