Parenting behaviors may be influenced by multiple factors, including parental values, beliefs, socialization goals, and children’s characteristics (e.g., personality, age). This study examined relations between Chinese mothers’ collectivism socialization goals and “training” beliefs and their parenting styles and behaviors with their children (youth ages 9-17 years), using structural equation modeling (SEM). In addition, in an exploratory manner, the associations between youth’s age and mothers’ parenting styles and behaviors were also explored. In all, 652 youth (female 46.2% and male 52.9%) and their mothers were recruited from urban areas in mainland China. Youth answered questionnaires about their mothers’ parenting (i.e., parenting styles, behavioral control, and psychological control), and mothers reported their endorsement of collectivism socialization goals and “training” beliefs. The findings suggest that Chinese mothers’ endorsement of collectivism socialization goals was positively associated with their authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles and behavioral control, but negatively associated with psychological control. Chinese mothers’ “training” beliefs were negatively associated with the use of behavioral control. Youth age was negatively associated with Chinese mothers’ use of authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles and behavioral control. Therefore, the current study suggests that mothers’ collectivism socialization goals and “training” beliefs and youth age may have an impact on parenting styles and parenting behaviors in mainland Chinese mothers.
Through interviews with 22 middle-class mothers and their adolescent children, we explored contemporary approaches to parenting in urban China. The participants provided evidence of authoritative parenting style. We also examined the applicability of Chao's construct of Chinese parenting guan (管) for adolescence; the participants seemed to support the idea, but viewed the underlying meaning of guan differently than described in earlier studies conducted with mothers of younger children. We thus argue that guanjiao (管教), which means "to govern and to educate/teach," may be a more appropriate word to use than guan to describe urban, middle-class Chinese mothers' approach to parenting of adolescents. The findings also suggest that neither Chao's construct of guan nor Baumrind's prototypes could fully capture its essence. Additional elements, such as modeling, selfsacrifice, and expression of affection through behavior, also emerged as common themes.
The purpose of this study was to examine Chinese young adults’ judgments, of parental control across a range of domains (e.g., clothing and friendship), whether judgments would be influenced by experimentally manipulated information regarding cultural values and cultural normativeness, and whether perceptions of parental acceptance/rejection influenced parental control judgments. Participants viewed parental control of training school and clothing more positively than parental control of friendship or use of physical discipline. Contrary to expectations, participants did not view parental control more positively when primed with information about cultural values. Surprisingly, participants’ views of parental control were more negative when primed with information about the high cultural normativeness of parental control as compared with neutral or low normativeness conditions. Regardless of type of control, participants viewed parental control more positively when control was perceived as based on love and acceptance rather than a desire to control the child.
Contingent self-worth (CSW) is the extent to which an individual's sense of selfworth is dependent on performance in a particular domain. CSW has been linked to poorer psychological health (e.g., lower global self-esteem, greater depression and anxiety). However, the majority of work on CSW has been conducted with US college students. Far less is known about the influence of CSW for younger individuals or for non-Western populations. This study examined relations between CSW domains and two indicators of well-being (depressive symptoms and global selfesteem) with Chinese adolescents (ages 13-16) and young adults (ages 19-22). Results indicated that CSW in the domains of academic performance and others' approval were positively related to depressive symptoms, whereas CSW in the domain of family support was negatively related to depressive symptoms. Others' approval CSW was negatively related to self-esteem for both adolescents and young adults, whereas CSW in the domains of academic performance and family support were related to self-esteem for adolescents but not young adults. This study indicates that CSW is a meaningful and predictive construct for Chinese youth, and that cultural, environmental, and developmental factors may impact the relations between CSW and psychological health.
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