This research examined a cultural socialization model in which differences in Chinese and American parents' goals for children foster differences in children's emotional distress via parents' responses to children's performance. Chinese and American mothers and their children (N ϭ 397; M age ϭ 13.19 years) participated in a 2-wave study spanning a year. Mothers reported on their self-improvement (i.e., children striving to improve) and self-worth (i.e., children feeling worthy) goals, as well as responses to children's performance. Children reported on their emotional distress (e.g., anxiety and depression). Chinese (vs. American) mothers' greater endorsement of self-improvement goals predicted their more frequent use of failure-oriented responses (e.g., highlighting children's mistakes), which accounted for Chinese (vs. American) children's heightened emotional distress over time.

This research examines whether prior research may not have detected cultural-specificity in the role of controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting in children’s adjustment because of reliance on between-individual analyses. In two longitudinal studies (Ns = 825 and 934) of early adolescents, within-individual analyses were conducted to examine the reciprocal pathways between children’s reports of parenting and their reports of their adjustment in the United States and China. Increments in controlling parenting predicted decrements in children’s emotional and behavioral, but generally not academic, adjustment over time, with little evidence that this was stronger in the United States than in China. Decrements in children’s emotional and behavioral, but generally not academic, adjustment predicted increments in controlling parenting over time similarly in the two countries. There were few overtime pathways involving autonomy-supportive parenting in either direction in either country.

No abstract

This research examined parents' restriction of children's peer relationships in the United States and China. American and Chinese children (N ϭ 934; M age ϭ 12.67 years) reported on their parents' peer restriction (e.g., limiting children's time with peers) and their behavioral and psychological adjustment 3 times over a year. Increments in parents' peer restriction predicted decrements in children's adjustment over time to a similar extent in the United States and China. However, decrements in children's adjustment predicted increments in parents' peer restriction over time to a greater extent in the United States (vs. China). Thus, it is possible that culture contributes to the socialization process involving parents' restriction of children's peer relationships but only via child-driven pathways.

A new parent‐report measure was used to examine parents' person and process responses to children's math performance. Twice over a year from 2017 to 2020, American parents (N = 546; 80% mothers, 20% other caregivers; 62% white, 21% Black, 17% other) reported their responses and math beliefs; their children's (Mage = 7.48 years; 50% girls, 50% boys) math adjustment was also assessed. Factor analyses indicated parents' person and process responses to children's math success and failure represent four distinct, albeit related, responses. Person (vs. process) responses were less common and less likely to accompany views of math ability as malleable and failure as constructive (|r|s = .16–.23). The more parents used person responses, the poorer children's later math adjustment (|β|s = .06–.16).