Perceived parentalguanand school adjustment among Chinese early adolescents: The moderating role of interdependent self‐construal

Abstract

Introduction: Previous research suggests that supportive parenting is positively related to adolescents' academic and psychological functioning. However, most extant research has focused on parenting styles observed in Western countries, whereas less is known about the role of culturally specific parenting dimensions in Eastern countries such as China. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between parental guan and school adjustment in Mainland Chinese early adolescents, postulating moderation by interdependent self-construal (ISC). Methods: Participants were 148 early adolescents (48.6% girls) aged between 10 and 13 years, who completed a questionnaire survey. Teachers rated their students' school-related social competence, while academic grades were obtained from school records. Results: Linear regression models controlling for age, gender, and socioeconomic status showed that maternal guan was positively associated with social competence. Furthermore, ISC moderated the link between maternal guan and school adjustment. Specifically, high levels of ISC were found to enhance the positive relation between perceived maternal guan and both social competence and academic performance. However, no significant associations were found for paternal guan. Conclusions: Our findings extend prior research by documenting the positive role of guan parenting style and ISC in early adolescents' school adjustment, and underscore the centrality of mothers in the childrearing process within Chinese families.

The Moderating Role of Social Identity and Grit in the Association Between Parental Control and School Adjustment in Chinese Middle School Students

“…The average score of these items was calculated, with a higher value indicating higher levels of social competence at school. Previous research reported good internal consistency of this scale among Chinese students (Lan et al, 2019c). Cronbach's alpha was 0.74 in the present study.…”

“…According to the existing evidence, Lan et al (2019c) have demonstrated that interdependent self-construal can moderate the association between parental governing/training and school adjustment in Chinese students. To be precise, students with high parental governing/training and an interdependent selfconstrual exhibit high teacher-rated social competence and better academic grades.…”

“…Prior research (Renk and Phares, 2004) has suggested that the rating of the social competence of students, as rated by the students themselves, is somehow inaccurate and lacks agreement with other informants. During middle school, Chinese students are intensely involved in school assignments and activities, and teachers have more opportunities to observe their socially appropriate behaviors (Lan et al, 2019c). Given this, teachers are considered as a particularly reliable source of information when reporting their students' social competence in this context.…”

“…Suggested by previous research (Lan et al, 2019c), students' final exam scores for mathematics, Chinese, and English were gathered from school records at the end of the academic semester. For each subject, the raw test score ranges from 0 to 100, and 60 is considered as a cut-off to pass the exam.…”

“…Among possible correlates of school adjustment, it has been demonstrated that parents have a prominent role in shaping students' adjustment to the school environment (Ratelle et al, 2017;Lan et al, 2019c). As a central part of the socialization process in many cultural contexts (Grolnick and Pomerantz, 2009), we focused on parental control in the current study.…”