Relationship between Maternal Parenting Style and High School Achievement and Self–Esteem in China, Turkey and U.S.A.

Abstract

This cross-cultural study investigated country differences in the relationship between maternal parenting styles and two important developmental outcomes of students – high school achievement and self-esteem. 634 undergraduates resident in three countries (China 207, Turkey 196, USA 231) where socio-cultural orientation and previous research suggest that normative family relationships would be different, were selected. We predicted that in the three countries, different maternal parenting styles would be prevalent and would foster positive development in terms of their congruence with the prevailing individualistic or collectivist ethic of the country. Students completed Buri’s Parent Authority Questionnaire (which yielded scores on maternal authoritarian, authoritative and permissive parenting), Rosenberg’s selfesteem scale, and reported on their high school achievement. Results showed country differences in the prevalence of the three maternal parenting styles, and some differences in the way each parenting style was related to student outcomes. Nevertheless, most differences were not those predicted. In particular, the Chinese findings were unexpected, as the Chinese mothers were the most authoritative, and were the only group for whom authoritarian parenting was negatively associated with high school achievement. Reasons for the unpredicted results are discussed as well as the need for changes in the conceptualization of parenting to accommodate diverse and diversifying cultures. Some novel findings from Turkey suggest the advantages of studying parenting in a wider range of countries to reveal the variety of family processes that contribute to positive child development.

Maternal parenting styles, homework help, and children’s literacy development in language minority and Finnish-speaking families

“…Interestingly, the behavioral control style of parenting influenced positively indirectly through the maternal help decoding and reading comprehension skills in the LM group. The result confirms earlier research that demonstrated the positive relations of relative warm and authoritative parenting with moderate control, which also offers a positive outcome in school achievement (Steinberg et al 1989;Cox and Paley 2003;Landry et al 2006;Fletcher et al 2008;Newman et al 2015). The parenting style of LM mothers can be explained in terms of warm mother-daughter relationships and mothers' trust in their children's abilities (see Sikiö, Holopainen, Siekkinen, Silinskas, Lerkkanen and Nurmi 2016), which strengthen intrinsic motivation.…”

“…Moreover, only mothers reported their parenting styles and levels of help with homework. Research demonstrates that mothers and fathers have different roles in parenting and that these roles vary by country (Newman et al 2015). This aspect would have been interesting to study alongside the impact of fathers' parental involvement, but their response rate was too low.…”

“…Different parenting styles also affect children's acculturation (Prady, Kierrnan, Fairlay and Wright 2013) and integration in the classroom (Nguen, Chang and Loh 2014), as well as in their new home country and its culture. In addition, mothers and fathers have different roles in parenting, and these roles vary in many countries (Newman, Gozu, Guan, Lee, Li, and Sasaki 2015).…”

Dating, Marriage, and Parental Approval: An Examination of Young Adults in China

“…In the contemporary setting, filial piety and parental authority in China has potentially undergone significant change, not unlike its economy and social structure. Although Chinese parents are often depicted as being authoritarian, such parenting styles do not always yield the results desired by the parents (Newman et al., ). While better performance in school has been linked to authoritarian parenting (e.g., Wang, Pomerantz, and Chen, ), Chinese children's self‐esteem has been shown to be deleteriously impacted by authoritarian parenting (e.g., Shek, ).…”

The Effect of Parenting Style in Junior High School Adolescent’s Self-Esteem

“…Highly educated parents more involved in scientific activities such as seminars, workshops of child development. Newman et al showed that parents' education level correlated with adolescent's self-esteem, [30] the higher the parent's education level, the higher the adolescent self-esteem which associated with parental assistance [30]. High education level makes parents able to receive more information about appropriate childcare [29].…”