Religiosity as a moderator of the links between parental psychological control and children's prosociality

Abstract

Three studies examined the links between psychological control and prosociality in middle childhood, and the role of religiosity as a moderator. Study 1 (101 Israeli Jewish families, ages 6-9, 50% girls) found a significant interaction, with a negative association between maternal psychological control and children's prosociality in secular but not in religious families. Study 2 (161 Israeli Jewish families, ages 6-12, 48% girls) replicated this interaction for mothers using a continuous religiosity measure. Study 3 (64 Arab Muslim Israeli families, ages 6-8.5, 50% girls) also found a significant interaction, with a positive link between psychological control and prosociality seen at higher, but not at lower, religiosity levels. The findings suggest that religiosity may alter the meaning and consequences of parenting practices.

Toward complementarity: Specificity and commonality in social‐emotional development

“…For example, South Korean youth showed relatively congruent relationship profiles characterized by greater support from and negativity with their mothers and fathers, relative to with their friends. Finally, Davidov et al (2021) found that maternal psychological control was not always negatively associated with children's prosocial behavior; rather, this link varied based on sociocultural contexts as measured by religiosity, as well as somewhat by cultural groups (Jewish vs. Arab families).…”

“…First, there is a need to identify and account for the meaning that individuals attach to social-emotional development in a specific community and why (see Jukes et al, 2021;Lin et al, 2021). Next, a more nuanced understanding regarding how specific contexts contribute to specificities in social-emotional growth is warranted, acknowledging the heterogeneity both within specific groups (Chen et al, 2021;Lin et al, 2021) and across cultural frameworks (Oh et al, 2021;Rothenberg et al, 2021), as well as considering moderators of cultural effects on socialemotional development (Davidov et al, 2021). Indeed, the transferability of parenting interventions aimed at nurturing child development across contexts depends on how well such interventions (including their curriculums and assessment tools) are adapted to the local context (Jeong et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2021), as well as the extent to which bottom-up, community-based approaches (involving all stakeholders) are used to identify and prioritize the needs of a specific group (Abubakar et al, 2019;Speidel et al, 2021).…”

“…These findings are consistent with attachment theory and previous studies showing that high-quality parentchild relationships and parental support contribute positively to the development of social behaviors across cultures. In the sixth and last paper, Davidov et al (2021) investigated the role of maternal psychological control in children's prosociality in middle childhood, as well as the role of religiosity as a moderator across three studies using samples of Israeli Jewish and Arab Muslim Israeli families. Across studies and religious contexts, religiosity moderated the link between maternal psychological control and children's prosociality.…”

Understanding the Relationship between Parental Psychological Control and Prosocial Behavior in Children in China: The Role of Self-Efficacy and Gender

“…Despite mounting evidence of adverse correlations between parental psychological control and negative correlations of prosocial behavior in Western culture, including U.S. [ 41 ], Canada [ 42 ], Israel [ 43 ], etc., relatively little work has been done to explicitly test whether associations between parental psychological control and prosocial behaviors are mediated by self-efficacy among children in China. Such information might help inform prevention and early intervention strategies to reduce parental psychological control and increase prosocial behavior among Chinese children.…”

Parental Psychological Control and Children’s Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Social Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Socioeconomic Status

“…According to Bronfenbrenner’s ecosystem theory, the family is an important micro-environment for a child life, and the parenting style carried out by parents is of great significance to the personality and social development of children [ 8 , 9 ]. Children’s prosocial behaviors come from different motives, including autonomy motivation, altruism motivation, etc., which are affected by parenting style to different degrees [ 10 ]. As one of the best-known typologies of parenting styles, four parenting styles have been identified, including authoritative, authoritarian, permissive/liberal, and indifferent (also named uninvolved and neglectful style) [ 11 , 12 ], which are based on the levels of parental affection and control [ 13 ].…”