Why Are Chinese Mothers More Controlling Than American Mothers? “My Child Is My Report Card”

Abstract

Chinese parents exert more control over children than do American parents. The current research examined whether this is due in part to Chinese parents' feelings of worth being more contingent on children's performance. Twice over a year, 215 mothers and children (mean age = 12.86 years) in China and the United States (European and African Americans) reported on psychologically controlling parenting. Mothers also indicated the extent to which their worth is contingent on children's performance. Psychologically controlling parenting was higher among Chinese than American mothers, particularly European (vs. African) American mothers. Chinese (vs. American) mothers' feelings of worth were more contingent on children's performance, with this contributing to their heightened psychological control relative to American mothers.

Relations between Parenting and Adolescents’ Academic Functioning: The Mediating Role of Achievement Goal Orientations

“…The mean of all items was taken, with higher numbers indicating greater psychological control. The measure has proved valid and appropriate among Chinese adolescents (e.g., Ng et al, 2014). The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that construct validity of the instrument was acceptable in the present study, χ 2 = 622.81, df = 132, p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.08, CFI = 0.89, TLI = 0.88.…”

“…Compared with Western counterparts, Chinese parents use more psychological controlling and less autonomy-supportive practices (Ng et al, 2014;Doan et al, 2017). In addition, Chinese parents and students might interpret parental psychological control differently from Western counterparts, treating it as the expression of love and discipline while not an intrusion upon children's sense of self (Wang et al, 2007;Soenens et al, 2012).…”

Cross-lagged relationships between home learning environment and academic achievement in Chinese

“…Second, because Chinese parents have high expectations from their children (Li, 2003;Ng, Pomerantz, & Lam, 2007), they engage more frequently in their learning (Huntsinger et al, 1997;Ng, Pomerantz, & Deng, 2014;Pan et al, 2006). For example, Huntsinger et al (1997) showed that Chinese-American parents spend more time on their children's homework, structure their children's time to a greater degree, and show more encouragement for mathematics-related activities than do their European-American counterparts.…”

“…For example, Huntsinger et al (1997) showed that Chinese-American parents spend more time on their children's homework, structure their children's time to a greater degree, and show more encouragement for mathematics-related activities than do their European-American counterparts. In addition, the widely held belief among Chinese families is that a child achieves for his/her family (Ng et al, 2014). A child's performance reflects on the family; therefore, parents have one more reason to help their children learn the subject matter (Huntsinger & Jose, 2009).…”

Gender and Sleep Health in High School Students: A Cross-Cultural Study

“…However, two possible explanations include school-related stress and school-day lengths. First, Chinese students tend to feel greater stress from academics than other students (Sun, Dunne, & Hou, 2012;Ng, Pomerantz, & Deng, 2014). Second, there was disparity in the American and Chinese high school schedules for the participating schools.…”