Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in China

The unique effects of parental control from fathers on self-determination in Chinese middle school adolescents

Self-determination is one of the significant and positive developmental outcomes during adolescence. Among the antecedents of self-determination, parental control may be critical based on ecological systems theory. However, the relationship between fathers' parental control and adolescents' self-determination is little known. The present study aimed to examine the unique effects of fathers' psychological and behavioral control on adolescents' self-determination. A total of 916 middle school students aged 11-15 from China reported their sex, age, self-determination and their fathers' background information, psychological control, behavioral control. Our results revealed that, after controlling for mothers' psychological control and behavioral control, fathers' psychological control was negatively related to Chinese middle school adolescents' self-determination, and fathers' behavioral control was positively related to adolescents' self-determination. Additionally, the effect of fathers' psychological control on boys' self-determination was greater than girls. These results indicated the unique effects of fathers' psychological control and fathers' behavioral control on their Chinese middle school adolescents' self-determination, clarifying sex differences in these effects. Findings of this study may add to the emerging discourse on middle school adolescents' self-determination and improve Chinese fathers' parenting intervention.

Dynamic Processes of Parent-Adolescent Conflict and Warmth in Chinese Families: Differences between Mothers and Fathers

Parent-adolescent relationships are shaped by daily interactions that include both warmth and conflict, yet most research has focused on aggregate or long-term patterns rather than their day-to-day fluctuations. Guided by family systems theory, this study examined how mothers and fathers distinctly contribute to daily parent-adolescent warmth and conflict, as well as how these interactions vary across families. The sample consisted of 307 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 13.02 years, SD = 0.762 years; 49.51% girls). Participants reported their daily perceptions of warmth and conflict with both their mothers and fathers over a 10-day period. Dynamic structural equation modeling showed significant autoregressive effects for mother- and father-adolescent warmth and conflict. Cross-lagged analyses revealed that higher levels of mother-adolescent conflict, higher levels of father-adolescent warmth, and lower levels of father-adolescent conflict predicted increased mother-adolescent warmth the following day. Additionally, greater father-adolescent conflict predicted greater mother-adolescent conflict the next day. Within-family effects varied in both direction and magnitude across families and some lagged effects were moderated by adolescent age and family income. Overall, these findings emphasize the importance of considering parent gender and family-level variations when examining daily family dynamics. They also suggest that maternal warmth may be especially sensitive to the family's daily relational experiences, highlighting the need for parenting practices and interventions that acknowledge and address this responsiveness.

Parenting beliefs and practices as precursors to academic outcomes in Chinese children

Due to the rapid sociocultural changes in China, Chinese parents' childrearing beliefs and practices have undergone dramatic transformations. Against this context, this study examined whether Chinese parents' endorsement of progressive and traditional childrearing beliefs would predict children's academic achievement, as well as whether parenting practices would mediate this association. This study utilized a longitudinal design and followed 206 Chinese families for 2 years from the end of preschool to Grade 2. Parents showed greater endorsement of progressive than traditional childrearing beliefs, as well as higher use of authoritative than authoritarian parenting practices. Parents' childrearing beliefs in preschool predicted children's math achievement in Grade 2 via authoritative parenting. However, parenting beliefs were unrelated to authoritarian parenting, and authoritarian parenting did not predict any of the child academic outcomes in Grade 2. The findings suggest Chinese parents' orientations toward progressive parenting beliefs and authoritative parenting practices. They also highlight the utility of parenting beliefs in explaining disparities in early academic achievement. The nonsignificant findings pertinent to authoritarian parenting call for re-examination of the cultural meaning and effects of authoritarian parenting in Chinese society.

Cultural values, parenting, and child adjustment in China

To examine whether parents' cultural values are related to parenting practices and children's behavioural adjustment, mothers, fathers and children (N = 218) from two cities in China (Jinan and Shanghai) were interviewed when children were, on average, 10 years old. Mothers and fathers reported their endorsement of cultural values (individualism, collectivism, conformity), which were used to separately predict warmth and family obligation expectations reported by each parent, as well as children's report of parental psychological control, rule setting, knowledge solicitation and perceived family obligation expectations. Cross-informant (parents and child) composites of internalising and externalising behaviours were also obtained. The results showed that maternal individualism positively predicted parents' knowledge solicitation. Parental collectivism positively predicted their own warmth and family obligation expectations. Mothers' conformity positively predicted mothers' family obligation expectations, paternal warmth and children's perception of family obligation, whereas fathers' conformity only positively predicted fathers' family obligation expectations. These effects were largely consistent across regional subsamples, although mothers in Jinan were more collectivistic than mothers in Shanghai, and parents in Shanghai adopted less psychological control and more knowledge solicitation in parenting.

Cumulative contextual risk, mothers' and fathers' parenting, and adolescents' psychosocial problems in Ghana

Limited research exists on the association between cumulative risk factors and the psychosocial well-being of adolescents in low-income, culturally distinct settings. This study aimed to fill this gap by examining the impact of cumulative risk exposure on Ghanaian adolescents' psychosocial problems and exploring the mediating role of parenting. The study involved 212 adolescents (61% girls; average age = 13.38) who completed measures on cumulative risk, maternal and paternal warmth, behavioral control, anxiety, depression, overt aggression, and relational aggression. The results indicated that cumulative risk indirectly influenced adolescents' depression and overt aggression through paternal warmth. Furthermore, paternal behavioral control mediated the relationship between cumulative risk and adolescents' overt aggression. Findings highlight the importance of fathers' parenting in mediating cumulative risk effects.

Predicting child aggression: The role of parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression across 13 cultural groups in 9 nations

Parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression both predict the emergence of child aggression, but they are rarely studied together and in longitudinal contexts. The present study does so by examining the unique predictive effects of parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 on child aggression at age 9 in 1456 children from 13 cultural groups in 9 nations. Multiple group structural equation models explored whether age 8 child and parent endorsement of reactive aggression predicted subsequent age 9 child endorsement of reactive aggression and child aggression, after accounting for prior child aggression and parent education. Results revealed that greater parent endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 predicted greater child endorsement of aggression at age 9, that greater parent endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 uniquely predicted greater aggression at age 9 in girls, and that greater child endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 uniquely predicted greater aggression at age 9 in boys. All three of these associations emerged across cultures. Implications of, and explanations for, study findings are discussed.

Intrusive parenting in early childhood: A review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis examines similarities and differences in intrusive parenting between mothers and fathers and relations between intrusive parenting and early childhood development. The authors integrated 55 studies and differentiated cognitive skills and socio-emotional problems as developmental outcomes. The present study employs three-level meta-analyses to reliably estimate effect sizes and examine a range of moderators. It finds a moderate effect size of similarities in intrusive parenting within a family (r = 0.256, confidence interval [CI] = [0.180, 0.329]). No significant differences were observed in intrusiveness level between mothers and fathers (g = 0.035, CI = [-0.034, 0.103]). Intrusive parenting had a significant positive association with children's socio-emotional problems (r_mother  = 0.098, CI_mother  = [0.051, 0.145]; r_father  = 0.094, CI _father  = [0.032, 0.154]) but was not related to cognitive skills. Moderator analyses suggest that East Asian mothers exhibit higher intrusiveness levels than fathers, whereas Western parents display no significant differences. Overall, these results reveal more similarities than differences in intrusive parenting and that culture likely plays a role in shaping gender-specific parenting behaviors.

Paternal and maternal rejection and Chinese children's internalizing and externalizing problems across the transition to siblinghood: A developmental cascade model of family influence

This longitudinal study examined the reciprocal associations between paternal and maternal rejection and firstborn children's (M_age  = 49.9 months; 55% boys) behavior problems across the transition to siblinghood in a sample of 120 families recruited from 2016 to 2018 from Shanghai, China. Parental rejection and behavior problems were assessed before (prenatal) and 1, 6, and 12 months after the birth of a baby sibling. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models revealed positive relations between internalizing problems and both maternal and paternal rejection, and between externalizing problems and paternal rejection at the between-person level (rs = .32-.37), but only cross-lagged effects from children's internalizing and externalizing problems to maternal rejection at the within-person level (βs = .30-.54).

Chinese adolescents' positive relationships with parents: The effects of the sex of their younger sibling

We investigated how sibling status and sex of younger siblings influence Chinese adolescents' relationships with their fathers and mothers as a function of resource dilution and preference for sons. The sample included 1,093 adolescents from the 8th grade (M_age  = 13.96 years, SD = 0.75 years; 47% girls) and the 11th grade (M_age  = 17.25 years, SD = 0.74 years; 57% girls) in a longitudinal study. Consistent with expectations pertaining to the hypothesis of resource dilution and son preference in combination, girls with a younger brother reported less positive relationships with mothers than either singleton girls or girls with a younger sister. No significant difference was found between singleton boys and boys with a younger sibling. The current findings show implications that the resource-dilution theory and son preference culture together may place girls with a younger brother in an unfavorable condition of resource allocation.

Culture and Social Change in Mothers' and Fathers' Individualism, Collectivism and Parenting Attitudes

Cultures and families are not static over time but evolve in response to social transformations, such as changing gender roles, urbanization, globalization, and technology uptake. Historically, individualism and collectivism have been widely used heuristics guiding cross-cultural comparisons, yet these orientations may evolve over time, and individuals within cultures and cultures themselves can have both individualist and collectivist orientations. Historical shifts in parents' attitudes also have occurred within families in several cultures. As a way of understanding mothers' and fathers' individualism, collectivism, and parenting attitudes at this point in history, we examined parents in nine countries that varied widely in country-level individualism rankings. Data included mothers' and fathers' reports (N = 1338 families) at three time points in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. More variance was accounted for by within-culture than between-culture factors for parents' individualism, collectivism, progressive parenting attitudes, and authoritarian parenting attitudes, which were predicted by a range of sociodemographic factors that were largely similar for mothers and fathers and across cultural groups. Social changes from the 20th to the 21st century may have contributed to some of the similarities between mothers and fathers and across the nine countries.

Sexual debut among college students in China: effects of family context

This study examines family context and sexual debut among young people in China. Using data from the 2018 Panel Study of Chinese University Students (PSCUS), it explores how the family is correlated with sexual debut among young people in China aged 18-24 years. The Kaplan-Meier method was adopted to detect a survival function for different family factors and related demographic variables. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was adopted to calculate hazard ratios for the timing of sexual debut. The average age of sexual debut among the college students was 18.39 years. The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that sexual intercourse initiation was earlier for female students who had no siblings, and those who had a mother with senior high school (including technical school) education or higher family income, but this correlation was insignificant among male students. The multivariate hazard regression analysis revealed that living in a family with a higher level of fathers' education, having a lower level of family income and having siblings had positive correlations with later sexual debut among the college students. Moreover, family factors showed gender differences in their associations with the timing of sexual debut, typically parent's education level, family income and left-behind experience. This study provides a comprehensive perspective on the role of family influences in timing of sexual debut among youth in China.

Mother-Child Reminiscing About Emotionally Negative Events and Children's Long-Term Mental Health

The present study examined the longitudinal relation between mother-child reminiscing of emotionally negative events and children's mental health. European-American and Chinese-American mothers discussed with their 4.5-year-old children an event that was emotionally negative to the child. At age 7, children's mental health was assessed, including measures for externalizing problems, internalizing problems, negative social self (an Asian-salient dimension of depression), behavioral problems, and socially adaptive behavior. Independent of culture, maternal reference to negative emotional terms was related to fewer externalizing, internalizing, and behavior problems in children. Maternal attribution of emotions to children was associated with lower negative social self in children. Maternal explanation of children's emotions was linked to fewer externalizing problems and lower negative social self in children, and maternal reconfirmation of the explanations was related to fewer externalizing and behavioral problems in children. In contrast, maternal attribution of emotions to other people was associated with more externalizing problems and higher negative social self in children of both cultures. Some important cultural differences emerged. Chinese-American mothers' mention of negative emotional terms was linked to lower negative social self in children, and Chinese-American mothers' reconfirmation of explanation was related to more socially adaptive behaviors in children. No such relations were found in the European-American sample. The findings underscore the importance of family emotional reminiscing for children's long-term well-being and the role of culture in shaping the process.

Predictive Models of Maternal Harsh Parenting During COVID-19 in China, Italy, and Netherlands

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic drastically impacted on family life and may have caused parental distress, which in turn may result in an overreliance on less effective parenting practices. Objective: The aim of the current study was to identify risk and protective factors associated with impaired parenting during the COVID-19 lockdown. Key factors predicting maternal harsh discipline were examined in China, Italy, and the Netherlands, using a cross-validation approach, with a particular focus on the role of allomaternal support from father and grandparents as a protective factor in predicting maternal harshness. Methods: The sample consisted of 900 Dutch, 641 Italian, and 922 Chinese mothers (age M = 36.74, SD = 5.58) who completed an online questionnaire during the lockdown. Results: Although marital conflict and psychopathology were shared risk factors predicting maternal harsh parenting in each of the three countries, cross-validation identified a unique risk factor model for each country. In the Netherlands and China, but not in Italy, work-related stressors were considered risk factors. In China, support from father and grandparents for mothers with a young child were protective factors. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the constellation of factors predicting maternal harshness during COVID-19 is not identical across countries, possibly due to cultural variations in support from fathers and grandparents. This information will be valuable for the identification of at-risk families during pandemics. Our findings show that shared childrearing can buffer against risks for harsh parenting during COVID-19. Hence, adopting approaches to build a pandemic-proof community of care may help at-risk parents during future pandemics.

Resting Heart Rate Mediates the Relationship between Parenting Style and Callous-Unemotional Traits in Chinese Children

Despite increasing knowledge of social and biological risk factors for callous-unemotional (CU) traits, relatively less is known about how these two sets of risk factors combine to affect these traits. The current longitudinal study investigated pathways from parenting style to CU traits via resting heart rate in a three-year project. Parents of 382 children completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire at Time 1 (children Mean age = 9.06, SD = 0.94, range = 7-11 years), with the heart rate data collected at Time 2 (M = 10.16, SD = 0.93, range = 8-13 years) and CU traits assessed at Time 3 (M = 11.06, SD = 0.94, range = 9-13 years). We found that parenting style and CU traits were associated with resting heart rate, and that structural equation modeling showed resting heart rate to partially mediate the effect of parenting style on CU traits. Specifically, higher levels of authoritarian parenting were associated with lower resting heart rate, which in turn was linked to higher level of CU traits. On the contrary, children in the context of authoritative parenting showed relatively higher resting heart rate, which was predictive of lower CU traits. Overall, findings have implications for understanding the etiology of CU traits in children and developing effective prevention programs for children with affective deficits.

Home Environment and Early Development of Rural Children: Evidence from Guizhou Province in China

Delays in early child development are among the aspects underlying the persistent developmental gaps between regions and social strata. This study seeks to examine the relationship between the home environment and early child development in less-developed rural areas by drawing on data from 445 children from villages in Guizhou province in southwest China. A demographic questionnaire, the Home Observation Measurement of the Environment (HOME), and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, version III (BSID-III), were used to measure the child’s demographic characteristics, home environment, and early development outcomes, respectively. Our data show that the sample children suffer a delay in various dimensions of child development and a deficit in the HOME scale. The results from a hierarchical regression model suggest that the availability of learning material at home, caregivers’ responsiveness and organization sub-scales are significantly positively correlated with the early development of sample children, after controlling for general socioeconomic status, health, and nutrition, and this correlation differs by gender. These results imply that the provision of learning material to households, promoting caregivers’ responsiveness and organization in less-developed rural areas could improve early child development among deprived children.

The Relationship Between Creativity and Intrusive Rumination Among Chinese Teenagers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Emotional Resilience as a Moderator

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has not only resulted in immeasurable life and property losses worldwide but has also impacted individuals' development, especially teenagers. After the COVID-19 pandemic, individual rumination as an important cognitive process should be given more attention because of its close associations with physical and mental health. Previous studies have shown that creativity as an antecedent variable can predict people's mental health or adaptation. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between creativity and individual cognitive rumination after traumatic events, and the mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. By using the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS), the Event Related Rumination Inventory, and the Questionnaire of Adolescent Emotional Resilience, the current study explored the relationship between creativity and intrusive rumination among 1488 Chinese teenagers during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed the moderating effect of emotional resilience on the relationship. The results showed that creativity, as assessed by the RIBS, was positively related to teenagers' intrusive rumination, which implied that a higher level of creative performance could predict more intrusive rumination. Moreover, emotional resilience acted as a moderator in the relationship between creativity and intrusive rumination; the correlation was stronger when emotional resilience was low. These findings provide more evidence of the relationship between creativity and mental health and show the effect of this traumatic event on teenagers.

Predictive Effect of Positive Youth Development Attributes on Delinquency Among Adolescents in Mainland China

The general proposition of the positive youth development (PYD) approach is that developmental assets such as psychosocial competence can promote healthy adolescent development and reduce problem behavior. Despite that many Western studies have shown that PYD attributes are negatively related to adolescent delinquency, not all empirical findings support the negative associations. Although different dimensions of PYD attributes may bear differential relationships with delinquency, this possibility has not been properly examined so far. In addition, related studies in mainland China do not exist. Finally, the possible mediating role of life satisfaction in linking PYD attributes to delinquency has rarely been studied. To address the research gaps and understand how PYD attributes are associated with adolescent delinquency and the underlying mediating effect of life satisfaction, matched longitudinal data were collected from 2,648 mainland Chinese secondary school students (1,109 girls, Mean age = 13.12 ± 0.81 years at Wave 1) at two waves which were separated by one year. On each occasion, participants completed a questionnaire containing validated measures of PYD attributes, life satisfaction, and delinquency. Congruent with the general theoretical prediction of the PYD approach, different PYD attributes were inversely related to concurrent and future adolescent delinquency in separate regression analyses. In addition, the negative predictions were mediated by life satisfaction. When all PYD attributes were included in a single path analysis model, three findings were observed. First, two PYD dimensions, including self-identity and general PYD attributes, showed robust negative predictions on delinquency via life satisfaction. Second, prosocial attributes displayed a weak and unstable negative predictive effect. Third, cognitive-behavioral competence showed an unexpected positive predictive effect on delinquency directly or via its negative effects on life satisfaction. The present findings add value to the existing literature by revealing the predictive role of PYD attributes on life satisfaction and delinquency among mainland Chinese adolescents. The findings also reinforce the importance of investigating individual dimensions of PYD attributes simultaneously in the research field. The present study suggests that it is promising to cultivate PYD attributes as a strategy to reduce delinquency among adolescents in mainland China.

Coercive Parenting and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes: The Moderating Effects of Empathic Concern and Perception of Social Rejection

Previous studies have identified coercive parenting as a prevalent parenting style in Chinese society. They suggested that this style of parenting could promote prosocial behavior and school commitment when combined with close monitoring and proper training, but it could also undermine mental health. This study critically examines these claims. Based on the existing theory and research, it is predicted that the influences of coercive parenting on adolescent development vary according to adolescent personal attributes including empathic concern and perception of social rejection. Through the analysis of two-wave survey data collected from a probability sample of 1085 Chinese adolescents, this study found that adolescents with higher levels of empathic concern and perceived social rejection reported less delinquency and stronger school commitment than their peers with lower levels of such attributes, when coercive parenting was low to moderate. However, under the condition of excessive coercive control, these adolescents demonstrated more delinquency and weaker school commitment. Empathic concern and perception of social rejection, on the other hand, played no or limited role in moderating the relationship between coercive parenting and depression. These results suggest that the influences of coercive parenting are dynamic and are subject to change as they interact with adolescent personal characteristics across different developmental domains.

Career-Related Parental Processes and Career Adaptability and Ambivalence Among Chinese Adolescents: A Person-Centered Approach

Using latent profile analyses and based on two-wave data from 5,388 Chinese adolescents (M_age  = 15.79, SD = 0.66; 51.99% females), this study examined the variety of ways in which adolescents' perceived career-related parental processes (i.e., parental expectations, support, interference, barriers to engagement, and parent-child congruence) may be configured within families and how such configurations may be associated with adolescents' career adaptability and ambivalence one year later. Three meaningful profiles were identified: the "Supportive but not Intrusive" (SNI) profile, the "Unsupportive but not Permissive" (UNP) profile, and the "Ambivalent and Controlling" (AC) profile. Adolescents in the UNP profile reported higher levels of career ambivalence and lower levels of career adaptability than did those in either the SNI or the AC profiles. Implications for career development among Chinese adolescents were discussed.

Chinese Adolescents' Sibling Conflicts: Links With Maternal Involvement in Sibling Relationships and Coparenting

This study explored how maternal involvement in sibling relationships and coparenting behaviors were associated with adolescents' sibling conflicts. Adolescents (M_age  = 12.25 years; 47.8% boys) and their mothers from 542 families in China participated in this research. Mothers completed questionnaires that assessed their strategies of involvement in sibling relationships, as well as their perceptions of the quality of their coparenting behaviors. Furthermore, adolescents completed questionnaires that assessed sibling conflicts. Results revealed that the mother's positive guidance was negatively related and their authoritarian control was positively related to sibling conflict. A significant interaction was also found between positive maternal guidance in sibling relationships and undermining coparenting behaviors. These findings underscore the unique and interactive effects of mothers' direct involvement in sibling relationships and coparenting behaviors in adolescents' sibling conflicts.

Parenting, culture, and the development of externalizing behaviors from age 7 to 14 in nine countries

Using multilevel models, we examined mother-, father-, and child-reported (N = 1,336 families) externalizing behavior problem trajectories from age 7 to 14 in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). The intercept and slope of children's externalizing behavior trajectories varied both across individuals within culture and across cultures, and the variance was larger at the individual level than at the culture level. Mothers' and children's endorsement of aggression as well as mothers' authoritarian attitudes predicted higher age 8 intercepts of child externalizing behaviors. Furthermore, prediction from individual-level endorsement of aggression and authoritarian attitudes to more child externalizing behaviors was augmented by prediction from cultural-level endorsement of aggression and authoritarian attitudes, respectively. Cultures in which father-reported endorsement of aggression was higher and both mother- and father-reported authoritarian attitudes were higher also reported more child externalizing behavior problems at age 8. Among fathers, greater attributions regarding uncontrollable success in caregiving situations were associated with steeper declines in externalizing over time. Understanding cultural-level as well as individual-level correlates of children's externalizing behavior offers potential insights into prevention and intervention efforts that can be more effectively targeted at individual children and parents as well as targeted at changing cultural norms that increase the risk of children's and adolescents' externalizing behavior.

Severity and Justness Do Not Moderate the Relation Between Corporal Punishment and Negative Child Outcomes: A Multicultural and Longitudinal Study

There is strong evidence of a positive association between corporal punishment and negative child outcomes, but previous studies have suggested that the manner in which parents implement corporal punishment moderates the effects of its use. This study investigated whether severity and justness in the use of corporal punishment moderate the associations between frequency of corporal punishment and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. This question was examined using a multicultural sample from eight countries and two waves of data collected one year apart. Interviews were conducted with 998 children aged 7-10 years, and their mothers and fathers, from China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Thailand, and the United States. Mothers and fathers responded to questions on the frequency, severity, and justness of their use of corporal punishment; they also reported on the externalizing and internalizing behavior of their child. Children reported on their aggression. Multigroup path models revealed that across cultural groups, and as reported by mothers and fathers, there is a positive relation between the frequency of corporal punishment and externalizing child behaviors. Mother-reported severity and father-reported justness were associated with child-reported aggression. Neither severity nor justness moderated the relation between frequency of corporal punishment and child problem behavior. The null result suggests that more use of corporal punishment is harmful to children regardless of how it is implemented, but requires further substantiation as the study is unable to definitively conclude that there is no true interaction effect.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Group Triple P With Chinese Parents in Mainland China

This study evaluated the effects of Group Triple P with Chinese parents on parenting and child outcomes as well as outcomes relating to child academic learning in Mainland China. Participants were 81 Chinese parents and their children in Shanghai, who were randomly allocated to an intervention group or wait-list control group. Parents in the intervention condition received Group Triple P training, and parents and children were assessed at three/two time points. Compared with the control group, parents in the intervention group reported significant improvements in child adjustment problems, parenting practices, parental adjustment, and parenting self-efficacy at post-assessment. Moreover, there was a significant increase in parents’ satisfaction with children’s academic achievement and a reduction in children’s academic problem behaviors at post-intervention. All these effects were maintained at 6-month follow-up. There was also a significant increase in the child report of positive parenting at post-intervention.

Individual, family, and culture level contributions to child physical abuse and neglect: A longitudinal study in nine countries

This study advances understanding of predictors of child abuse and neglect at multiple levels of influence. Mothers, fathers, and children (N = 1,418 families, M age of children = 8.29 years) were interviewed annually in three waves in 13 cultural groups in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Multilevel models were estimated to examine predictors of (a) within-family differences across the three time points, (b) between-family within-culture differences, and (c) between-cultural group differences in mothers' and fathers' reports of corporal punishment and children's reports of their parents' neglect. These analyses addressed to what extent mothers' and fathers' use of corporal punishment and children's perceptions of their parents' neglect were predicted by parents' belief in the necessity of using corporal punishment, parents' perception of the normativeness of corporal punishment in their community, parents' progressive parenting attitudes, parents' endorsement of aggression, parents' education, children's externalizing problems, and children's internalizing problems at each of the three levels. Individual-level predictors (especially child externalizing behaviors) as well as cultural-level predictors (especially normativeness of corporal punishment in the community) predicted corporal punishment and neglect. Findings are framed in an international context that considers how abuse and neglect are defined by the global community and how countries have attempted to prevent abuse and neglect.

Parenting and socialization of only children in urban China: an example of authoritative parenting

The authors report a semistructured interview of 328 urban Chinese parents regarding their parenting beliefs and practices with respect to their only children. Statistical analyses of the coded parental interviews and peer nomination data from the children show none of the traditional Chinese parenting or child behaviors that have been widely reported in the literature. The parenting of only children in urban China was predominantly authoritative rather than authoritarian. The parenting strategies and beliefs were child-centered, egalitarian, and warmth-oriented rather than control-oriented. Chinese parents encouraged prosocial assertiveness and discouraged behavioral constraint and modesty. The parenting of only children was also gender egalitarian in that there were few gender differences in child social behaviors and little gender differential parenting and socialization of these only children. Together with other recent studies, these findings and conclusions challenge the traditionalist view of Chinese parenting and beliefs and behaviors about child socialization.

Corporal punishment, maternal warmth, and child adjustment: a longitudinal study in eight countries

Two key tasks facing parents across cultures are managing children's behaviors (and misbehaviors) and conveying love and affection. Previous research has found that corporal punishment generally is related to worse child adjustment, whereas parental warmth is related to better child adjustment. This study examined whether the association between corporal punishment and child adjustment problems (anxiety and aggression) is moderated by maternal warmth in a diverse set of countries that vary in a number of sociodemographic and psychological ways. Interviews were conducted with 7- to 10-year-old children (N = 1,196; 51% girls) and their mothers in 8 countries: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States. Follow-up interviews were conducted 1 and 2 years later. Corporal punishment was related to increases, and maternal warmth was related to decreases, in children's anxiety and aggression over time; however, these associations varied somewhat across groups. Maternal warmth moderated the effect of corporal punishment in some countries, with increases in anxiety over time for children whose mothers were high in both warmth and corporal punishment. The findings illustrate the overall association between corporal punishment and child anxiety and aggression as well as patterns specific to particular countries. Results suggest that clinicians across countries should advise parents against using corporal punishment, even in the context of parent-child relationships that are otherwise warm, and should assist parents in finding other ways to manage children's behaviors.

Adaptive insecure attachment and resource control strategies during middle childhood

By integrating the life history theory of attachment with resource control theory, the current study examines the hypothesis that insecure attachment styles reorganized in middle childhood are alternative adaptive strategies used to prepare for upcoming competition with the peer group. A sample of 654 children in the second through seventh grades in Shanghai, China, participated in this study. The children reported attachment relationships with their mother and the use of resource control strategies in the peer group. Boys had higher avoidant attachment scores than girls, whereas girls had higher ambivalent attachment scores than boys. Moreover, avoidant attachment was positively associated with the use of coercive strategies to control resources. Ambivalent attachment was associated with the use of both coercive and prosocial strategies to control resources. A number of other gender and developmental differences were also observed. The implications for the adaptiveness of insecure attachment in middle childhood are discussed.

Agreement in Mother and Father Acceptance-Rejection, Warmth, and Hostility/Rejection/Neglect of Children across Nine Countries

We assessed whether mothers' and fathers' self-reports of acceptance-rejection, warmth, and hostility/rejection/neglect (HRN) of their pre-adolescent children differ cross-nationally and relative to the gender of the parent and child in 10 communities in 9 countries, including China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States (N = 998 families). Mothers and fathers in all countries reported a high degree of acceptance and warmth, and a low degree of HRN, but countries also varied. Mothers reported greater acceptance of children than fathers in China, Italy, Sweden, and the United States, and these effects were accounted for by greater self-reported warmth in mothers than fathers in China, Italy, the Philippines, Sweden, and Thailand and less HRN in mothers than fathers in Sweden. Fathers reported greater warmth than mothers in Kenya. Mother and father acceptance-rejection were moderately correlated. Relative levels of mother and father acceptance and rejection appear to be country specific.

Parenting Attributions and Attitudes in Cross-Cultural Perspective

OBJECTIVE: This article used the Parenting Across Cultures Project to evaluate similarities and differences in mean levels and relative agreement between mothers' and fathers' attributions and attitudes in parenting in 9 countries. DESIGN: Mothers and fathers reported their perceptions of causes of successes and failures in caregiving and their progressive versus authoritarian childrearing attitudes. Gender and cultural similarities and differences in parents' attributions and attitudes in 9 countries were analyzed: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, or the United States. RESULTS: Although mothers and fathers did not differ in any attribution, mothers reported more progressive parenting attitudes and modernity of childrearing attitudes than did fathers, and fathers reported more authoritarian attitudes than did mothers. Country differences also emerged in all attributions and attitudes that were examined. Mothers' and fathers' attributions and their attitudes were moderately correlated, but parenting attitudes were more highly correlated in parents than were attributions. CONCLUSIONS: We draw connections among the findings across the 9 countries and outline implications for understanding similarities and differences in mothers' and fathers' parenting attributions and attitudes.