Xinyin Chen

Authoritative and Authoritarian Parenting Practices and Social and School Performance in Chinese Children

The purpose of the study was to examine the relations between authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles and social and school adjustment in Chinese children. A sample of second grade children, aged eight years, and their parents in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, participated in this study. The children were group administered a peer assessment measure of social behaviour and a sociometric nomination measure. Teachers completed a rating scale on school-related social competence and problems for each child. Data concerning child-rearing practices were obtained from parents. In addition, information on children’s academic and social competence was obtained from school records. It was found that authoritarian parenting was associated positively with aggression and negatively with peer acceptance, sociability-competence, distinguished studentship and school academic achievement. In contrast, parental authoritative style was associated positively with indices of social and school adjustment and negatively with adjustment problems. The results indicated that, inconsistent with the argument in the literature (e.g. Steinberg, Dornbusch, & Brown, 1992), authoritative and authoritarian parenting practices were relevant to social and academic performance in Chinese children.

Parental warmth, control, and indulgence and their relations to adjustment in Chinese children: a longitudinal study.

A sample of children, initially 12 years old, in the Peoples Republic of China participated in this 2-year longitudinal study. Data on parental warmth, control, and indulgence were collected from childrens self-reports. Information concerning social, academic, and psychological adjustment was obtained from multiple sources. The results indicated that parenting styles might be a function of child gender and change with age. Regression analyses revealed that parenting styles of fathers and mothers predicted different outcomes. Whereas maternal warmth had significant contributions to the prediction of emotional adjustment, paternal warmth significantly predicted later social and school achievement. It was also found that paternal, but not maternal, indulgence significantly predicted childrens adjustment difficulties. The contributions of the parenting variables might be moderated by the childs initial conditions.

Depressed Mood in Chinese Children: Relations with School Performance and Family Environment.

A sample of primary school children in Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China, participated in this 2-year longitudinal project. Information on the family environment, childrens social functioning, academic achievement, and depression was collected from multiple sources. The mean depression scores in the Chinese children was found to be similar to those found for children in the West. Depression was positively associated with aggressive-disruptive behavior and negatively associated with social competence. School social and academic difficulties were concurrently and positively correlated with depression. Moreover, social adjustment problems at age 8 were associated with depression at age 10. Academic difficulties were predictive of later depression only for children from families in which the mother was rejecting and parents had a conflictual relationship. Finally, decline in social and academic performance was related to depressed affect.

Adolescent Outcomes of Social Functioning in Chinese Children

A sample of Chinese children in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, initially aged 8 and 10 years, participated in this four-year longitudinal project. Information on social functioning including sociability-leadership, aggression-disruption, and shyness-sensitivity was collected from peer assessments in the original study. Data on indexes of social and school adjustment, including peer acceptance, teachers’ perceptions of school-related competence, leadership, academic achievement, adjustment problems, and self-perceptions of competence, were collected from multiple sources in the follow-up study. Consistent with Western literature, sociability-leadership positively predicted indexes of social and school adjustment. Aggression was positively associated with adolescent maladjustment for boys and adjustment for girls. Finally, inconsistent with the Western literature, shyness-sensitivity in childhood was positively predictive of indexes of adolescent adjustment such as teacher-assessed competence, leadership, and academic achievement.

Shyness‐Sensitivity and Social, School, and Psychological Adjustment in Rural Migrant and Urban Children in China

The purpose of this study was to examine relations between shyness-sensitivity and social competence, school performance, and psychological well-being in Chinese children with rural and urban backgrounds. Participants were students in rural migrant children schools and city schools in China (Ns = 411 and 518, respectively; M age = 10 years). Data were obtained from peer evaluations, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. It was found that shyness was associated with social and school problems and depression in urban children. However, shyness was generally associated with indexes of adjustment such as leadership, teacher-rated competence, and academic achievement in rural migrant children. The results indicate the role of context in defining the functional meaning of social behavior in childrens adjustment.

Sociable and prosocial dimensions of social competence in Chinese children: common and unique contributions to social, academic, and psychological adjustment.

A sample of 6th-grade children (N = 470), initially aged 12 years, in Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China, participated in this longitudinal study. Data on childrens sociability and prosocial orientation were collected from peer assessments. Information on indexes of adjustment was obtained from multiple sources. The results indicated that sociable and prosocial functions were 2 overlapping, but distinct, dimensions of social competence and had common as well as unique contributions to the prediction of adjustment in specific areas. Whereas prosocial orientation was mainly predictive of social and school adjustment and externalizing problems, sociability uniquely contributed to the prediction of internalizing problems and emotional adjustment. Finally, prosocial orientation and sociability might moderate the development of adjustment difficulties.

Reticent behavior and experiences in peer interactions in Chinese and Canadian children.

In this study, the authors examined relations between reticent behavior in unfamiliar peer situations and experiences in interactions in Chinese and Canadian children. Observational data were collected from samples of children at 4 years of age in the Peoples Republic of China and Canada. The results indicated that relations between reticent behavior and peer initiations were similar in the 2 samples. The differences between the samples were mainly in peer responses. Reticent behavior was associated with peer rejection such as overt refusal and disagreement in the Canadian sample but with positive responses such as approval in the Chinese sample, particularly when children made low-power initiations. The results suggest that reticent children in China and Canada may have similar as well as different experiences in social interactions.

Maternal authoritative and authoritarian attitudes and mother–child interactions and relationships in urban China:

The purpose of the study was to examine how maternal authoritative and authoritarian attitudes were manifested in mother–child interactions and relationships in Chinese culture. A sample of 2-year-old children and their mothers (N= 166) in Beijing and Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, participated in the study. Information on maternal child-rearing attitudes and mother–child attachment relationships was obtained from mothers’ reports. Data concerning maternal parenting strategies, child behaviours, and child reactions to maternal reunion were collected from observations. The results indicated that maternal authoritative attitudes were associated with low power parenting strategies, whereas maternal authoritarian attitudes were associated with enforcement and prohibitory strategies. It was also found that maternal attitudes were associated with child behaviours through the mediation of parenting strategies. However, maternal attitudes might contribute uniquely to mother–child relationships, over and above maternal behaviours. The study provided evidence on the internal coherence of authoritative and authoritarian patterns and their differential significance for child development in urban China.

Depressed mood in Chinese children : Development significance for social and school adjustment

Children’s socioemotional problems have been largely neglected in Chinese collectivistic cultures. The purpose of the study was to examine contributions of depressed mood to social and school adjustment in Chinese children. A sample of children in the People’s Republic of China, initially aged 12 years, participated in this two-year longitudinal study. Data concerning depressed mood, and social and academic performance were obtained from multiple sources including self-reports, peer assessments, teacher ratings, and school records. It was found that depressed mood was stable over the two years. Moreover, depression contributed negatively to later social and school achievement and positively to the development of adjustment difficulties. These results suggest that depressed mood is a significant phenomenon in social and psychological development in Chinese children and thus deserves attention from parents, teachers and professionals.

Aggression, social competence, and academic achievement in Chinese children: A 5-year longitudinal study

The primary purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine, in a sample of Chinese children (initial M age = 8 years, N = 1,140), contributions of aggression to the development of social competence and academic achievement. Five waves of panel data on aggression and social and school performance were collected from peer evaluations, teacher ratings, and school records in Grades 2 to 5. Structural equation modeling revealed that aggression had unique effects on later social competence and academic achievement after their stabilities were controlled, particularly in the junior grades. Aggression also had significant indirect effects on social and academic outcomes through multiple pathways. Social competence and academic achievement contributed to the development of each other, but not aggression. The results indicate cascade effects of aggression in Chinese children from a developmental perspective.