Factors Related to Parenting Practices in Taiwan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to authoritative and authoritarian parenting practices in Chinese mothers with preschoolers. This study not only focused on the global parenting typologies ( e.g. authoritative and authoritarian parenting), but also looked into the individual component elements of authoritative and authoritarian parenting. Belsky's (1984) ecological model was used to select potential predictors of parenting practices: 1) characteristics of the mother, 2) characteristics of the child, and 3) contextual factors. The sample consisted of 463 mothers with their preschool children in Taiwan. Mothers were administered a questionnaire which assessed their parenting practices, Chinese parenting beliefs, depression level, degree of parenting daily hassles, child's age, perception of the child's temperament, and demographic information. As expected, maternal characteristics, child characteristics, and contextual factors predicted mothers' parenting practices. The results suggested that maternal depression, child temperament, and degree of parenting daily hassles might have cross-culturally universal influences on parenting practices. However, the significant influence of culturally specific parenting beliefs on parenting was also found. Chinese parents' use of authoritative and authoritarian parenting were both in some degree embedded in traditional Chinese parenting beliefs - the concept of training.