Mothers' parenting styles, academic self-efficacy and academic performance: Chinese-Spanish Cross-Cultural Study

Abstract

This study aims at investigating and highlighting the diversity in mothers' parenting style and self-esteem and their correlations with academic achievements across cultural contexts. A total of 200 university students (100 from China and 100 from Spain) was taken by means of the purposive sampling method. During the course of the 2021-2022 Academic Year, the Parenting Style Scale (S-EMBU) and Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES) were used to assess mothers' parenting styles and self-efficacy. It was found out that there were several cultural differences in the way parents approach their children, with the Spanish mothers applying warm and affectionate attitudes and the Chinese parents using stricter methods. As for the difference, no statistical significance was found between the two groups related to academic self-efficacy. In the findings, the rejection type of parenting was associated negatively with self-efficacy and academic performance while warm parenting that is emotional in nature was positively associated with these outcomes among university students. Furthermore, a positive connection between academic self-efficacy and academic success is also observed. The research identified specific parenting behaviors of mothers that significantly affect students’ academic performance in university, which reveals the critical role of parents in student’s academic success. Generally, the study shows the significance of cultural variation in parental involvements into university students' academic performance and the key role of parenting in the students' academic success. The research also considered parenting styles and academic self-conceptualizations between the Chinese and the Spanish university students. While it is true that there were notable cultural differences in parenting styles between Spanish mothers who showed warmer and more expressive styles and Chinese mothers, there were no significant differences in subjects’ self-efficacy in learning processes between the two groups. These results emphasize the significant role of parenting in the predictability of academic achievements among university students. In this sense, parental styles that involve emotional warmth were found to correlate with higher levels of academic self-efficacy and better academic performance. The research shows that positive ways of parenting including fostering emotional closeness and caring could help improve children's school performance.