Parental Power–Prestige and the Effects of Paternal Versus Maternal Acceptance on the Psychological Adjustment of Chinese Adolescents

Abstract

This study examined the moderating influence of parental power and prestige on the relationship between parental acceptance and the psychological adjustment of Chinese adolescents. Data were collected from 335 urban Chinese adolescents (45% boys) ages 11 through 16 ( M = 13.57 years). The adolescents responded to questionnaires measuring their perceptions of parental power and prestige, parental acceptance–rejection, and their own psychological adjustment. Results suggest that both sons and daughters tended to perceive their parents to be loving (accepting), and they perceived their parents to be approximately equal in interpersonal power and prestige. In addition, both sons and daughters self-reported fair psychological adjustment. Both maternal and paternal acceptances—but not parental power or prestige—were significantly correlated with sons’ and daughters’ psychological adjustment. However, hierarchical regression analysis showed that only perceived maternal acceptance made a unique (independent) contribution to sons’ psychological adjustment, whereas both maternal and paternal acceptance made unique contributions to daughters’ adjustment. Finally, the relationship between perceived parental acceptance and adolescents’ psychological adjustment was not moderated by either parental power or prestige.