Abstract
This study examined the relationship between perceived social change, parental control and family relations in a sample of 419 4th and 5th grade children and their mothers who are of Chinese descent but reside in three different contexts: Los Angeles (LA), Hong Kong (HK), and Beijing (BJ). HK mothers endorsed the highest levels of psychological control and the lowest levels of autonomy support compared to BJ and LA mothers. Perceived social change as measured by mothers’ endorsement of new values and ideologies was associated with increased use of both autonomy support and psychological control. Results of the mediation analyses suggested that perceived social change explained differences between LA and HK mothers in autonomy support, but group differences in psychological control were magnified when perceived social change was accounted for. Finally, whereas autonomy support was associated with higher levels of child perceived acceptance in HK and LA, psychological control was associated with greater family conflict in BJ and LA. Findings suggested that as families undergo urbanization or social change, it may shift the implications of traditional strategies that are intended to socialize the child toward interpersonal attunement. Overall, the study highlights the importance of moving beyond ethnic-group or cross-national comparisons to investigate the role of changing social and economic contexts in understanding differences in the use of parental control and their associations with family relations.
Highlights
In Western theory and research on parenting, psychological control is often used to refer to parental intrusiveness, domination, or coercive control, with the inverse being parental support of autonomy (Pomerantz and Wang, 2009)
The first study goal was to directly compare levels of parental control, perceived social change and family climate between families of Chinese descent residing in three urban cities but with different immediate social and economic contingencies: the United States (Los Angeles), Hong Kong, and mainland China (Beijing)
Consistent with our hypothesis, Hong Kong (HK) mothers demonstrated greatest use of psychological control compared with mothers in Beijing (BJ) and Los Angeles (LA) and lower use of autonomy support than mothers in BJ
Summary
In Western theory and research on parenting, psychological control is often used to refer to parental intrusiveness, domination, or coercive control, with the inverse being parental support of autonomy (Pomerantz and Wang, 2009). Cultural ideals in Western parenting tend to nurture children’s appropriate selfexpression and self-esteem (Chao, 1995; Rothbaum et al, 2000). Consistent with this ethos, psychological control is often linked to lower wellbeing in children, such as depression, anxiety, and externalizing problems in Western samples (Barber et al, 1994; Pettit et al, 2001), whereas autonomy support is linked to enhanced emotional functioning, social skills, and academic competence (e.g., Gray and Steinberg, 1999; Silk et al, 2003). By stressing the relational consequences of actions and drawing the child’s attention to the effects of their misbehavior on the parent’s emotions, psychological control strategies may promote the child’s sensitivity to the judgments and feelings of others and encourage accommodation to norms (Fung and Lau, 2012)
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