This study, through a survey of two-child families in China and the UK, aimed to explore the differences, similarities, and associations between sibling relationships and maternal parenting styles from a transnational point of view. A total number of 107 mothers (UK: N = 55; China: N = 52) with two children were administered through a battery of online questionnaires respectively. Results showed no significant differences in the quality of sibling relationships between the two countries. Conflict and competitive behaviours among siblings greatly outnumbered warmth-related ones for both countries. In terms of maternal parenting style, permissive and authoritarian parenting styles were more dominant in both China and the UK compared with the authoritative style. However, British mothers tend to be more authoritarian than their Chinese counterparts towards both older and younger children. Although significant transnational correlations were found on the associations between maternal parenting style and the quality of sibling relationships, the authoritative parenting style was found to be more conducive to reduce the conflict behaviours between siblings in the UK, while the authoritarian parenting style turned out to be more effective among Chinese mothers. The above findings deepen our understanding of the association of parenting styles with sibling relationships. Implications on parenting practice to improve the quality of sibling relationships are also offered.

Connected speech processing (CSP) is of great significance to individuals’ language and cognitive development. It is particularly crucial not only for clinical detection and treatment of developmental disorders, but also for the Foreign/second language teaching instructions. However, given the importance of this field, there is a clear lack of systematic reviews that summarize the key findings of previous studies. To this end, through searching in the scientific databases PsycInfo, Scopus, PubMed, ERIC, Taylor and Francis, and Web of Science, the present study identified 128 core CSP articles with high reference values according to PRISMA guidance and the following results were obtained through quantitative analysis and qualitative comparative synthesis: (1) The number of studies on CSP published per year showed an upward trend; however, most focused on English language, whereas the studies on other languages were comparatively rare; (2) CSP was found to be affected by multiple factors, among which speech speed, semantics, word frequency, and phonological awareness were most frequently investigated; (3) the deficit in CSP capacity was widely recognized as a significant predictor and indicator of developmental disorders; (4) more studies were carried out on connected speech production than on perception; and (5) almost no longitudinal studies have ever been conducted among either native or non-native speakers. Therefore, future research is needed to explore the developmental trajectory of CSP skills of typically developing language learners and speakers with cognitive disorders over different periods of time. It is also necessary to deepen the understanding of the processing mechanism beyond their performance and the role played by phonological awareness and lexical representations in CSP.