A comparative study of child temperament and parenting in Beijing, China and the western United States

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to examine comparable dimensions and linkages between child temperament and parenting styles with samples from Beijing, China and the western United States. Participants included 404 mothers and fathers from Beijing, China and 325 mothers and fathers from the western United States. Both mothers and fathers completed Buss and Plomin's (1984) EAS Temperament Scale as well as a spousal-report measure of parenting styles. Structural equation modelling was used to identify invariant (statistically comparable) factors for child temperament and parenting styles. Within-culture gender comparisons showed that Chinese fathers (relative to mothers) viewed their sons as being more active and sociable than daughters while US mothers (relative to fathers) rated their sons as being more active. Across-culture differences revealed that US parents (relative to Chinese parents) viewed children as more emotional while Chinese fathers (relative to US fathers) rated their children as more active. Similar and differential cultural patterns of linkages were also found between parenting styles and child temperament. Child emotionality was positively associated with authoritarian parenting in both cultures while child activity level was linked to more authoritative and less authoritarian parenting styles, but only in the Chinese sample. Finally, child sociability was found to be negatively linked to cross-gender patterns of authoritarian parenting in the US while mothers' and fathers' authoritarian parenting in China was linked to lower sociability in daughters only.

Relations of Parenting and Temperament to Chinese Children’s Experience of Negative Life Events, Coping Efficacy, and Externalizing Problems

“…As one of the first longitudinal studies on parenting, temperament, and Chinese children's behavior problems (e.g., Chen, Liu, & Li, 2000;Chen et al, 2002), this study extended the previous research with this population (which was mostly cross-sectional and/or did not simultaneously include both parenting and temperament as predictors of adjustment, e.g., Chen et al, 2002;Eisenberg et al, 2007;Nelson et al, 2006;Porter et al, 2005). The most important findings are the prospective and unique relations of authoritative and authoritarian parenting and temperamental anger/frustration to Chinese children's externalizing problems, which provided evidence for the generalization of socialization and temperament models for externalizing problems to the Chinese culture.…”

“…Chao (1994Chao ( ,2001 proposed that authoritative and authoritarian parenting may not fully capture the important features of Chinese parenting and that an indigenous construct such as "guan" or training should be considered. Nonetheless, recent empirical investigations suggest that both the attributes of authoritative (especially warm and responsive) and authoritarian (especially coercive/punitive) parenting and their relations to Chinese children's adjustment are similar to those found in the Euro-American culture (e.g., Chang, Lansford, Schwartz, & Farver, 2004;Chen, Wang, Chen, & Liu, 2002;Nelson, Hart, Yang, Olsen, & Jin, 2006;Porter et al, 2005;Sorkhabi, 2005;Zhou, Eisenberg, Wang, & Reiser, 2004). Moreover, Chinese parents' ratings of guan are moderately and positively correlated with warmth (Stewart et al, 1998), suggesting that the indigenous notion of guan might be consistent with authoritative parenting (Nelson et al, 2006).…”

Maternal depression and socio-economic status moderate the parenting style/child obesity association

“…'I state punishments to our child and do not actually do them' and 'I find it difficult to discipline our child'). The PDSQ has been shown to be reliable and valid among preschool and school-aged children (39) . On the original shortened version, internal consistencies for the two parenting styles, authoritarian and permissive, were 0?82 and 0?64, respectively.…”

What Parents Feel They Need: Parents' Experiences with Parent Support Services in Prince George.

“…Cohen (2001) suggests "play is one of the best ways to engage with children, pulling them out of emotional shutdown or misbehaviour, to a place of connection and confidence" (p. 16). Overall children who are more adaptable, sociable, and soothable have often experienced warm and responsive parenting whereas difficult children are more likely to have experienced less responsive parenting (Fish et al, 2007;Haskett & Willoughby, 2006;Hunt, 2001;Porter et al, 2005).…”

“…Studies have shown that this type of parenting is ineffective. Authoritarian parenting can be described as parenting involving over control, unfair or harsh discipline, and inflexible enforcement of rules (Baydar, Reid & Webster-Stratton, 2003;De Vito & Hopkins, 2001;Porter et al, 2005;Xu et al, 2005). People practicing an authoritarian parenting style are more likely to use power-assertive behaviour, including yelling and grabbing, with their children (DeVito & Hopkins, 2001).…”