Maternal cultural values and parenting practices: Longitudinal associations with Chinese adolescents’ aggression

Abstract

Interrelations among cultural values, parenting practices, and adolescent aggression were examined using longitudinal data collected from Chinese adolescents and their mothers. Adolescents’ overt and relational aggression were assessed using peer nominations at Time 1 (7th grade) and Time 2 (9th grade). Mothers reported endorsement of cultural values (collectivism and social harmony) and parenting practices (psychological control and inductive reasoning) at Time 1. While controlling for Time 1 adolescent aggression, maternal collectivism and social harmony indirectly and longitudinally linked to adolescent aggression through maternal parenting practices. Specifically, maternal collectivism was positively related to inductive reasoning, which, in turn, negatively related to adolescent overt aggression at Time 2. Similarly, maternal social harmony negatively related to psychological control that positively predicted later adolescent relational aggression. Results of the present study shed light on mechanisms through which culture may indirectly influence adolescent aggression.

Marital Conflict and Emotional Insecurity Among Chinese Adolescents: Cultural Value Moderation

“…Adolescents' social harmony values were assessed at Time 2 using the Social Harmony questionnaire developed for Chinese participants (Shuster et al., ). With the inclusion of two items (“social order” and “a world of peace”) adapted from Bond and Chi (), this measure consists of twelve statements assessing how much adolescents valued harmonious interpersonal relationships in their lives (e.g., “Harmonious interpersonal relationships” and “Minimization of interpersonal conflicts”).…”

“…These items cover social harmony values expressed in different forms (e.g., valuing harmonious relationships vs. minimizing conflict) and contexts (e.g., general value vs. in family and schools). The diverse coverage of items ensures an adequate content validity (Shuster et al., ). The Cronbach's alpha for Social Harmony questionnaire was high (α = .96).…”

“…As an important indigenous cultural value, social harmony promotes positive interpersonal exchanges and discourages aggressive behaviors (Bond & Wang, ). Recent research suggests that social harmony predicts certain familial interactions above and beyond collectivism (Shuster, Li, & Shi, ). Specifically, parental endorsement of social harmony predicted less psychological control and less child aggression.…”

Relations between Parent Psychological Control and Parent and Adolescent Social Aggression

“…Parental psychological control includes inducing guilt, love withdrawal, isolation, and shaming (Barber 1996; Barber et al 2005). Numerous studies have found a positive association between parental psychological control and aggression among adolescents (Loukas et al 2005; Shuster et al 2012; Soenens et al 2008). Among 6th and 7th grade boys and girls, maternal psychological control was positively associated with social aggression for Latino boys, but not European American boys (Loukas et al 2005).…”

“…Maternal psychological control was related to girls’ social aggression, although this relation was mediated by social evaluative anxiety. Another study of psychological control among Chinese middle and working class 7th grade boys and girls showed a positive relation between psychological control and later relational aggression (Shuster et al 2012). Mother and father psychological control was found to be associated with adolescent relational aggression for 10th through 12th grade boys and girls in Belgium (Soenens et al 2008).…”