Parental psychological control and academic functioning in Chinese high school students: A short‐term longitudinal study

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the reciprocal relationship between parental psychological control and students’ academic functioning in urban China. Participants were 731 Chinese high school students in grade 10 (356 boys; Mage = 15.64 years, SD = 0.68). Two waves of 1‐year longitudinal data were collected using student reports of parental psychological control and academic‐related beliefs, strategies, and behaviours. Results showed that parental psychological control at Time 1 significantly triggered an increase in students’ maladaptive academic functioning at Time 2; and students’ adaptive academic functioning at Time 1 significantly predicted parental psychological control at Time 2. Limitations of the present study and implications for practice are discussed. What is already known on this subject? According to self‐determination theory, parental psychological control has been found to be harmful on students’ academic learning in Western societies. We know little about the relation between parental psychological control and academic functioning (adaptive vs. maladaptive) in Eastern societies such as China. What does this study add? Parental psychological control increased maladaptive academic functioning, and adaptive academic functioning decreased parental psychological control, suggesting a more fluid, dynamic parenting–child interaction over time. The predicted relations between parental psychological control and academic functioning of high school students hold across gender. More urbanized adolescents had a high tendency to perceive their parents as psychological controlling, suggesting a change in culture regarding the importance of personal autonomy for more urbanized adolescents.

Parenting and Adolescents’ Academic Achievement: The Mediating Role of Goal Engagement and Disengagement

“…We also found that goal disengagement strategies mediated the relation between maternal psychological control and academic achievement, which supported hypothesis 2a and is consistent with prior studies (Aunola & Nurmi, 2004;Pinquart, 2016). Recent findings have shown that parental psychological control is linked with adolescents' uncertainty of their academic abilities (Lu et al, 2017;Xu et al, 2020). Adolescents who experience psychological control may develop low self-efficacy overtime in domains such as academics (e.g., Filippello et al, 2015).…”

“…For example, Lu et al (2017) found that adolescents who experienced strong parental attempts for psychological control had low academic self-concept. Numerous studies have also shown a negative association between parental psychological control and adolescents' academic self-efficacy and academic performance (Desjardins & Leadbeater, 2017;Xu et al, 2020). Building on this research that has revealed associations between parental psychological control and adolescents' academic outcomes, we will further investigate the mechanisms through which this effect occurs.…”

“…The significance of academic achievement during high school in determining higher education attainment has been rising (Galla et al, 2019;Geiser & Santelices, 2007;Westrick et al, 2015), making it increasingly crucial that adolescents receive guidance and support from trustworthy and invested others such as parents (Eccles & Roeser, 2009). Previous studies have demonstrated the role that parents play in supporting adolescents' education (Froiland & Worrell, 2017;Veas et al, 2019;Xu et al, 2020). However, less is known about how academic goal engagement and disengagement mediate the relation between parenting and academic achievement.…”

“…One study found that devaluing the child by invalidating the child's thoughts and expressions may lead to negative outcomes such as internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Symeou & Georgiou, 2017). Extending this finding to academics, devaluation from mothers may also contribute to adolescents' low academic self-efficacy, which has been found to be associated with disengagement from their academic goals (Xu et al, 2020). When adolescents do not consider their own thoughts and behavior as valid and important, they may not believe that their actions lead to positive outcomes and consequently disengage from their academic goals, which may result in lower academic performance (Desjardins & Leadbeater, 2017;Mandara & Pikes, 2008).…”

Behind an Accelerated Scientific Research Career: Dynamic Interplay of Endogenous and Exogenous Forces in Talent Development

“…Most noticeable was a pattern of parenting that was characterized by nurturing the love of learning and self-direction early on and then having a hands-off policy once the child became more capable of taking self-initiative and navigating learning on their own. This practice becomes more illuminating when Chinese parents tend to exert much behavioral and psychological control over their children even throughout their childhood [53,54]. Of course, there could also be a child's effect on parenting in that autonomous learners rendered parental control unnecessary.…”