Parenting and Child and Adolescent Socioemotional Development in Chinese Families

Parenting contributes to the “emotional climate in which parents raise their children” (Darling &Steinberg, 1993). Researchers have argued that similar parenting practices may have a different meaning for children from different cultures that shape adolescent outcomes depending on the distinct parenting philosophies and cultural norms. This session aims to understand parenting and child and adolescent socioemotional development in Chinese families. It challenges the theorization of human development and the family that originated predominantly in Western social, economic, and cultural contexts. The five-paper session examines the influences of various levels of contexts using the human ecological framework and multiple methods. Four studies employed a quantitative approach with longitudinal and cross-sectional data to understand the associations between Chinese parenting and child and adolescent socioemotional outcomes. The dependent variables covered both positive and undesired socioemotional outcomes, including adolescent social initiatives, internet use, behavior problems, and academic performance. The method involved advanced statistical modeling, such as logistic regression, latent growth analysis, path analysis, and structural equation modeling. One qualitative study explored parenting identity development using a narrative approach. The five papers are

1. The associations between individual characteristics, family, school, and familism and Chinese adolescent social initiatives (Dan Wang)
2. The associations between Chinese youth internet use and behavioral problems (Yunqi Wang)
3. Chinese parenting and young child behavior problems (Zheng Wang)
4. The associations between Chinese child and adolescent conscientiousness trajectories and academic performances (Weiman Xu)
5. Understanding Chinese parenting identity development: A qualitative study (Zhenqiao Yang)