Parenting, parenting styles and adolescent development in Hong Kong and Euro–American culture

BACKGROUND With growing accessibility and need over the past decades, the Internet has experienced a rapid increase in use globally. Specifically, with the accelerated development in information technology, more than 90% of Hong Kong’s citizens use the Internet, and 70% of children in the age group of 6-17 have daily access to it. However, despite the benefits of Internet technology, its addiction could pose serious social and health issues. Therefore, conducting research to investigate its causes and risk factors is fundamental. OBJECTIVE In this study, we examined the relationship between worry and Internet addiction among children in Hong Kong, and investigated the moderating effect of the permissive parenting style on such relationship. METHODS The participants consisted of 227 fourth-grade and fifth-grade students (120 males, 52.9%) from primary schools in Hong Kong with a mean age of 9.55 (SD = .58). Each participant was asked to complete the questionnaires, including the Internet Addiction Test for Internet addiction, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children for worry, and the Parental Authority Questionnaire for the permissive parenting style. RESULTS The results indicated that worry was related to greater Internet addiction among children. Furthermore, there was a moderating effect of the permissive parenting style such that the positive association between worry and Internet addiction was stronger when the permissive parenting style was higher. CONCLUSIONS Our findings imply that parenting styles are influential in the prevention of Internet addiction.

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Children’s Aggression, Parenting Styles, and Distress for Hong Kong Parents

Journal of Family Violence ◽

10.1007/s10896-013-9518-9 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 28 (5) ◽

pp. 515-521 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Annis Lai-Chu Fung ◽

Lawrence H. Gerstein ◽

Yuichung Chan ◽

Erica Hurley

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Parenting Styles

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A 6-year longitudinal study of social competence amongst Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

International Journal on Disability and Human Development ◽

10.1515/ijdhd-2017-5009 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Daniel T.L. Shek ◽

Xiang Li ◽

Lu-Yin Liang

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Social Competence ◽

Family Functioning ◽

Adolescent Development ◽

Initial Level ◽

Chinese Adolescents ◽

Economic Disadvantage ◽

Relational Quality ◽

Intact Families

AbstractIn response to the severe lack of longitudinal data on adolescent development, we conducted a 6-year longitudinal study examining the change and psychosocial correlates of social competence in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. During the high school years (Secondary 1 to Secondary 6), participants responded to measures of social competence, socio-demographic characteristics (gender, family intactness and economic disadvantage) and family processes (father-child relational quality, mother-child relational quality and family functioning). Results showed that social competence dropped across the six waves. While gender, father-child subsystem quality, mother-child subsystem quality, and family functioning significantly predicted social competence at the initial level, rate of decrease in social competence was greater for adolescents who came from intact families, had better mother-child subsystem quality, and reported better family functioning. Economic disadvantage was the only factor that did not affect the development of social competence in adolescents.

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Multi-faceted discipline strategies of Chinese parenting

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025417690266 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 472-481 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Heidi Fung ◽

Jin Li ◽

Chi Kwan Lam

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Parenting Styles ◽

Social Distance ◽

Future Research ◽

School Age ◽

Research Attention ◽

Abstract Characterization ◽

Chinese Parenting ◽

Strategy Types

Parental disciplining of their misbehaving children continues to draw much research attention. Baumrind’s typology of parenting styles has been frequently used to classify Chinese parenting as more authoritarian. Although influential, research tends predominantly to focus on abstract characterization. Yet, parenting is a practice informed by specific cultural ethnotheories and enacted in response to their children’s behavior in specific contexts. Our study attempted to explore this type of disciplining in situ. We interviewed 89 mothers from Taiwan (45) and Hong Kong (44) with children from near the end of infancy to beginning-school age. Mothers were asked to share their disciplinary strategies for handling four hypothetical yet common situations in which children misbehaved. These situations varied in setting, social distance among participants, possible consequences, nature of rules involved, and degree of conflict. We found five strategy types. Moreover, mothers prioritized them differently for different situations. Finally, we identified four ways of using strategies: single, contingent, simultaneous, or ratcheting-up. Depending on their strategies in a given situation, these uses also varied. We were compelled to conclude that Chinese parenting is more multi-faceted than has been typically portrayed in research. Implications for future research on parenting across cultures are discussed.

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The associations between parenting styles and proactive and reactive aggression in Hong Kong children and adolescents

International Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1002/ijop.12104 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 50 (6) ◽

pp. 463-471 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Yu Gao ◽

Wei Zhang ◽

Annis Lai Chu Fung

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Parenting Styles ◽

Reactive Aggression ◽

Proactive And Reactive Aggression

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Worry and Permissive Parenting in Association with the Development of Internet Addiction in Children

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17217722 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (21) ◽

pp. 7722

Author(s):

Barbara Chuen Yee Lo ◽

Romance Nok Man Lai ◽

Ting Kin Ng ◽

Haobi Wang

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Parenting Style ◽

Parenting Styles ◽

Internet Addiction ◽

Positive Association ◽

Moderating Effect ◽

The Internet ◽

Fifth Grade Students ◽

Permissive Parenting ◽

State Worry

The Internet has experienced a rapid increase in use globally. Specifically, more than 90% of Hong Kong’s citizens use the Internet, and 70% of children in the age group of 6–17 years have daily access to it. However, internet addiction could pose serious social and health issues. Therefore, conducting research to investigate its causes and risk factors is fundamental. The current study examined the relationship between worry and Internet addiction among children in Hong Kong and investigated the moderating effect of the permissive parenting style on such a relationship. The participants consisted of 227 fourth- and fifth-grade students (120 males, 52.9%) with a mean age of 9.55 (standard deviation (SD) = 0.58) in Hong Kong. Each participant was asked to complete the questionnaires, including the Internet Addiction Test for Internet addiction, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children for worry, and the Parental Authority Questionnaire for the permissive parenting style. The results indicated that worry was related to greater Internet addiction among children. Furthermore, there was a moderating effect of the permissive parenting style such that the positive association between worry and Internet addiction was stronger when the permissive parenting style was higher. Our findings imply that parenting styles are influential in the prevention of Internet addiction.

Download Full-text