Mothers’ Experience of Social Change and Individualistic Parenting Goals Over Two Generations in Urban China

During the past four decades, China has gone through rapid urbanization and modernization. As people adapt to dramatic sociodemographic shifts from rural communities to urban centers and as economic level rises, individualistic cultural values in China have increased. Meanwhile, parent and child behavior in early childhood has also evolved accordingly to match a more individualistic society. This mixed-method study investigated how social change in China may have impacted parenting goals and child development in middle childhood, as seen through the eyes of the current generation of mothers. Thirty mothers of fifth-grade elementary school students from Shenzhen, China were recruited and took part in semi-structured interviews. Participants answered questions and provided examples about their children’s life, their own childhood, and the perceived differences between the two generations. Participating mothers were also asked to rate which generation, themselves or their parents, cared more about the childrearing goals of academic competitiveness and socioemotional well-being. Using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, we expected and found an intergenerational increase in the perceived value mothers placed on individualistic traits: current mothers care more about their children’s academic competitiveness, personal happiness, and social adjustment, compared to their experience of their own mothers’ attitudes during their childhood a generation earlier. They also experience conflict between their children’s academic competitiveness and socioemotional well-being. As a function of both urbanization and increased economic means, children’s collectivistic family responsibilities for essential household chores have declined as the importance of schoolwork has increased.

Physical Strength as a Cue to Men’s Capability as Protective Parents

The selection of formidable male allies within coalitional settings is partially in the service of ensuring protection from physical threats for group members. Within these inferences could include specific judgments of formidable men as being particularly effective at providing protection for their offspring, a functional judgment that could facilitate identification of prospective fathers who could satisfy parenting goals. The current study sought to identify the specific value of men’s physical strength in shaping perceptions of their effectiveness in domains or protection and nurturance of offspring. Participants evaluated physically strong and weak targets on their effectiveness in these domains. Strong men were perceived as more effective in protecting their offspring than weak men, with this advantage corresponding with strong men being perceived as less effective in nurturance. We frame results from an affordance management framework considering the role of functional inferences shaping interpersonal preferences.

Teaching or Learning from Baby: Inducing Explicit Parenting Goals Influences Caregiver Intrusiveness

Parents’ goals influence their interactions with their children. In this pre-registered study, we examined whether directing parents to teach their baby versus learn from their baby influences the extent to which they engage in intrusive caregiving behavior. Mother¬s and their 6-month-old infants (N=66; 32 female infants) participated in a 10-minute “free play” interaction, coded in 2-minute epochs for degree of maternal intrusiveness. Prior to the final epoch, mothers were randomly assigned to receive instructions to focus on 1) teaching something to their infant; or 2) learning something from their infant. Analyses of within-person changes in intrusiveness from before to after receiving these instructions indicated that mothers assigned to teach their infant increased in intrusiveness, whereas mothers assigned to learn from their infant decreased in intrusiveness. Parents’ explicit goals regarding infant learning can lead to controlling and adult-centered caregiving behavior.

Developmentally inappropriate practice? : westernized barriers to the parenting value filial piety

A sociocultural study hypothesised Chinese parents in Canada would express values informed by filial piety. The extent to which filial piety characteristics informed parenting values, the extent to which family characteristics related to parenting values and the extent to which families felt their values were reflected in Canadain pareting literature were explored. Questions were asked to highlight the problematic nature of Developmentally Appropriate Practice's universalistic approach to development. Survey research involved 30 participants' questionnaire responses. Results were mixed. Parents expressed an independent orientation regarding goals; whereas, values were consistent with filial piety. Agreement with parenting literature was marginal. Most research is needed to examine whether a hegemonic ideology contributes to Chinese parents goals; Chinese parents reported values informed by filial piety. No previous studies were found specifically investigating Canadian parents of Chinese origin. Potential benefits include indentifying barriers to partnership and opportunities to develop awareness of global parenting goals.

Developmentally inappropriate practice? : westernized barriers to the parenting value filial piety

A sociocultural study hypothesised Chinese parents in Canada would express values informed by filial piety. The extent to which filial piety characteristics informed parenting values, the extent to which family characteristics related to parenting values and the extent to which families felt their values were reflected in Canadain pareting literature were explored. Questions were asked to highlight the problematic nature of Developmentally Appropriate Practice's universalistic approach to development. Survey research involved 30 participants' questionnaire responses. Results were mixed. Parents expressed an independent orientation regarding goals; whereas, values were consistent with filial piety. Agreement with parenting literature was marginal. Most research is needed to examine whether a hegemonic ideology contributes to Chinese parents goals; Chinese parents reported values informed by filial piety. No previous studies were found specifically investigating Canadian parents of Chinese origin. Potential benefits include indentifying barriers to partnership and opportunities to develop awareness of global parenting goals.

Cultural Roots of Parenting: Mothers’ Parental Social Cognitions and Practices From Western US and Shanghai/China

Cultural values can be considered as important factors that impact parents’ social cognitions and parenting practices. However, few studies compare specific cultural values of parents and the relationships between cultural values and parenting processes in eastern and western contexts. This study examined the ethnicity differences in mothers’ cultural values, parental social cognitions (child-rearing ideologies and goals), and parenting practices between Mainland Chinese and European American contexts. Predictors of parenting goals and parenting practices were also investigated. Mothers of 4–6 years old children from the western United States (N = 78) and Shanghai/China (N = 96) participated in this study. The results suggested that mothers from Shanghai/China were both more collectivistic and individualistic than mothers from the western United States. Chinese mothers more strongly endorsed training and collectivistic parenting goals, while European American mothers more strongly endorsed individualistic parenting goals for their children. However, no significant difference was found in parenting practices for both groups of mothers. For both ethnic groups, in general, mothers’ cultural values have small but significant impact on their parenting processes. The prediction of cultural values and parenting goals on parenting practices were also different for both ethnicity groups. Although Chinese mothers were higher on both individualism and collectivism, their collectivistic values were more important in predicting parental social cognitions.

Parenting Goals: Links with Parenting Strategies in Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Objectives Parenting goals describe the outcomes that parents aim for when interacting with their child. They have received little attention in research with caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study explored different types (dimensions) of parenting goals reported by caregivers of children with ASD, investigated links between these parenting goals and child characteristics, and explored whether parenting goals were linked to reported use of particular parenting strategies. Methods Data from 161 caregivers of children with ASD aged 7–18 years revealed two goal dimensions: “Norm Adherence Goals” (i.e. the perceived importance of the child cooperating with the parent, respecting their authority, and behaving well in public); and “Autonomy Support and Relationship Goals” (i.e. the perceived importance of promoting the child’s resilience, wellbeing, and the quality of the parent-child relationship). Results Parents who reported that norm adherence goals were particularly important to them were more likely to endorse parenting strategies such as setting rules, using rewards, and giving punishments. These parents also reported using less “Accommodation” (e.g. making allowances for their child, being flexible, avoiding triggers). Autonomy support and relationship goals were very strongly endorsed by nearly all parents, and we therefore could not find strong links between the importance of these goals and parenting strategies. Conclusion These findings suggest that parenting goals might be importantly linked to parenting strategies and could be considered in personalizing interventions in clinical practice. Given that parents’ cognitions about their child’s behaviour and their role as parents likely interact with and influence their parenting goals, we argue that future research should investigate parenting goals, cognitions, and behaviours in parallel.

How gender, age, and socioeconomic status predict parenting goal pursuit

There are many factors that may influence parenting, from societal norms and expectations, dispositional differences, experience and maturity, and availability of resources. In the current research, we examined how stable demographic characteristics associated with these different factors predict the goals parents pursue with their children. We examined whether the pursuit of four parenting goals—child love and security, child development, parent image, and child acceptance—varies based on the characteristics of parents (i.e., gender, age, and socioeconomic status) and their children (i.e., gender and age). First, we provided evidence for the measurement invariance of the Parenting Goals Scale. The results suggested that across key characteristics, parents largely pursue the same four parenting goals on which they could be meaningfully compared. Second, meta-analytic results ( k = 5; Ntotal = 2,240) indicated that parents were largely similar in the goals they pursued with their children across their own and their child’s characteristics. We identified only a few exceptions, with these differences being small in magnitude: mothers and noncollege-educated parents pursued child love and security goals more than fathers and college-educated parents, older parents pursued child development goals less than younger parents, parents of older children pursued image goals more than parents of younger children, and lower income parents pursued child acceptance goals more than higher income parents. These results suggest that while there may be some small differences in parenting goal pursuit based on demographic characteristics, parents are largely motivated by similar goals when caring for their children.

Parenting goal pursuit is linked to emotional well-being, relationship quality, and responsiveness

The aim of the current research was to identify the goals underlying parental care and how they are linked to parents’ sense of emotional well-being, relationship quality, and responsiveness to their child’s needs. We examined the link between parenting goals and outcomes through surveying parents cross-sectionally (Studies 1 to 3), in a 10-day daily experience study (Study 4), and by conducting an internal meta-analysis of all four studies ( N total = 1,906). In Studies 1 and 2, parents were found to pursue four unique goals as captured by a new scale called the Parenting Goals Scale (PGS). The PGS measures the four goals of child love and security, child development, parent image, and child acceptance. In Study 3, each of the four goals was found to be meaningfully related to, while also being distinct from, other individual differences in parenting styles, other-focused orientations, self-focused orientations, and attachment styles. In a 10-day daily experience study (Study 4) as well as an internal meta-analysis across all four studies, each goal was found to be uniquely related to parents’ emotional well-being, relationship quality with their child, and feelings of responsiveness to their child’s needs. Daily and chronic pursuit of child love and security goals predicted greater emotional well-being, relationship quality, and responsiveness. In contrast, daily and chronic pursuit of parent image goals predicted poorer emotional well-being, relationship quality, and responsiveness, especially at the chronic level. Child development goals predicted poorer emotional well-being and relationship quality, especially at the chronic level. And finally, child acceptance goals predicted more positive emotions in daily life only. These associations largely held after controlling for parents’ reports of children’s mood and care difficulty. The current findings contribute to a growing body of research focused on understanding the joys and frustrations of parenting.