Parental Autonomy Support in the Context of Parent–Child Negotiation for Children’s Independent Mobility: ‘I Always Feel Safer With My Parents’ to ‘Boom! Bust Down Those Walls!’

Autonomy – acting volitionally with a sense of choice – is a crucial right for children. Given parents’ pivotal position in their child’s autonomy development, we examined how parental autonomy support and children’s need for autonomy were negotiated and manifested in the context of children’s independent mobility – children’s ability to play, walk or cycle unsupervised. We interviewed 105 Canadian children between 10 and 13-years-old and their parents ( n = 135) to examine child-parents’ negotiation patterns as to children’s independent mobility. Four patterns emerged, varying on parental autonomy support and children’s need/motivation for independent mobility: (1) child/parent dyad wants to increase independent mobility; (2) child only wants to increase independent mobility while parents do not; (3) child does not want to increase independent mobility while parents do; and (4) child/parent dyad does not want to increase independent mobility. Findings illuminate the importance of recognizing children as active and capable agents of change.

Pathways to Student Motivation: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents of Autonomous and Controlled Motivations

Students’ self-determined motivation (acting out of interest, curiosity, and abiding values) is associated with higher academic well-being, persistence, and achievement. Self-determination theory posits that self-determined motivation is dependent on the satisfaction of three psychological needs (relatedness, competence, and autonomy), which are in turn facilitated through need-supportive behaviors from notable others. In this meta-analysis, conducted over 144 studies and more than 79,000 students, we sought to overview pathways to student motivation in order to verify (1) how do psychological needs rank in the strength of their prediction of self-determined motivation and (2) which autonomy-support providers (parents or teachers) are the most relevant for psychological need satisfaction in students and self-determined motivation. Results show that teacher autonomy support predicts students’ need satisfaction and self-determined motivation more strongly than parental autonomy support. In addition, competence is the most positive predictor of self-determined motivation, followed by autonomy and then by relatedness.

The Relations of Parental Autonomy Support, Parental Control, and Filial Piety to Chinese Adolescents’ Academic Autonomous Motivation: A Mediation Model

This study attempted to examine the mediating role of filial piety in the relationships between parental autonomy support and control and Chinese adolescents’ academic autonomous motivation. A set of questionnaires were administered to 492 adolescent students at two senior high schools in Fuzhou, China. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were employed to analyze the data. The results showed that reciprocal filial piety (RFP) fully mediated the relationships of parental autonomy support and behavioral control with adolescents’ academic autonomous motivation. RFP did not significantly mediate the relationship between psychological control and academic autonomous motivation. Comparatively, authoritarian filial piety (AFP) did not play a significant mediating role in the relationship between the three parenting dimensions and adolescents’ academic autonomous motivation. The findings provide a new perspective for understanding the relationship between parenting behaviors and Chinese adolescents’ academic autonomous motivation.

Examining Reciprocal Links between Parental Autonomy-Support and Children’s Peer Preference in Mainland China

The present study examined the longitudinal relations between child perceptions of parental autonomy-support and peer preference in mainland China. Participants were N = 758 children (50.8% boys; Mage = 10.78 years, SD = 1.03 at Wave 1; Mage = 11.72 years, SD = 1.11 at Wave 2; Mage = 12.65 years, SD = 0.95 at Wave 3) from elementary and middle schools in Shanghai, P.R. China. Children were followed over three years from Grades 4–6 to Grades 6–8. Each year, children reported their perceived maternal/paternal autonomy-support and peer preference (being well-liked among peers) was measured via peer nominations. Among the results, peer preference positively predicted later perceptions of maternal and paternal autonomy-supportive parenting, whereas autonomy-supportive parenting did not significantly predict later peer preference. Results are discussed in terms of the interactions between parental autonomy-supportive parenting and children’s peer relationships in Chinese culture.

A Novel Approach to Looking at the Role of Autonomy Support in the Development of Passion in Education

The current research demonstrates a novel approach to investigating the role ofperceived teacher and parental autonomy support in college students’ ( N = 970 with376 males, 594 females) passion for science. Based on the Dualistic Model of Passionwhich posits the existence of a harmonious (HP) and obsessive (OP) passion, weadopted a 2 x 2 model (Gaudreau & Thompson, 2010) to test if low and high levels ofperceived parental and teacher autonomy support were differentially associated withstudents’ harmonious and obsessive passion. First, students' perceptions of high levels of both teacher and parental autonomy support rendered the highest means in HP and OP. Second, students who demonstrated high levels of only teacher autonomy support also displayed high levels of HP and OP. Third, OP levels were lowest when teacher autonomy support was low, while those from parents were high. Finally, perceived low support from both parents and teachers was not as ideal as having only support from parents to keep OP at the lowest levels. In sum, the results demonstrate the benefits of having both forms of autonomy support and highlight the outcomes associated with single-sided or low support. Practical implications highlight the importance of considering sources outside of students’ immediate learning environment when designing interventions based on autonomy support.

Future Time Perspective and Self-Control Mediate the Links between Parental Autonomy Support and Adolescents’ Digital Citizenship Behavior

While there has been growing evidence that autonomy-supportive parenting is associated with the ability of Western adolescents to thrive, it is less clear this relationship exists in other cultural contexts. This study primarily explored the relationship between parental autonomy support (PAS) and Chinese adolescents’ digital citizenship behavior (DCB), as well as the mediating role of future time perspective (FTP) and self-control (SC). Using cluster sampling, 549 high school students in North China were recruited and asked to complete a structured paper-and-pencil questionnaire. The results showed that PAS positively predicted adolescents’ participation in DCB, adolescents’ FTP and SC played a significant mediating role in the relationship between PAS and DCB separately and sequentially. These results indicated that PAS can increase adolescents’ FTP and, improve their SC abilities, and encourage their participation in DCB.