Chinese parents' education anxiety, parenting, and problem behaviors in preschool children: Child competence as moderator

IF 1.7 3区社会学 Q2 FAMILY STUDIES Family Relations Pub Date : 2025-01-16 DOI:10.1111/fare.13135

Mingzhu Wang, Yaming Lin, Qianqian Xu, Hui Liu, Yiwei Li, Qimeng Duan

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Abstract

Objective

This study investigated how parental education anxiety was associated with preschoolers' internalizing and externalizing problems, and whether these associations were mediated by parenting styles. Additionally, the moderating role of children's competence in learning was examined.

Background

Chinese parents are generally anxious about their children's education. However, the implications of parental education anxiety for children's adjustment and the underlying mechanisms are still unclear.

Method

A total of 317 Chinese parents of preschool children aged 5 to 6 years from urban areas of China participated in this study and completed a set of questionnaires online.

Results

Parental education anxiety was positively associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in preschool children. Such associations were mediated by authoritarian parenting, whereas the mediating role of authoritative parenting was not significant. Children's competence in learning moderated the link between parental education anxiety and child internalizing problems across child gender, whereas its moderating role in the link between parental education anxiety and child externalizing problems was only evident in boys. In addition, the positive relation of parental education anxiety to authoritarian parenting was stronger in families with children who had low competence than in families with children who had high competence.

Conclusion

Parental education anxiety was a risk factor for children's psychological adjustment, and authoritarian parenting represented one of the underlying mechanisms. Moreover, children's competence in learning buffered the adverse effects of parental education anxiety.

Implications

Intervention programs need to develop strategies that can alleviate parents' education anxiety. The cultivation of children's overall competence is also needed.

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目的本研究探讨了父母的教育焦虑与学龄前儿童的内化和外化问题之间的关系，以及这些关系是否受父母教养方式的影响。此外，研究还探讨了儿童学习能力的调节作用。研究背景中国家长普遍对子女的教育感到焦虑。然而，父母的教育焦虑对儿童适应的影响及其内在机制尚不清楚。方法共有317名来自中国城市地区的5至6岁学龄前儿童的家长参与了本研究，并在线填写了一套问卷。结果家长的教育焦虑与学龄前儿童的内化和外化问题呈正相关。专制型养育方式对这种关联具有中介作用，而权威型养育方式的中介作用不显著。在不同性别的儿童中，儿童的学习能力可以调节父母教育焦虑与儿童内化问题之间的联系，而父母教育焦虑与儿童外化问题之间的联系的调节作用仅在男孩中明显。此外，在子女能力较低的家庭中，父母教育焦虑与专制型养育的正相关关系比子女能力较高的家庭更强。结论父母的教育焦虑是影响儿童心理适应的一个危险因素，而专制型教养方式是其潜在机制之一。此外，儿童的学习能力可以缓冲父母教育焦虑的不利影响。启示干预计划需要制定能够缓解父母教育焦虑的策略。此外，还需要培养儿童的综合能力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Family Relations Multiple-

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

13.60%

发文量

164

期刊介绍： A premier, applied journal of family studies, Family Relations is mandatory reading for family scholars and all professionals who work with families, including: family practitioners, educators, marriage and family therapists, researchers, and social policy specialists. The journal"s content emphasizes family research with implications for intervention, education, and public policy, always publishing original, innovative and interdisciplinary works with specific recommendations for practice.