Poster #206 - Family Functioning, Mothers’ and Fathers’ Emotion Socialization, and Children’s Social Competence in Chinese Families

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Family functioning (FF), characterized by emotional bonding between family members and flexibility of the family system, is key for the development of children’s social competence (SC) (Ibabe & Bentler, 2016; Olson, Russell, & Sprenkle, 1983). Because FF encompasses the history of emotion-related interactions in the family, parental emotion socialization (ES) may be one mechanism through which FF influences children’s SC (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998). Fathers and mothers may assume different socialization duties and interact with children in different manners (Chen, Liu, & Li, 2000; Han, Qian, Gao, & Dong, 2015). Because of this, FF may relate differently to mothers’ compared with fathers’ ES, and in turn mothers’ and fathers’ ES may relate differently to child SC. The purpose of the current study was to examine direct and indirect relations of FF with child SC in middle childhood (see Figure 1 for the hypothesized model). Both mothers’ and fathers’ ES, in particular supportive and nonsupportive responses to children’s negative emotions, were included as potential mechanisms through which FF might have an indirect effect. Chinese families were recruited to investigate generalization of findings in Western cultural contexts to families from other cultural backgrounds (Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Cumberland, 1998; Jin, Zhang, & Han, 2017).
Participants were 439 mothers and 355 fathers of 1st through 3rd grade children who completed an online survey. After excluding parents with invalid answers, short response time, or no child SC data, the final sample included 365 mothers (child age M=7.96, SD=0.84, range=5–10 years, 45.8% daughters) and 204 fathers (child age M=7.43, SD=0.81, range=5–10 years, 48.0% daughters). Mothers and fathers completed the Chinese versions of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale, second edition (FACES II-CV, Phillips et al., 1998) and the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES, Fabes et al., 2002). Mothers also completed the Chinese version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ, Goodman, 1997).
See Table 1 for bivariate correlations. Four structural models were tested: (a) Maternal ES – prosocial behavior, (b) Maternal ES – problem behavior; (c) Paternal ES – prosocial behavior; and (d) Paternal ES – problem behavior. Fit indices showed adequate fit for all models. For both mothers and fathers, better FF was associated with more supportive and less nonsupportive reactions. For both mothers and fathers, nonsupportive reactions were related to more child problem behavior. For mothers, supportive reactions were related to more child prosocial behavior, whereas for fathers, supportive reactions were unrelated to child behavior. When we tested models’ invariance according to child sex, three pathways were not invariant. Mothers’ supportive ES was more strongly related to daughters’ prosocial behavior (β=.35, p<.01) than sons’ (β=.22, p<.01). Mothers’ nonsupportive ES was more strongly related to sons’ problem behavior (β=.35, p<.01) than daughters’ (β=.32, p<.01), whereas fathers’ nonsupportive ES was more strongly related to daughters’ problem behavior (β=.27, p<.05) than sons’ (β=.15, p=.17). Future research should examine fathers’ and mothers’ parental roles with sons and daughters in relation to changing cultural values in China.

Authors

• Danhua Zhu, Virginia Tech
  Presenting Author

• Yinghe Chen, Beijing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Longfeng Li, Beijing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julie Dunsmore, Virginia Tech
  Non-Presenting Author