3-007 - New Insights on Parental Autonomy Support and Children's Academic Functioning

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Converging evidence indicates that parents’ autonomy support (e.g., providing children with choice, letting children take initiative) is beneficial for children’s school adjustment. However, scant research has focused on when and why autonomy-supportive practices can benefit children’s learning. The three papers in this symposium utilize distinct methods and diverse samples to understand (1) the conditions under which parents’ autonomy support facilitates children’s school functioning and (2) the mechanisms underlying the benefits of autonomy support.

The first paper employed an experimental approach to examine children’s perceptions of mothers’ use of tangible rewards. Compared to mothers’ autonomy-supportive and controlling practices, tangible rewards were seen as highly controlling. Mothers’ use of rewards in turn predicted children’s dampened desire to engage in school. Interestingly, older children as well as children with lesser autonomous reasons to engage in school tended to perceive rewards as controlling. The second paper moved beyond a focus on Western sample and examined how the interactive effects of adolescents’ self-construal and parental autonomy support. Among other factors, parents’ autonomy support was a significant predictor of adolescents’ grades. However, Chinese adolescents who had heightened independent self-construal were more likely to benefit from parents’ autonomy support, compared to their counterparts with interdependent self-construal. The third paper took a longitudinal, comparative approach to investigate a novel mechanism underlying the role of parental autonomy support in adolescents’ learning-related adjustment. Findings revealed that adolescents’ affective processes (e.g., happiness) underlie the effects of Chinese (but not American) parental autonomy support on adolescents’ school engagement and academic self-views.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Cecilia Cheung, The University of California, Riverside

Discussant

• Wendy Grolnick, Clark University

Individual Presentations

• Are Rewards Controlling and Counterproductive for School Engagement? An Experimental Investigation - Presenting Author: Stijn Van Petegem, University of Lausanne; Bart Soenens, Ghent University; Maarten Vansteenkiste, Ghent University

• Parental Autonomy Support, Adolescent Self-construal, and Academic Achievement among Chinese Adolescents - Presenting Author: Kieu Anh Do, University of Maryland, College Park; Cixin Wang, University of Maryland, College Park; Yan Xia, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• What Underlies American and Chinese Parents’ Autonomy Support in Adolescents’ Learning-Related Processes? - Presenting Author: Jorge Monroy, University of California, Riverside; Cecilia Cheung, The University of California, Riverside