Parenting style and its impact on college students’ individuating and relating autonomy: A comparison of Taiwan and Mainland China

本研究主要探討台灣與中國大陸兩地大學生在自主性發展上的差異，並指出這差異是透過父母教養方式的中介，進而影響其自主性發展程度。根據Baumrind（1991）觀點，父母教養方式可區分為四種類型：威權專制、開明權威、寬鬆放任和忽視冷漠；而 Yeh與Yang（2006）的雙元自主性模型觀點主張，自主性是一種進行自我管理並展現自由意志的適應能力，它可區分成個體化與關係兩種取向。本研究主張，父母開明權威教養方式與兩種取向自主性的正向發展密切關聯，而威權專制教養方式則會抑制兩種自主性的發展。由於中國大陸自從1964年以來經歷了一系列社會結構變化導致的家庭內部父母權威的衰落以及1979年起實行的「一胎化」政策，促使中國大陸的父母，相對於台灣的父母，更傾向以子女作為家庭功能運作的中心，並且逐漸改由傳統的威權專制轉向開明權威的方式來教養小孩，因此本研究預測兩地大學生的自主性發展，會透過父母開明權威及威權專制教養方式中介作用產生影響。本研究經以大陸（254名）和台灣（250名）大學生的資料進行分析，結果發現：（1）開明權威教養方式和子女的個體化及關係自主性呈現正相關，而威權專制則與兩種自主性呈現負相關；（2）大陸相較台灣的父母採用較多的開明權威教養方式，而台灣相較大陸採用較多的威權專制教養方式；（3）開明權威的父母教養方式作為中介變項，影響著兩地區大學生在雙元自主性發展程度上的差異。研究結果大致符合本研究提出的假設預測，論文最後提出本研究的限制與值得未來繼續深入探討的研究方向。The main purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between college students’ perceived parenting styles with the development of their individual autonomy (IA) and relating autonomy (RA). Also, this study tried to compare the differences between parenting styles in Mainland China and Taiwan. According to Baumrind (1991)’s typology, the parenting styles can be seen as varying along two orthogonal dimensions, demandingness and responsiveness, and yield four types of parenting styles: authoritative (high in responsiveness and high in demandingness), authoritarian (low in responsiveness and high in demandingness), permissive (high in responsiveness and low in demandingness), and rejecting-neglecting (low in responsiveness and low in demandingness). Moreover, We attempted to operationalized the autonomy based on Yeh and Yang’s Dual Autonomy Model(DAM), in which IA highlights the fulfilling of personal distinctive features , and RA highlights the considering interpersonal harmony and quality of relationship. Furthermore, the absolute authority of parents has been declined due to the social structural changes happened in post-Mao China. Also, the one-child policy has been strictly enforced in Mainland China since 1979 in order to take control of population growth and benefit economic development. Due to these changes, parents of Chinese family, compared to their counterparts in Taiwan, are more likely to use the authoritative parenting style. Participants included 254 college students from Mainland China and 252 college students from Taiwan. As hypothesized, the results shown that authoritative yielded positive relationships with IA and RA and authoritarian was negatively related with both orientations of autonomy. Moreover, compared to parents in Taiwan, parents in Mainland China inclined to use more authoritative parenting style, which contribute differently to the extent of college students’ development of IA and RA. Thirdly, authoritative parenting style played a mediator role of the association between nation and the development of dual autonomy. These findings provide further insight in the complex dynamics in autonomy and parenting styles in national contexts. Discussion focuses on the implications of the relationship between authoritative and authoritarian parenting and autonomous development in Mainland China and Taiwan