Do Chinese and American Children’s Interpretations of Parenting Moderate Links between Perceived Parenting and Child Adjustment?

The researchers in this study investigated whether Chinese and American children’sinterpretations of parents’ coercive authority assertion moderate relations between their self-reportedparenting and adjustment. Associations between child adjustment and parents’ shamingand critically comparing children to their peers were also investigated. Design. Sixth-, seventhandeighth-graders (Mages = 11.73, 12.74, and 13.78 years, respectively) residing in Shanghai (n =150) and Chicago (n = 168) rated possible motivations for coercive authority assertion, indicatedwhether they approved of it, and reported their parents’ coercive authority assertion, criticalcomparison and shaming, as well as their own depression, antisocial behavior, and school effort.Results. Children in both cultures indicated that parents practiced coercive authority assertion tobenefit their childrenmore than themselves. Yet approval ratings were low. Approval of coerciveauthority assertion and the child-beneficial interpretation moderated relations between parents’coercive authority assertion and depression in both cultures. For American children, relationsbetween parents’ coercive authority assertion and both antisocial behavior and school effortwere moderated by a social conventional interpretation. Critical comparison and shaming, andparents’ coercive authority assertion were associated with poorer adjustment in both cultures.Conclusions. Chinese and American children believe parents are well-meaning but misguided intheir practice of coercive authority assertion. Children’s approval and interpretations can moderateparents’ coercive authority assertion’s links to psychosocial and academic functioning.Critical comparison and shaming is also associated with poorer adjustment in both cultures