Parenting Styles, Parental Involvement and Kindergarten Children\u27s Readiness for Elementary School in Shanghai, China

The purpose of this non-experimental research study carried out in Shanghai, China, was to examine parents’ perceived parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive) and parental involvement (home-based involvement, school-based involvement, and home-school conferencing) in relationship to children’s overall school readiness among third-year kindergarten children (5-6 years olds). In addition, this study investigated how, if at all, the use of various parenting styles moderated the effects of parental involvement on children’s development of school readiness, while controlling for child gender and household income. Three hundred and twenty ( N =320) parents and 22 teachers of third year kindergarten children from four kindergartens in two districts of Shanghai participated in this study. Each parent participant completed a parenting survey consisting of three parts: demographic information, the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) and the Family Involvement Questionnaire(FIQ). The teachers completed the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a school readiness assessment for each child which covers five development domains: physical health and well-being, language and cognition, social competence, emotional maturity, and communication and general knowledge. The results of this study indicated that authoritative parenting was positively correlated to children’s school readiness, and authoritarian parenting and permissive parenting were negatively correlated to children’s school readiness. Only authoritative parenting had a significant unique influence on children’s overall school readiness skills while controlling for child’s gender and monthly household income. In addition, although all three types of parental involvement were positively related to children’s school readiness score, only home-based involvement had a significant unique influence on children’s school readiness while controlling for child’s gender and monthly household income. Controlling for child’s gender, and family income, authoritative parenting moderated the effects of school-based involvement and home-school conferencing on children’s school readiness skills. Specifically, the effects of school-based involvement and home-school conferencing were enhanced in the context of high authoritative parenting style. In contrast, the effects of school-based involvement and home-school conferencing were decreased in the context of low authoritative parenting style