Effects of parenting style on child emotion regulation and behavioural: Cultural values as a moderator in Australia and Indonesia

It has been proposed that the congruence of parenting styles with cultural values, rather than parenting styles alone, impact child adjustment (Chao, 1994; Rudy & Grusec, 2001; Garcia & Garcia, 2009). Whereas authoritarian parenting is consistently associated with negative child outcomes in western, individualistic societies, it is thought to have diminished negative effects, or even positive effects, in collectivist societies. The current study examined this proposal among 2-10 year old children in Australia, an individualist culture, and Indonesia, a collectivist culture. A cross-national sample of 387 Australian and Indonesian parents reported their parenting styles, the importance of the values security, conformity, and tradition, and their child's emotion regulation and behavioural problems. In both countries, authoritative parenting predicted higher emotion regulation and lower levels of behavioural problems. Authoritarian parenting also predicted lower emotion regulation and higher levels of behavioural problems in both countries. Contrary to hypotheses, country or cultural values did not moderate the relationship between authoritarian parenting and child emotion regulation and behavioural problems. Unexpectedly, greater importance placed on tradition attenuated the positive effect of authoritative parenting on child outcomes. Implications for cross-cultural theory and parenting interventions are discussed