Chinese Parental Involvement and Children’s School Readiness: The Moderating Role of Parenting Style

Research Findings: This study examined the moderating role of parenting style in the relations between different dimensions of parental involvement and their children’s school readiness. A total of 311 Chinese parents (Mean age = 35.74, SD = 4.61) and their kindergarten children (Mean age = 5.53, SD = .50) participated in this study. Parents completed questionnaires about their demographic information, parenting styles and parental involvement practices and teachers rated children’s school readiness levels. Results indicated that parents’ home-based, school-based and home-school conferencing involvement were all positively related to children’s school readiness. Home-based involvement showed stronger relationship to children’s school readiness than the other two types of parental involvement. In addition, authoritative parenting moderated the effects of both school-based involvement and home-school conferencing on children’s school readiness. The effect of school-based involvement was enhanced in the context of high authoritative parenting style. In contrast, the effect of home-school conferencing was decreased in the context of low authoritative parenting style. Practice or Policy. The results suggest that programs designed for enhancing parents’ involvement in children’s school readiness need to consider the emotional context that parents create through their parenting style. Implications for practice and suggestions for further research are offered