Previous studies have shown that a child’s attachment relationship with the mother and the mother’s psychosocial functioning are influential to the child’s psychosocial functioning in terms of the development of psychopathology. The current study aimed to examine the relationships between maternal and child psychosocial functioning in terms of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and sleep problems, as well as child attachment quality. The potential mediating or moderating role of attachment quality in the mother-child psychosocial functioning linkage was investigated. A total of 151 children and their mothers from a local community sample participated in the study. The children reported on their sleep problems and attachment quality. The mothers reported on their sleep problems, their children’s sleep problems, their internalizing symptoms, and their children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Results showed that maternal internalizing symptoms were predictive of child internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Attachment quality was predictive of child externalizing symptoms. The relationships among maternal and child sleep problems and attachment quality were inconclusive. No mediation or moderation effect of attachment quality on the relationship between maternal and child psychosocial functioning was suggested. Implications and future research directions were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The effects of parental control on Chinese children’s academic functioning have presented a paradox to the parenting literature (Chao, 1994). Chinese parents were empirically found to be controlling and restrictive, and yet their children often managed to perform well academically. Viewing the limit of Western parenting theories in explaining the findings on Chinese parenting, some researchers have turned to study the differences between the Eastern and Western cultures in perceiving parental control. However, the emphasis on what is different between cultures (i.e. the emic) might result in overlooking what is common across cultures (i.e. the etic). The present research put a parallel focus on the emic and the etic processes pertaining to the paradox. It compared how Chinese and American children felt affectively towards their mothers' involvement in an academically related task. Mothers' controlling behaviors could elicit different feelings among children across cultures, and thus result in varied motivational outcomes. This could be the key to resolve the paradox. The present research also examined the role of mother-child socio-emotional relatedness in affecting children’s feelings towards mothers' involvement in the task session as well as task motivation among the two cultures. A total of 142 mothers and their 5th graders were invited to participate in a laboratory activity which resembled everyday homework task. About half of the mother-child dyads (n = 73) were Caucasian Americans recruited in Urbana-Champaign and the other half (n = 69) were Chinese recruited in Hong Kong. The children were asked to work on three similar digit-search tasks. They were joined by their mothers for the second task, during which the mother-child interactions were videotaped. Mothers’ controlling behaviors were operationalized as mothers’ provision of unsolicited interventions during the second task session. Children’s feelings towards mothers' involvement in the task session (i.e. felt anger/hurt, felt loved/cared for), task motivation as well as their social-emotional relatedness with mothers were assessed by self-report measures. 　　　Similar across cultures, children’s feelings instead of the actual unsolicited interventions from mothers were found to be the significant predictors for children’s task motivation. Nevertheless, Chinese and American children differed in how they felt affectively towards maternal control. Heightened unsolicited interventions from mothers were associated with elevated feelings of anger/hurt among the American children but not the Chinese children. Similar across cultures, children were more likely to report elevated feelings of being loved/cared as well as higher task motivation when they reported higher level of socio-emotional relatedness with their mothers. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying the effects of socio-emotional relatedness on motivation were different across cultures. 　　　Overall, the findings revealed both the eitc and the emic aspects in how maternal control is associated with children’s feelings, motivational outcomes, and mother-child socio-emotional relatedness. The present research provides a solution to the Chinese parenting paradox through adopting a globally applicable framework that can accommodate both the universality and the cultural specificity pertaining to the effects of parental control. It also makes contribution to the development of global psychology that integrates both emic and etic approaches. / published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

The construct of parental control and its role in influencing children’s motivation in collectivistic cultures have been hotly debated. Two studies examined Hong Kong Chinese children’s perception of parental control and its relation with their academic motivation with sociocultural considerations. In Study 1, children (n = 24) were invited to participate in a focus group to report what parental control meant to them. The qualitative data obtained in the discussion were then used to construct questionnaires for investigating the perception of children from different income groups towards low and high level of parental controlling behaviors in Study 2. Children (N = 294) from lower and higher income groups were randomly assigned to complete the questionnaires consisting of either low or high control scenarios. Results indicated that children from different income families viewed parental control similarly. Mild forms of controlling behaviors were considered as signs of love and care, while intense forms were perceived as signs of control. Interaction effects were found for children’s perceived level of love and control towards the behaviors depicted in the scenarios and their mothers’ frequency of performing those behaviors in real life on their academic motivation. The present research provided a clearer conceptualization of the construct of parental control in Chinese societies and supported the applicability of the self-determination theory in the Hong Kong context. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology). Johannesburg, 1981 / The present study aimed first, at determining whether part-time (nursery-school attendance), and a full-time (day-care attendance) quantitative disruption in motherchild interaction, affects the child’s separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, frustration tolerance and general coping mechanisms. Second, the effect of the quality of mothering (the degree of maternal acceptance and responsiveness) on the child's separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, frustration tolerance and general coping mechanisms was assessed. Thirdly and fourthly, this study aimed at determining whether the age and the sex of the child affect the separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, frustration tolerance and general coping mechanisms exhibited by that child; and finally whether there is a relationship between separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, frustration tolerance and general coping mec hanisms. Fifty-six four-year-olds and their mothers were observed. These included 14 children who stayed home with their mothers; 14 children attending nursery-school; 14 children attending a day-care centre from the age of three; and 14 children attending a day-care centre froc the age of one. A problem-solving task was administered to the children to obtain a measure of their frustration tolerance; a modified version of the Ainsworth-Wittig Strange-Situation Procedure was employed to measure the children's separation anxiety and stranger anxiety;

At Time 2, the mother-adolescent dyads were contacted again at the end of the academic year, of which 304 dyads participated in the survey. The longitudinal model generated results similar to that of Time 1. Path analysis revealed that gender differences emerged in the complexity of the model. For girls, all stressors except emotional autonomy contributed to parenting stress, which in turn negatively influenced parenting style. Maternal control mediated the negative impact of parenting stress on achievement aspirations. However, parenting style did not predict girls' perceived academic competence. For boys, all stressors except emotional autonomy predicted parenting stress, which in turn impaired the quality of parenting style. However, parenting style did not predict any of boys' adjustment outcomes. Instead, emotional autonomy had a direct negative impact on achievement aspirations and perceived academic competence. / Based on results derived at Time 2, the model was revised and gender differences were tested using multi-sample analyses. In the final model, parenting stress had an indirect effect on girls' achievement aspirations through the mediation of parental control, whereas parenting stress had a direct effect on boys' achievement aspirations. However, only maternal academic distress predicted adolescent perceived academic competence in both genders. / The present dissertation broadened current literature in the area by proposing an integrated model of parenting stress. Findings suggested intervention to target at mother's parenting self-efficacy, and parenting alliance to ameliorate the stresses and burden of child caring. However, the validity of the findings may be impeded by limitations in relation to methodology. Implications for future research on parenting stress were discussed in detail. / There is no doubt that parenting is one of the most taxing roles. The issue of parenting stress is a complex phenomenon that requires research to be guided by theory and models (Abidin, 1990), without which advancement in the area would not be possible. The present dissertation was an attempt to propose an integrated model of parenting stress among Chinese mothers with children advancing from primary to secondary school. The integrated model was a modification of Abidin's (1992) model in that variables appropriate to the child's developmental stage and the Chinese culture were incorporated. The model postulated that parenting-relevant stressors/resources were predictive of parenting stress. Parenting stress then had a negative impact on adolescent outcomes through the mediation of parenting style. Negative outcomes would further accentuate parenting stress, thus creating a vicious cycle of maladaptiveness. The validity of the model in predicting adolescent achievement aspirations and perceived academic competence was tested at two time points over a 6-month interval. At Time 1, the cross-sectional model was tested in 510 mother-adolescent dyads. Results of path analysis revealed substantial gender differences. For girls, adolescent emotional autonomy, maternal academic distress, parenting alliance and parenting self-efficacy contributed to parenting stress. Parenting stress had a direct effect on parenting style and indirect effect on girls' achievement aspirations and perceived academic competence through the mediation of parental control. For boys, all the stressors except emotional autonomy contributed to parenting stress. Parenting stress had a direct effect on parenting style. However, parenting style did not mediate the effect of parenting stress as both parental control and parental responsiveness failed to explain boys' outcomes. Instead, boys' emotional autonomy contributed directly to lower levels of achievement aspirations and perceived academic competence. / Lai, Pui Yee. / "June 2007." / Adviser: Catherine S. K. Tang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-01, Section: B, page: 0717. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-165). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

No description available.

Emotion language use provides insight into a person's emotional landscape. However, little is known about how preschool aged children and their parents use emotion language in their real world interactions. To address the shortcomings of the current body of empirical work on naturally occurring emotion language, this dissertation asks the following four research questions: 1) How do children and parents use emotion words in their daily lives?; 2) How is children's emotion language related to parents' emotion language?; 3) How is emotion language use related to emotional functioning?; and 4) How does emotion language in a lab setting compare to a natural setting? This dissertation implements a naturalistic methodology tool to answer the above questions. Thirty-five preschool aged children and their parents were recruited to participate in a two-wave longitudinal study in which the children wore a digital recording device for one day at each of the time points to capture acoustic information about the emotion language and behaviors they and their parents use in their daily lives. Additionally, participants completed a traditional laboratory based paradigm used to study emotion language within families. Parents also completed self-report measures related to emotion functioning for themselves and their child. Results indicate that children and their parents use high rates of positive emotion but very low rates of negative emotion in their naturally occurring interactions. This is different from lab based paradigms that elicit high rates of both positive and negative emotion language from children and parents. Next, children's use of emotion words tends to match the emotion language of their mothers more than their fathers but gender of the child also plays an important role. Very little support emerged for the emotion regulation model, as evidenced by children who cry and whine the most and who have the most behavioral problems tending to use negative emotions the most. The preponderance of the evidence suggests that emotion language reflects emotional state rather than regulates it. And, finally, the ecological validity of laboratory studies of emotion word usage is called into question by the independence of emotion language elicited in the lab and the natural expression of emotion words in a natural setting. Implications for researchers conducting work in the area of emotion language and emotional development are discussed. / text