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

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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;

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Past research has indicated that controlling parenting practices may impede children’s learning motivation, while autonomy-supportive practices may facilitate learning outcomes (Grolnick, Ryan, & Deci, 1991). However, these findings may not be applicable to all cultures. Chinese mothers appear to be controlling (Chao & Tseng, 2002) but Chinese children outperform their Western counterparts in international comparisons (PISA, 2009). The present study addressed this paradox by investigating four postulations. First, given the greater emphasis of obedience and compliance in collectivistic culture as opposed to the uphold of independence and autonomy in individualistic culture (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), Chinese children were anticipated to perceive the same maternal controlling behavior as less manipulative than American children. Second, given the effect of mother-child relatedness on children’s motivation in empirical studies (e.g. Bao & Lam, 2008; Furrer & Skinner, 2003), regardless of culture, children high in relatedness with their mothers were anticipated to perceive the maternal behaviors as less manipulative than those low in relatedness. Third, in line with self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000), internalization was anticipated to mediate the association between relatedness and motivation in both cultures. Fourth, to investigate the limit of internalization, two levels of maternal controlling behaviors were presented. Chinese children were anticipated to perceive the low level of controlling behavior as less manipulative than American children. In contrast, both Chinese and American children were anticipated to perceive the high level of controlling behavior as manipulative since the behavior may be too controlling to be internalized by children. The participants were 120 Hong Kong Chinese 5th graders and 120 American 5th graders. They were asked to complete a questionnaire that included measures of children’s feelings towards low vs. high levels of maternal controlling behaviors, mother-child relatedness, children’s internalization and learning motivation. The results showed that the same maternal controlling behaviors elicited different feelings in children with different cultural backgrounds (Chinese vs. American) and different levels of mother-child relatedness (Low vs. High). Consistent with Hypothesis 1, Chinese children perceived the high level of maternal controlling behaviors as less manipulative than American children and in turn reported more motivated in learning. Consistent with Hypothesis 2, children in both cultures who reported high relatedness with mothers perceived the behaviors as less manipulative than those reported low relatedness. Consistent with Hypothesis 3, internalization was found to mediate the relation between mother-child relatedness and children’s learning motivation in both cultures. Contrary to Hypothesis 4, Chinese and American children perceived the low level of maternal controlling behavior similarly as not manipulative, whereas, American children perceived the high level of maternal controlling behavior as more manipulative than Chinese children. The limit of internalization could not be identified and further studies are needed. In short, the findings reveal cultural differences in children’s feelings towards the same maternal controlling behaviors. Chinese mothers’ behaviors that are manipulative in the eyes’ of the Westerner may not be perceived as such by the Chinese. Children’s perceptions, mother-child relatedness and the universal psychological mechanism internalization are important to understand Chinese Parenting Paradox. / published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

This two-year qualitative clinical study investigates the intea-psychic (within a person) and inter-relational (between people) effect of maternal ambivalence in female psychotherapy relationships. The participants are five, low-income single mothers, and I am the therapist researcher. Ambivalence describes the co-existence of loving and hating feelings. In traditional psychoanalytic theory, ambivalence originates in the developing infant's relationship to the mother and forms the basis of all adult relationships. A mother's experience of ambivalence is viewed as a regressive return to an earlier emotional experience with her mother. Maternal ambivalence is a feminist psychoanalytic concept developed by Parker (1995, 1997). Parker expands the Freudian and post-Freudian object relations concept of ambivalence using the perspective of the adult mother. In Parker's conceptualization of maternal ambivalence, a mother experiences feelings of ambivalence towards her infant and child that are not simply regressive, but are part of her normal adult development as a mother. Each mother's experiences and expressions of maternal ambivalence are affected by her social and cultural context of mothering. Each woman is consciously and unconsciously affected by her psychosocial constructions of maternal ambivalence and brings her beliefs and experiences into the clinical relationship. Through highlighting the narratives and interpreting the transference and counter-transference material, this study shows the impact of maternal ambivalence on the therapeutic alliance of women working with women in clinical social work. The therapeutic alliance refers to the quality of the relational bond between the therapist and client. This population of mothers was selected because they represent a significant group of clients seen in various clinical social work Dangerous Connections settings, such as youth protection, non-profit counseling agencies, and community centers. In this manuscript-based thesis, I present two of my participants' cases as an indepth exploration of my research process, its analysis, and the applicable theories I used. This research process indicates that in seeking to develop a more culturally and gender sensitive clinical practice and therapeutic connections, social workers may benefit from reflectively challenging their internalized psychosocial idealizations and denigrations of motherhood.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / This study was conducted to ascertain whether the mothers of children with psychoneurological learning disabilities were more depressed, helpless due to a particular attributional style, and had a lower self-concept, than the mothers of children with anxiety disorders. The Beck Depression Inventory, (Beck, Ward, Mendelson & Erbaugh, 1961), the Attributional Style Questionnaire (Abramson, Seligman &Teasdale, 1978), and the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (Fitts, 1965) were completed by the mothers of 20 boys with psychoneurological learning .disabilities and the mothers of 20 boys with anxiety disorders, aged 6-12 years. Significant results were obtained contrary to expectations, in that the mothers of children with anxiety disorders, were in fact more depressed, helpless and had a lower self-concept than the mothers of children with psycho- neurological disabilities. The conclusion was drawn that the nature of the psychopathology did not depend as much on one factor such as a specific learning disability or an anxiety disorder, but was rather a manifestation of the functioning of the family system. Further research seems indicated to investigate the strengths and vulnerabilities in the family system as a whole, in terms of the reciprocal influence of the learning disabled child and his family...

As no known research has been done on Satir brief therapy in a maternity setting, an exploratory design using the case study method was used to assess whether women in a maternity hospital experience this form of therapy as beneficial. Purposive sampling was used to obtain a sample of five patients for this study. Therapeutic sessions were held with these women during their stay in hospital, and follow up sessions with four of the five women were held once they had been discharged home to evaluate their experience of the therapy. The fifth woman could not be reached after her discharge from hospital. The results indicate that the use of Satir brief therapy supports the research question and that it can therefore be used to address the psychological and social issues which can affect the mother baby dyad, thus promoting healthy mother - baby bonding. / Social Work / M.A.(Social Science)

As no known research has been done on Satir brief therapy in a maternity setting, an exploratory design using the case study method was used to assess whether women in a maternity hospital experience this form of therapy as beneficial. Purposive sampling was used to obtain a sample of five patients for this study. Therapeutic sessions were held with these women during their stay in hospital, and follow up sessions with four of the five women were held once they had been discharged home to evaluate their experience of the therapy. The fifth woman could not be reached after her discharge from hospital. The results indicate that the use of Satir brief therapy supports the research question and that it can therefore be used to address the psychological and social issues which can affect the mother baby dyad, thus promoting healthy mother - baby bonding. / Social Work / M.A.(Social Science)