Do Parents' Socialization Goals Influence How They Respond To Children's Performance?

Meghani, Raees S.; Ng, Janice

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/100013 Copy

Description

Title

Do Parents' Socialization Goals Influence How They Respond To Children's Performance?

Author(s)

• Meghani, Raees S.
• Ng, Janice

Contributor(s)

Pomerantz, Eva M.

Issue Date

2018-04

Keyword(s)

• Developmental Psychology
• Socialization
• Parents
• Children
• Goals
• Culture

Abstract

Much research has shown that Chinese and American parents endorsed different goals for their children (e.g., Chao, K., Ruth 1996; Ng, F. F., Pomerantz, E. M., & Lam, S. 2007) and substantial evidence reveals differences in Chinese and American parents’ practices (e.g. Bornstein, H. Marc, 2012; Miller, P., Wiley, A., Fung, H., & Liang, C. 1997). However, whether parents’ goals directly guide their practices has received little if any empirical attention. The goal of the current research is to investigate whether the differences in American and Hong Kong parents’ self-worth and self-improvement goals drive differences in how they respond to their children’s performance. 177 American and 196 Chinese mothers and their 4th-5th grade children participated. Half of the parents in both countries read a brochure that highlighted the importance of children’s feelings of worth in their reasoning abilities; the other half read an otherwise identical brochure highlighting the importance of children’s focus on improvement. Children completed a reasoning task in a separate room. After being informed of how children did, parents spent 5 minutes with their children. Parents also reported on their responses to children’s hypothetical success and failure after the reunion. The results indicate no significant differences in positive and negative verbal comments made during the parent-child reunion between goal manipulation conditions. However, above and beyond country differences, parents in the self-worth (vs. self-improvement) condition reported that they would focus more on their child’s success and less on their child’s failure.

Type of Resource

image

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/100013

Copyright and License Information

• Copyright 2018 Raees S. Meghani
• Copyright 2018 Janice Ng

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