Relationship between parental psychological control and children’s academic achievement in China: The role of children’s failure mindsets

Xin Gao, Chunhui Liu, Xiaolin Guo, Juan Liu, Bing Qi and Liang Luo

Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 119, issue C

Abstract: The research on the relationship between parental psychological control and children’s academic achievement in East Asia is limited and has yielded inconsistent results. Based on family system theory, the current study examined the unique and interactive association between children’s academic achievement with maternal and paternal psychological control. The moderating role of children’s failure mindsets was also examined. The sample included 2583 Chinese primary children (1287 girls, 49.8%, mean age = 10.33) and their parents (the mean ages were 35.97 for the mothers and 36.82 for the fathers). The results indicated that maternal and paternal psychological control were interactively linked to children’s achievement. Specifically, the negative association between one parent’s psychological control and the child’s achievement was significant only when the other parent exerted a higher level of psychological control. The positions of fathers and mothers were similar. Moreover, the children’s failure mindset was not only directly linked to achievement but also moderated the association with paternal psychological control. Children with higher debilitating failure mindsets (scored 1 SD above the mean) suffered more from paternal psychological control than those with lower debilitating failure mindsets (scored 1 SD below the mean.). The findings suggested that both the parenting and children’s characteristics were associated with the children’s academic performance. Future interventions might be more efficient from a family system perspective.

Keywords: Psychological control; Academic achievement; Failure mindsets; Family system theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920320508

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105627

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