Overparenting, Parent-Child Conflict and Anxiety among Chinese Adolescents: A Cross-Lagged Panel Study

Janet Tsin-Yee Leung
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Janet Tsin-Yee Leung: Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong HJ402, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: Background: Overparenting is an emerging parenting style in which parents over-protect their children from difficulties and challenges by intruding into their lives and providing extensive assistance to them. Unfortunately, longitudinal studies related to overparenting were severely lacking, particularly on its impacts on early adolescents. Moreover, studies examining the mediational pathways through which overparenting is associated with adolescent anxiety are scant. This study examined the mediating role of parent-child conflict (father-child and mother-child) in the relationship between overparenting (paternal and maternal) and adolescent anxiety over time. Method: Based on a three-wave longitudinal data of 1074 Chinese early adolescents in Hong Kong, the relationships among paternal and maternal overparenting, father- and mother-child conflict, and adolescent anxiety were assessed. Results: Mother-child conflict mediated the relationship between maternal overparenting and adolescent anxiety over time. Besides, a reverse association of prior adolescent anxiety with subsequent maternal overparenting via mother-child conflict was also identified. In addition, adolescent gender and family intactness did not moderate the relationships among overparenting, parent-child conflict, and adolescent anxiety. Discussion: This present study identified that the bidirectional relationship between maternal overparenting and adolescent anxiety via mother-child conflict over time, which sheds new light on the study of overparenting on adolescent well-being in the Chinese communities.

Keywords: overparenting; parent-child conflict; anxiety; adolescents; cross-lagged panel study; Chinese (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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