RESEARCH ARTICLE


Perceived Parental Control in Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong: A Three-Year Longitudinal Study



Daniel T.L. Shek*
Centre for Quality of Life, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2008
Volume: 1
First Page: 7
Last Page: 16
Publisher Id: TOFAMSJ-1-7
DOI: 10.2174/1874922400801010007

Article History:

Received Date: 22/2/2008
Revision Received Date: 13/03/2008
Acceptance Date: 7/4/2008
Electronic publication date: 25/4/2008
Collection year: 2008

© 2008 Daniel T.L. Shek;

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Centre for Quality of Life, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China; E-mail: danielshek@cuhk.edu.hk


Abstract

Utilizing a longitudinal research design, perceived parental control in 2,559 Chinese adolescents over three consecutive years was examined by measures of indigenous Chinese parental control concepts (Chinese Paternal Control Scale: CPCS; Chinese Maternal Control Scale: CMCS). The relationships between CPCS and CMCS and measures of parental control and parent-child relational qualities were also investigated. Although Chinese parents had high expectations about their children, they were not strict in parental discipline. The CPCS and CMCS scores were significantly correlated with measures of parental control and perceived parental endorsement of traditional Chinese parenting beliefs in early adolescent years. While CPCS and CMCS had weak concurrent and prospective relationships with parent-child relational qualities measures, the observed relationships were moderated by parental psychological control. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords: Chinese adolescents, parental control, behavioral control, psychological control, parent-child relational qualities.