Perceptions
of Parental Treatment Styles and Adolescent Antisocial and Prosocial
Behavior in a Chinese Context
D.T.L. Shek & H.K. Ma |
Chinese
secondary school students (N = 912) were asked to respond to instruments
measuring their recalled parental treatment styles as well as their
antisocial and prosocial behavior. Results showed that while those
who had a more positive perception of paternal or maternal treatment
style (in terms of warmth and leniency) showed less antisocial behavior,
only recalled maternal treatment style was positively related to
prosocial behavior. The data also revealed that relative to recalled
paternal treatment, recalled maternal treatment was found to be more
predictive of antisocial and prosocial behavior measures. These findings
generally do not support the Chinese popular beliefs that a kind
mother spoils the son and that parental harshness is beneficial to
the development of a child. Key words: parenting behavior, antisocial behavior, prosocial behavior |