The effect of strong parental control on children in the East and the West
Lance
November 5th, 2009 in Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Recent studies investigating the question of parental control in the
west and in east Asian countries suggest that extreme meddling by
parents can have negative effects on their children's psychological
development in both of those regions, although the effects may not be
uniform.
Many parents like to meddle in their children's lives. Sometimes this
can be beneficial, if the meddling is in the form of parental guidance
or setting rules. However, numerous studies have found that in Western
countries, when parents are very controlling and dominating over their
children, the children suffer psychologically. It has also been
suggested that this effect may not be as strong in East Asian
countries — researchers have posited that certain aspects of East
Asian culture may make children more accepting of their parents'
intrusive behavior.
In a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a
journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologists
Eva Pomerantz from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and
Qian Wang of The Chinese University of Hong Kong review evidence
comparing the effects of parental control in the United States and
China.
Much of the research examining the effects of parental control has
been guided by the idea that too much may interfere with a child's
psychological development by making them feel as though they don't
have any control over their lives. This outcome may be particularly
pronounced in the West, where autonomy and independence are
emphasized.
Longitudinal studies have indicated that parental control in both
Western and East Asian countries can have similar results on children
from those regions. For example, as children are entering adolescence,
the more parents make decisions for them regarding personal issues,
the more the child's emotional suffering will be affected two years
later — the size of this effect was similar in the United States and
China.
However, there may be some contexts in which the effect of parental
control is stronger in the West than in East Asian countries. In
Western countries, parents tend to decrease control more than Chinese
parents do as children go through adolescence; Western children expect
this decrease in supervision and therefore, their psychological
functioning may be dependent on the extent to which parents decrease
their control over them. In addition, the negative effects of parental
control over children's academic learning may be stronger in the West
than in East Asia. In East Asian countries, there is a very strong
moral aspect associated with learning and an education has much
greater financial impact than in the West. For these reasons, when it
comes to academics, East Asian children may be more accepting of
excessive parental involvement.
Recent studies investigating the question of parental control in the
West and in East Asian countries suggest that extreme meddling by
parents can have negative effects on their children's psychological
development in both of those regions, although the effects may not be
uniform. Pomerantz and Wang conclude their report by noting,
"Recommendations that parents limit their intrusiveness in children's
lives are likely to be useful both in the West and in East Asia."
Source: Association for Psychological Science (news : web)
http://www.physorg.com/news176648906.html
Peter Brooks
Scotland Street.