Week 8-9 Article 2

Question 1

What was the main goal of the study by Wang, Pomerantz, and Chen?

Answer 1

To compare the effects of parents’ control and autonomy support on children’s functioning over time in the United States and China.

Question 2

What did the study measure regarding parenting?

Answer 2

The study measured parents’ psychological control, psychological autonomy support, and behavioral control.

Question 3

What did children report on in the study?

Answer 3

Children reported on their emotional and academic functioning.

Question 4

What was found about the impact of psychological control across cultures?

Answer 4

In both the U.S. and China, psychological control predicted dampened emotional functioning.

Question 5

What was the impact of psychological autonomy support in the study?

Answer 5

Psychological autonomy support predicted enhanced emotional and academic functioning, with stronger effects in the U.S. than in China.

Question 6

What did behavioral control predict in the study?

Answer 6

Behavioral control predicted enhanced academic functioning in both the U.S. and China.

Question 7

How does psychological control affect children in the U.S.?

Answer 7

Psychological control leads to emotional distress and negative self-views in American children.

Question 8

How does behavioral control affect children in the U.S.?

Answer 8

Behavioral control is linked to increased academic competence and decreased delinquency among American children.

Question 9

What is psychological autonomy support?

Answer 9

Psychological autonomy support is when parents encourage individuality and self-determination, fostering children’s sense of autonomy and self-expression.

Question 10

What impact does psychological autonomy support have in the U.S.?

Answer 10

It enhances emotional functioning, social skills, and academic competence.

Question 11

What does Self-Determination Theory (SDT) argue about autonomy?

Answer 11

SDT argues that the need for autonomy is universal, and its satisfaction is essential for optimal functioning across all cultures, indicating that psychological control may negatively affect children’s development globally.

Question 12

Who were the informants for the parenting reports in the study?

Answer 12

Children served as the informants on parenting practices because they may be less biased in reporting socially undesirable practices like psychological control.

Question 13

What measures were used to assess parents’ control over children?

Answer 13

Measures assessed psychological control (guilt induction, love withdrawal, authority assertion), autonomy support (choice making, opinion exchange), and behavioral control (solicitation, restriction).

Question 14

How was behavioral control measured in the study?

Answer 14

Behavioral control was assessed with 16 items that measured solicitation (e.g., parents asking about free time) and restriction (e.g., permission required before going out).

Question 15

How was children’s positive emotion assessed?

Answer 15

Through 16 items, where children rated how often they experienced each emotion (e.g., happy, loving) in the past week on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (very often).

Question 16

How was children’s goal investment in academics assessed?

Answer 16

Children rated the importance of doing well (approach) and not doing poorly (avoidance) in each of four school subjects on a scale from 1 (not at all important) to 7 (very important).

Question 17

How were children’s grades measured in the study?

Answer 17

Grades in major subjects were standardized within schools and then averaged to create an index of academic performance.

Question 18

What five types of learning strategies were assessed in the study?

Answer 18

Elaboration, rehearsal, monitoring, planning, and regulating.

Question 19

What was the measurement of emotional ill-being?

Answer 19

Emotional ill-being was assessed with 17 items, where children rated how often they experienced negative emotions (e.g., sad, angry) on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (very often).

Question 20

How was children’s self-esteem assessed?

Answer 20

Using 20 items, where children rated how true various self-related statements were on a scale from 1 (not at all true) to 5 (very true).

Question 21

What did the life satisfaction scale measure, and how was it assessed?

Answer 21

Life satisfaction was measured by asking children how true various statements about their life were, on a scale from 1 (not at all true) to 5 (very true).

Question 22

What was the outcome of the analysis of parents’ psychological control and children’s functioning?

Answer 22

Parents’ psychological control predicted children’s decreased emotional well-being and increased emotional ill-being over time in both countries, but it had no effect on children’s goal investment or grades.

Question 23

What was the cultural difference found in the effect of parents’ psychological control on children’s learning strategies?

Answer 23

In the U.S., parents’ psychological control predicted children’s decreased learning strategies over time, but this effect was not observed in China.

Question 24

What was the result of the analysis on parents’ psychological autonomy support and children’s functioning?

Answer 24

Parents’ psychological autonomy support similarly predicted children’s decreased emotional ill-being and increased grades over time in both countries.

Question 25

What cultural difference was observed in the effect of parents’ psychological autonomy support on children’s functioning?

Answer 25

Parents’ psychological autonomy support had stronger effects on children’s emotional well-being, goal investment, and learning strategies in the U.S. than in China.

Question 26

How did parents’ behavioral control impact children’s functioning in the United States and China?

Answer 26

Parents’ behavioral control similarly predicted children’s increased goal investment, learning strategies, and grades over time in both countries. No effect was observed on children’s emotional ill-being in either country.

Question 27

What did the analysis reveal about the effect of parents’ behavioral control on children’s emotional well-being?

Answer 27

The effect of parents’ behavioral control on children’s emotional well-being differed between the United States and China. In the U.S., it predicted increased emotional well-being, but in China, no such effect was observed.

Question 28

What did the simultaneous analyses show about the effects of parenting dimensions on children’s functioning?

Answer 28

The effects of parents’ psychological control were limited to children’s emotional functioning, while the effects of parents’ behavioral control were limited to academic functioning. Psychological autonomy support affected both emotional and academic functioning.

Question 29

What were the key findings regarding parents’ psychological autonomy support?

Answer 29

Parents’ psychological autonomy support predicted children’s increased emotional well-being, decreased emotional ill-being, and improved learning strategies in both countries. It also predicted goal investment in U.S. children but not in Chinese children.

Question 30

What cultural differences were found in the effects of parenting?

Answer 30

The only significant cultural difference was in the effect of parents’ psychological autonomy support on children’s goal investment, which was significant in the U.S. but not in China.

Question 31

What cultural differences were observed in the study?

Answer 31

1. Psychological autonomy support had stronger beneficial effects in the U.S. than in China.
2. Parents’ psychological control affected American children’s learning strategies, but not Chinese children’s.
3. Behavioral control predicted improved emotional well-being in American children, but not in Chinese children.

Question 32

What is the main implication of the findings?

Answer 32

The study suggests a “universalism without uniformity” perspective: some developmental processes are universal (e.g., autonomy’s role), but their salience and impact may vary across cultures.

Question 33

What was one limitation of the study in terms of cultural orientation?

Answer 33

The study did not directly assess independent and interdependent orientations in the U.S. and China, which are believed to influence the effects of parental control.

Question 34

What was a limitation in the sample diversity for the study?

Answer 34

The study used fairly equivalent samples rather than heterogeneous samples, limiting generalizability across various socioeconomic statuses, regions, and historical periods within both cultures.

Question 35

How did the research adjust for response biases in children’s reports?

Answer 35

The research adjusted for the stability of children’s functioning and used stringent analyses to reduce the influence of response biases, such as better-functioning children reporting better parenting.