Parental warmth and harsh discipline as mediators of the relations between family SES and Chinese preschooler’s inhibitory control

This study aimed to investigate the association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and child inhibitory control, and whether this association would be mediated by parental warmth or harsh discipline. Two hundred seventy-three Chinese preschool-age children and their mothers and fathers participated. Parental warmth and harsh discipline were assessed by father-report and by mother-report, respectively. Child inhibitory control was assessed by laboratory tasks and mother-report. Results of structural equation modeling suggested that higher family SES was associated with child better inhibitory control, and maternal but not paternal warmth or harsh discipline played partial mediating roles in this association. The findings highlight the importance of determining particular family ecology that impedes the development of self-regulation in young children, and also provide encouraging support for interventions targeting parenting practices as a vehicle to improve children’s developmental outcomes.
Source: Early Childhood Research Quarterly - Category: Child Development Source Type: research