Abstract
Approaches to Learning (ATL) is essential for children’s learning and development. Prior research examined the role of school-related factors, but little research focused on the impacts of family-related factors on the ATL of children. This study examines how family socioeconomic status (SES) of preschool children affects their ATL. Data was collected from the parents and teachers of 988 preschool children in China. The results uncover that the positive effect of family SES on the ATL of preschoolers is mediated by positive involvement and negative discipline. Interestingly, preschool children’s gender moderates the mediating effects of positive involvement and negative discipline: for girls, the mediating roles of positive involvement and negative discipline are both supported. However, for boys, only positive involvement mediates the effect of family SES on ATL. By bridging family investment theory with parenting theory, this study opens the black-box covering the relationship between family SES and preschoolers’ ATL. By elucidating the gender-specific mediation process, this study contributes to the literature from a Chinese parenting culture perspective. In practice, these findings suggest that educational government can boost children’s ATL by organizing parenting training instructed by education experts to improve parents’ parenting skills.
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Funding
This study was supported by grants from the National Social Science Fund of China “Multilevel Modeling on the Influence of Parent Involvement on Children’s Approaches to Learning” (Grant No. BHA190151).
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Feng, L., Yao, L. Family SES, positive involvement, negative discipline and Chinese preschooler’s approaches to learning. Curr Psychol 42, 9903–9914 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02288-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02288-0