Abstract
Previous studies have found discrepancies between parent and child reports of parental favoritism. Some studies have also found that these discrepancies have unique effects on children’s psychosocial adjustment. Nonetheless, much is still unknown about discrepancies between parent-reports and child-reports of parental favoritism and how they are associated with children’s development. The current study examines discrepancies in multi-informant reports on parental favoritism in relation to children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. The sample consisted of 556 mother–child dyads and 554 father–child dyads (46% boys, Mage = 12.52 years, SDage = 1.18). Polynomial regression analyses and response surface analyses were used to disentangle the effects of parent–child discrepancies in perceived parental favoritism. The results indicate that children reported higher parental favoritism than their parents. And the highest internalizing and externalizing problems occurred when both the mother and the child reported high maternal favoritism, and when both the father and the child report high paternal favoritism. Therefore, these findings partly support the assumptions based on the operations triad model. The findings also highlight the importance of the discrepancy between child- and parent-reports on parental favoritism in the development of children’s internalizing and externalizing problems.
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Acknowledgements
Data of the Child Family Relationship Study (CFRS) were used. CFRS has been financially supported by main grants from the Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University. The authors would like to thank all schools and families for their participation.
Authors’ Contributions
R.L. conceived of the study, participated in its design, performed the statistical analyses, interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript. F.C. acquired data, was involved in concept and design of the study, participated in the interpretation of the data and critically revised the manuscript. C.Y. conceived of the study, assisted with and checked the analysis, and critically revised the manuscript. X.M. conceived of the study, and critically revised the manuscript. C.Z. conceived of the study, and critically revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This study was funded by the Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Luo, R., Chen, F., Yuan, C. et al. Parent–Child Discrepancies in Perceived Parental Favoritism: Associations with Children’s Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Chinese Families. J Youth Adolescence 49, 60–73 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01148-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01148-2