Abstract
Little is known about why American youth tend to have higher self-esteem than do Chinese youth. This research examined the role of psychologically controlling parenting during early adolescence. 825 youth (48% females; Mage = 12.73 years) in the United States and China reported on their self-esteem and parents’ psychological control every 6 months from the fall of 7th grade to spring of 8th grade. Both American and Chinese youth’s self-esteem decreased over time, but American youth consistently had higher self-esteem. American parents were less psychologically controlling than were Chinese parents who, unlike American parents, became more psychologically controlling over time. These differences in psychologically controlling parenting contributed to the tendency for American youth to have higher self-esteem than their Chinese counterparts.
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Funding
Data collection for this research was funded by National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH57505). Data analysis and manuscript preparation were supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan (MOST107-2917-I-003-005).
Data Sharing and DeclarationThe dataset analyzed for the current report is not publicly available but may be requested from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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H.Y.C. was involved in hypothesis development, performed the data analyses, and drafted the manuscript; J.N. was involved in hypothesis development, data analysis, and manuscript preparation; E.M.P. designed and supervised the project, and was involved in hypothesis development and the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The research was conducted in line with American Psychological Association ethical standards in the treatment of the participating youth. The research was approved by Institutional Review Boards in both the United States and China.
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Appendices
Appendix A Fit indices of measurement invariance analyses for the self-esteem and psychological control scale across countries and over time
Self-esteem | Psychological control | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RMSEA | CFI | TLI | χ2 | RMSEA | CFI | TLI | χ2 | |
Between-Country Invariance | ||||||||
Configural | 0.05 | 0.98 | 0.98 | 533.74 | 0.04 | 0.98 | 0.98 | 680.20 |
Metric | 0.05 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 598.65 | 0.04 | 0.98 | 0.98 | 742.30 |
Scalar | 0.07 | 0.96 | 0.96 | 885.58 | 0.05 | 0.97 | 0.97 | 891.95 |
Partial Scalar | 0.06 | 0.97 | 0.97 | 723.52 | – | – | – | – |
Longitudinal Invariance | ||||||||
US | ||||||||
Configural | 0.06 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 302.10 | 0.03 | 0.99 | 0.99 | 291.05 |
Metric | 0.06 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 333.06 | 0.03 | 0.99 | 0.99 | 320.44 |
Scalar | 0.06 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 351.06 | 0.04 | 0.98 | 0.98 | 405.23 |
China | ||||||||
Configural | 0.04 | 0.99 | 0.98 | 231.64 | 0.04 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 389.16 |
Metric | 0.04 | 0.98 | 0.98 | 266.17 | 0.04 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 407.88 |
Scalar | 0.05 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 319.95 | 0.05 | 0.97 | 0.97 | 451.53 |
Appendix B Fit Indices of measurement invariance analyses for the positive and negative dimensions of self-esteem scale across countries and over time
Positive Self-Esteem | Negative Self-Esteem | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RMSEA | CFI | TLI | χ2 | RMSEA | CFI | TLI | χ2 | |
Between-Country Invariance | ||||||||
Configural | 0.05 | 0.93 | 0.91 | 2861.33 | 0.05 | 0.93 | 0.92 | 2653.13 |
Metric | 0.05 | 0.92 | 0.91 | 2961.33 | 0.05 | 0.93 | 0.92 | 2722.34 |
Scalar | 0.06 | 0.90 | 0.89 | 3430.17 | 0.06 | 0.89 | 0.88 | 3554.16 |
Partial Scalar | 0.06 | 0.92 | 0.91 | 3120.36 | 0.05 | 0.92 | 0.91 | 2876.55 |
Longitudinal Invariance | ||||||||
US | ||||||||
Configural | 0.05 | 0.94 | 0.93 | 1374.47 | 0.06 | 0.91 | 0.90 | 1592.27 |
Metric | 0.05 | 0.94 | 0.93 | 1407.30 | 0.06 | 0.91 | 0.90 | 1643.08 |
Scalar | 0.05 | 0.93 | 0.93 | 1463.01 | 0.06 | 0.91 | 0.90 | 1689.71 |
China | ||||||||
Configural | 0.05 | 0.91 | 0.90 | 1486.86 | 0.04 | 0.95 | 0.95 | 1060.86 |
Metric | 0.05 | 0.91 | 0.90 | 1510.74 | 0.04 | 0.95 | 0.95 | 1106.84 |
Scalar | 0.05 | 0.90 | 0.90 | 1633.83 | 0.04 | 0.95 | 0.94 | 1155.68 |
Partial Scalar | 0.05 | 0.91 | 0.90 | 1604.74 | — | — | — | — |
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Chen, HY., Ng, J. & Pomerantz, E.M. Why is Self-Esteem Higher Among American than Chinese Early Adolescents? The Role of Psychologically Controlling Parenting. J Youth Adolescence 50, 1856–1869 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01474-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01474-4