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Maternal mindfulness and preschool children’s social skills in China: the role of parenting stress and authoritative parenting behaviors

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Abstract

The aim of present study was to explore the possible mediating roles of parenting stress and authoritative parenting style in the relations between maternal mindfulness and children’s social skills among Chinese preschool children. Participants were N = 294 mothers (Mage =34.14 years; SD = 3.79; Range = 25–48 years) and 24 preschool teachers. Upon obtaining consent, mothers completed self-report measures of their dispositional mindfulness, parenting stress and authoritative parenting style. Teachers evaluated each child’s social skills. Among the results, maternal mindfulness was positively associated with children’s social skills. Moreover, bootstrapping revealed a significant indirect effect of maternal mindfulness on children’s social skills via parenting stress and authoritative parenting style. Specifically, maternal mindfulness was related to a low level of parenting stress, which in turn, predicted more authoritative parenting style, and lower level of children’s social skills. This study sheds light on the role of parenting stress and authoritative parenting style in the relationship between maternal mindfulness and children’s social skills.

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Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was funded by Humanity and Social Science Youth Foundation of the Ministry of Education in China(22YJC880081).

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  1. School of Teacher Education, Huzhou University, 313000, Huzhou, P. R. China

    Yingjie Wang

  2. School of Early Childhood Education, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, P. R. China

    Bowen Xiao & Yan Li

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  1. Yingjie Wang
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Correspondence to Yan Li.

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Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of Shanghai Normal University. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Wang, Y., Xiao, B. & Li, Y. Maternal mindfulness and preschool children’s social skills in China: the role of parenting stress and authoritative parenting behaviors. Curr Psychol 42, 30757–30766 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04084-w

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