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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Developmental Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1393445
This article is part of the Research Topic Innovation in Developmental Psychology, Education, Sports, and Arts: Advances in Research on Individuals and Groups - Volume II View all 9 articles

Parenting Style and the Non-cognitive Development of High School Student: Evidence from Rural China

Provisionally accepted
Sangui Wang Sangui Wang 1,2*Lijuan Zheng Lijuan Zheng 1,3
  • 1 School of Agricultural Economics & Rural Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Renmin University of China, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 2 China Anti-poverty Research Institute, Beijing, China
  • 3 China Anti-poverty Research Institute, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In order to understand the relationship between parenting style and the non-cognitive development of high school students in rural China, this study surveyed 6,549 high school students and their primary caregivers. The students have an average age of 17.61 years (48% were male), and 62% were of Han ethnicity. Primary caregivers self-reported their parenting style, and students' non-cognitive abilities were evaluated using the Big Five Inventory-Short (BFI-S). The relationship between parenting style and students' non-cognitive development was analyzed using two distinct methods (two dimensions and four categories). The study revealed that an authoritative parenting style had a positive impact on the non-cognitive abilities of students. Conversely, a negative association was observed between the authoritarian parenting style and the non-cognitive development of students. The association between the authoritative and authoritarian styles is more pronounced in relation to the non-cognitive developmental score of girls compared to boys. Additionally, parents from a wealthier family or with higher levels of education were more likely to use an authoritative rather than an authoritarian parenting style. The results of this study provide impetus for further investigation into the implementation of parenting training interventions aimed at assessing the potential efficacy of cultivating an authoritative parenting style among rural Chinese parents.

    Keywords: non-cognitive abilities1, authoritative parenting2, authoritarian parenting3, high school student4, rural China5

    Received: 29 Feb 2024; Accepted: 02 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang and Zheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sangui Wang, School of Agricultural Economics & Rural Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Renmin University of China, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

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