Chinese parenting beliefs in the intergenerational transmission of parental psychological control amongst Chinese families with adolescents

Parental psychological control (PPC) is a parenting style more frequently observed in Asian countries that can be passed from generation to generation. It can exert negative consequences on children; therefore, it becomes essential to investigate its manifestation and associated factors. Intergeneration dynamics can provide valuable information on how psychological control transmits through parent-child interaction and identify potential target to intervene. The current study aimed to examine whether PPC of parents associated with that of their child through the endorsement of Chinese parenting beliefs of control by the child. Parents-child dyads including 632 two-parent families with children (293 females, 333 males, and six without report) from Henan and Sichuan Province of China participated in the current study. Apart from demographic information, both parents filled in the Chinese Parental Psychological Control Scale (CPPC). Children filled in the CPPC and Chinese parenting Beliefs Scale (TPBS). Results showed that the grandparents' PPC significantly associated with the parents' PPC. This transmission followed through a gender-specific path, i.e., grandmothers' PPC only associated with mother's PPC; grandfathers' PPC only associated with father's PPC. Chinese parenting beliefs mediated the transmission process, except that the mediation of transmission of paternal PPC was not found in the families with boys. The current study provided support of intergenerational transmission of PPC in the Chinese family. It also indicated different strategies Chinese fathers used to raise up daughter and son. It could inform the future practice to alter the parenting beliefs as a potential target to diminish the impact of PPC in China.