• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.199-229
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• 2016

This study was to examine the correlations between parenting styles, Chinese high school students' character strengths, and their school adjustment, and direct and indirect effects of parenting styles and character strengths on their school adjustment. The subjects were 378 high school students in Zheng Zhou, China. Results were as follows. Firstly, parenting styles, character strengths, and school adjustment showed significant correlations among each other. Secondly, there were significant gender differences on authoritarian parenting style, courage, and peer relations. Thirdly, the structural equation model for the participants supported that authoritarian parenting style and authoritative parenting style had direct and indirect effects on school adjustment. Also, students' character strengths mediated between authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles and school adjustment. Implications of the study were discussed in depth.

• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.157-179
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• 2018

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the relationship between Chinese adolescents' academic performance and smartphone overdependence as well as the moderating effects of parental involvement. Method: For this study, a survey was conducted with 472 adolescent students in three middle schools (n = 224) and three high schools (n = 248) in Shanghai, China. The survey consisted of the "S-Scale for Smartphone Addiction," the "Parental Involvement Scale," and questions regarding perceived academic performance using a demographic questionnaire. Results: The following are the major findings. First, after controlling for the students' demographic characteristics, hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the students' perceived academic performance was negatively related to the levels of smartphone overdependence. Second, this study found significant moderation effects of parental involvement on the relationship between academic performance and smartphone overdependence. Chinese adolescents with low levels of perceived academic performance and high levels of perceived parental involvement showed high levels of smartphone overdependence. Finally, this study found significant moderation effects of parental involvement on the relationship between academic performance and smartphone overdependence only in middle-school students. Conclusions: These results indicate the need for healthy smartphone use and education and therapy programs for Chinese parents and adolescent children to prevent smartphone overdependence.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1115-1124
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• 2008

Although parent-child relationships are fundamental aspects of human development across all societies, this relationship is also shaped in significant ways by culture. Therefore, the present study sought to determine whether adolescent autonomy was predicted in a similar or differential manner by several parent-adolescent variables consisting of parenting behavior, parental authority, and parents' educational attainment in samples of Chinese and American adolescents. The sample for this study included 418 Chinese adolescents and 226 American adolescents. Utilizing structural equation modeling, the results revealed that the effect of paternal authority on adolescent autonomy development is indirect, with the indirect effect being mediated by the authoritative parenting behaviors for both cultural groups. Therefore, the analyses for Chinese and European American youth generated similar association patterns, such that parenting behaviors served as a mediator in the relationship between paternal authority and adolescents' autonomy development. The significance of this present study is to contribute to existing knowledge in the field of adolescent development and to the literature on how parental behaviors and authority in collectivistic societies and individualist societies influence adolescent development.