Background: Presently, the problem of digital addiction in young children is becoming more and more prominent, and digital addiction can cause significant harm to the healthy physical and mental development of young children. A growing body of research suggests that family socioeconomic status and parenting styles are associated with digital addiction. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms behind this relationship, and few studies have explored whether this relationship holds in young children populations. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether parenting styles mediate the relationship between family socioeconomic status and young children’s digital addiction and whether young children’s gender moderates this mediation process.Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. 403 parents of young children were asked to complete online questionnaires, including the Internet Addiction Test-10 (IAT-10) the Chinese version of the Parenting Style Questionnaire (C-EMBU). The mediation model with moderation was tested using the PROCESS plug-in for SPSS.Results: (1) Family socioeconomic status is significantly and negatively associated with digital addiction in young children. (2) Parenting styles (emotional warmth and understanding, punishment and harshness) mediate the relationship between family socioeconomic status and young children’s digital addiction. (3) Young children’s gender moderates the relationship between family socioeconomic status and punishment and severity parenting styles, emotional warmth and understanding parenting styles and young children’s digital addiction.Conclusion: The results indicate that family socioeconomic status can prevent digital addiction in young children through the path of improving parenting styles. However, there is still an overall negative effect of family socioeconomic status on young children’s digital addiction.
Kindergarten teachers’ quality of work life (QWL) is of great significance in ensuring teacher stability, improvement in education quality, and the development of education. This study used the newly developed and validated tool, the QWL scale for kindergarten teachers (QWLSKT) to investigate QWL among kindergarten teachers in China. The participants comprised 936 kindergarten teachers. Psychometric results showed that the QWLSKT is a reliable and effective scale across six dimensions: health status, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, professional growth, participation in decision making, and leisure life. The Chinese teachers’ evaluation of their professional growth was positive, while their evaluation of their working conditions was negative. Latent profile analysis results showed that a three-profile model had the best fitting model, comprising low, middle, and high profiles in relation to low, medium, or high scale scores, respectively. Finally, the results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that the educational level and establishment of kindergarten teachers, as well as the quality level of kindergartens and their regions, play an important role in the QWL of kindergarten teachers. The results showed that more effective policy and management strategies are needed to improve QWL among kindergarten teachers in China.
Online learning has gradually become a mainstream teaching method to replace traditional classroom teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are some issues such as the lack of theoretical guidance on online learning, and the influencing factors of online learning effect are not well proven. On this basis, this study aimed to construct and test a theoretical model of online learning influencing factors among college students through a mixed-method approach in China to further explore the influencing factors of online learning and the relationship between these influencing factors. First, 130 college students were interviewed from May 2021 to November 2021, and the collected data were coded to a theoretical model through grounded theory. Second, we tested and verified the theoretical model through the analysis of survey data of 225 college students from January 2022 to July 2022. Lastly, the results indicate that the learning expectation influences the learning result through learning quality or learning interaction and their combined effects. These findings can help educators around the world gain insight into the process of online learning and improve the quality of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background: Exploring and analyzing the factors influencing parents’ demand for childcare is essential for improving the quality of childcare services. However, there is a lack of empirical studies that effectively explore the factors influencing demand for childcare and its mechanisms of action. Therefore, this study used a mixed research method to explore the factors influencing demand for childcare and their mechanisms of action.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 63 participants including parents of 0–3-year-old children, childcare center administrators, teachers, education specialists, and community members. Second, three levels of coding of the interview data using Grounded Theory were used to summarize the factors influencing parents’ childcare needs. Third, we combined relevant theories to construct a theoretical model of the factors influencing parents’ childcare services for children aged 0–3 years old and formulated research hypotheses. Fourth, the study used the “Questionnaire on the Childcare Needs of Parents of Children Aged 0–3″ to survey 516 parents. We analyzed and tested the constructed theoretical model through regression and mediation analyses.Results: The Grounded Theory results found that factors influencing the childcare needs of parents of infants and toddlers aged 0–3 years include Childcare Center Management, Teacher Professionalism, Environment and Facilities, Health Care Services, and Educational Activities. Mediating effect analyses revealed that (1) Childcare Center Management and Teacher Professionalism positively and directly influenced Educational Activities. (2) Health Care Services is mediated between Childcare Center Management and Educational Activities, and Health Care Services is mediated between Teacher Professionalism and Educational Activities. (3) Environment and Facilities and Health Care Services are chained between Childcare Center Management and Educational Activities, Teacher Professionalism and Educational Activities.Conclusion: Childcare-related organizations should improve the quality of Childcare Center Management, Teacher Professionalism, Environment and Facilities, Health Care Services, and Educational Activities to eliminate parents’ childcare concerns and meet their childcare needs.
Background: Parenting stress is a known risk factor for children’s social anxiety, yet the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship remain underexplored, particularly regarding gene–environment interactions. This quantitative, cross-sectional study, grounded in diathesis-stress and family process theories, examined whether maladaptive parenting mediates the link between parenting stress and children’s social anxiety, and whether FKBP5 gene variation moderates this mediation. Methods: A sample of 1774 fourth- to sixth-grade students (aged 10–14 years) and their parents participated. Parenting stress and maladaptive parenting were parent-reported, children’s social anxiety was self-reported, and children’s FKBP5-related cumulative genetic score was derived from four SNPs (rs4713916, rs1360780, rs3800373, rs9296158). Moderated mediation analyses were conducted. Results: Parenting stress was significantly and positively associated with children’s social anxiety. Maladaptive parenting partially mediated this relationship. The FKBP5 showed a marginally significant moderating effect, with simple slope analysis suggesting parenting stress was more strongly associated with child social anxiety among children with higher genetic risk. No moderating effect was found for the path from maladaptive parenting to social anxiety. Conclusions: Parenting stress is associated with children’s social anxiety both directly and indirectly through maladaptive parenting, with FKBP5-related cumulative genetic risk potentially moderating the direct effect. These findings offer preliminary evidence that may inform preventive interventions targeting parenting stress, although replication is needed.