A sample of children, initially 12 years old, in the People's Republic of China participated in this 2-year longitudinal study. Data on parental warmth, control, and indulgence were collected from children's self-reports. Information concerning social, academic, and psychological adjustment was obtained from multiple sources. The results indicated that parenting styles might be a function of child gender and change with age. Regression analyses revealed that parenting styles of fathers and mothers predicted different outcomes. Whereas maternal warmth had significant contributions to the prediction of emotional adjustment, paternal warmth significantly predicted later social and school achievement. It was also found that paternal, but not maternal, indulgence significantly predicted children's adjustment difficulties. The contributions of the parenting variables might be moderated by the child's initial conditions.

Purpose: Given that mother plays the main nurturing role in a family unit and their unique influence on children’s development, the current study aimed to examine the influence of maternal phubbing on children’s problematic media use and the independent and interactive moderating role of children’s negative affectivity and effortful control. Methods: Participants were 1986 children aged 3 to 6 years in Shanghai, China. Their mothers were asked to complete a series of questionnaires including parental phubbing scale, problematic media use measure, and child behavior questionnaire. To investigate the moderating influence of children’s negative affectivity and effortful control, hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted using SPSS 24.0. Simple slopes analyses and the Johnson–Neyman technique were further used to depict moderation effects. Results: Maternal phubbing was associated with higher levels of problematic media use in preschool children (β = 0.18, p < .001, [0.14, 0.22]). Children’s negative affectivity acts as a risk factor, exacerbating the adverse effects of maternal phubbing on children’s problematic media use (β = 0.05, t = 2.69, p < 0.05), whereas children’s effortful control acts as a protective factor, buffering the link between maternal phubbing and children’s problematic media use (β = − 0.10, t = − 5.00, p < 0.001). Conclusion: These results suggest that interventions seeking to promote appropriate digital development in preschoolers should take the child’s temperament into account and be complemented by active parental mediation and involvement.

Problem behaviors in early childhood may put young children at risk for negative behavioral and psychosocial problems. This study examined the effectiveness of group PCIT on Chinese young children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. The participants were 58 mothers with their children aged 2–3 years (M = 2.95 years, SD = 0.22), assigned to an immediate treatment (n = 26) group or to a waitlist (n = 32) control group. The program involved comprehensive group intervention and featured weekly 60–90-min sessions, totaling ten sessions over three months. Results indicate that group PCIT not only significantly improved teacher-reported problem behaviors in children, but also improved observed maternal parenting behavior. These findings support the use of group PCIT in Chinese children and provide mothers with an evidence-based tool to address problem behaviors in a non-clinical population.