Research Findings: This study examined the moderating role of parenting style in the relations between different dimensions of parental involvement and their children’s school readiness. A total of 311 Chinese parents (Mean age = 35.74, SD = 4.61) and their kindergarten children (Mean age = 5.53, SD = .50) participated in this study. Parents completed questionnaires about their demographic information, parenting styles and parental involvement practices and teachers rated children’s school readiness levels. Results indicated that parents’ home-based, school-based and home-school conferencing involvement were all positively related to children’s school readiness. Home-based involvement showed stronger relationship to children’s school readiness than the other two types of parental involvement. In addition, authoritative parenting moderated the effects of both school-based involvement and home-school conferencing on children’s school readiness. The effect of school-based involvement was enhanced in the context of high authoritative parenting style. In contrast, the effect of home-school conferencing was decreased in the context of low authoritative parenting style. Practice or Policy. The results suggest that programs designed for enhancing parents’ involvement in children’s school readiness need to consider the emotional context that parents create through their parenting style. Implications for practice and suggestions for further research are offered.

This study examined the associations of family income and parental education with Chinese preschool children’s cognitive school readiness and the sequential mediating role of parenting style (i.e., authoritative parenting) and parental involvement in these relations. A total of 307 5–6 years old kindergarten children from Shanghai, China and their parents participated in the study. Using structural equation modeling method, the results indicated that parental education was directly related to children’s cognitive school readiness, while no direct relationship was found for family income. The link of parents’ education with children’s cognitive school readiness was sequentially mediated by authoritative parenting and home-based parental involvement. Authoritative parenting and parental involvement at home can be targeted by government administrators to effectively improve children’s cognitive school readiness skills. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with social adjustment difficulties, but few studies have examined the underlying mechanisms in Chinese preschoolers. This study examined the relationship between CU traits and social adjustment among Chinese preschoolers as well as the moderating role of the teacher-child relationship in the association. Participants were 484 preschool children aged 3–6 years old from Shanghai, China (Mage = 5.56 years, SD = 0.96 years). Parents reported children’s CU traits and teachers reported their relationship with children and rated children’s social adjustment as well. The results revealed that (1) children with higher CU traits positively related to aggressive and asocial behavior with peers, but negatively related to prosocial behavior; (2) the teacher-child relationship moderated the relationship between CU traits and social adjustment in children. Specifically, teacher-child conflict exacerbated the aggressive and asocial behavior of children with CU traits and reduced the prosocial behavior of children with CU traits. These findings extended the current research on CU traits and had important implications for early interventions targeted at children with CU traits.

This study examined the mediating role of children’s approaches to learning (ATL) in parenting style and Chinese preschoolers’ pre-academic skills (i.e., literacy and numeracy) as well as the moderating role of family socioeconomic status (SES) in the mediating process. Participants were 307 children aged five to six years old from four public kindergartens in Shanghai, China. Parents provided demographic information and reported their parenting style (i.e., authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) and teachers rated each child’s ATL and pre-academic skills. Results indicated that: (1) authoritative parenting positively related to children’s pre-academic skills while no significant relationships were identified either for authoritarian or permissive parenting with pre-academic skills; (2) children’s ATL partially mediated the relationship between authoritative parenting and children’s pre-academic skills; (3) family SES moderated the relationship between children’s ATL and pre-academic skills. Specifically, children’s ATL was more strongly related to pre-academic skills for children from low SES families as compared to their high-SES peers. These findings contribute to the understanding of the effects of parenting styles on Chinese children’s early academic achievement and underscore the importance of ATL to children’s pre-academic skills, especially for low-SES children.

This study preliminarily examined the multiple dimensions of Chinese family involvement in early childhood education across demographic variables through a pilot translation and validation of a revised 36-item measure of the Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ; Fantuzzo, J., E. Tighe, and S. Childs. 2000. "Family Involvement Questionnaire: A Multivariate Assessment of Family Participation in Early Childhood Education." Journal of Educational Psychology 92 (2): 367-376) for use in Chinese kindergartens. Participants were 311 parents or caregivers (Mean age = 35.74) of children (Mean age = 5.53) enrolled in kindergartens in Shanghai, China. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure similar to the original (non-Chinese) FIQ: school-based involvement, home-based involvement, and home-school conferencing. However, 12 items were removed because they either had cross loadings or did not load onto any factors. As expected, based on prior research with the original FIQ, differences in the Chinese Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ-C, hereafter) dimension scores across subgroups based on parents' educational levels and monthly family income were found using MANOVA. Implications for future research and cross-cultural studies on family involvement are discussed.