Relations among Parenting, Child Behavioral Regulation and Early Competencies: A Study on Chinese Preschoolers

As an important aspect of self-regulation, behavioral regulation contributes to young children’s academic and social-emotional outcomes. In this study, we examined the relations between young Chinese children’s behavioral regulation and their mathematics competence, language skills, and behavior problems. We further explored the role of both maternal and paternal parenting in these relations. We tested two competing frameworks. We examined whether behavioral regulation would mediate the relations between parenting and aforementioned child outcomes. We also tested whether parenting would moderate the relations between children’s behavioral regulation and their outcomes. A total of 109 Chinese children approximately at three years of age living in Hong Kong participated in the study with their parents. Children’s behavioral regulation, number competence, receptive vocabulary, and phonological awareness were tested individually using direct assessments. Parents reported their own parenting and their children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. The results showed that paternal supportive parenting moderated the relation between children’s behavioral regulation and their number competence, as well as the relation between behavioral regulation and externalizing problems. The findings add to the literature by demonstrating the importance of behavioral regulation for early learning and social-emotional outcomes of young Chinese children. The findings also suggest the crucial role of fathers in helping children utilize their behavioral regulation skills to acquire early mathematics skills and reduce behavior problems.