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. 2022 Sep 16;19(18):11691.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph191811691.

Parental Psychological Control and Children's Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Social Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Socioeconomic Status

Weida Zhang  1 , Guoliang Yu  1 , Wangqian Fu  2 , Runqing Li  3
Affiliations

Parental Psychological Control and Children's Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Social Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Socioeconomic Status

Weida Zhang et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Complementing internalizing and externalizing developmental outcomes of parental psychological control, in this study, we shift the focus to children's prosocial behaviors. Drawing on self-determination theory and problem-behavior theory, this study addresses the relationship between parental psychological control, social anxiety, socioeconomic status (SES), and children's prosocial behavior. The parental psychological control scale, social anxiety scale for children, and prosocial behavior were applied in the study. Participants were 1202 elementary school-age children in China. The present study showed that parental psychological control was negatively associated with prosocial behavior and social anxiety played a partial mediating role between parental psychological control and prosocial behavior. Meanwhile, SES moderated the relationship between parental psychological control and prosocial behavior. The effect of parental psychological control on prosocial behavior was more significant among students with low levels of SES than the higher ones. The findings showed that parenting plays an essential role in the development of children's prosociality.

Keywords: SES; parental psychological control; prosocial behavior; social anxiety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Research hypothesis model.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Simple slope test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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