Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May 15;14(5):415.
doi: 10.3390/bs14050415.

The Relationship between Parental Autonomy Support and Children's Self-Concept in China-The Role of Basic Psychological Needs

Wei Chen  1 , Ying Sun  1 , Yiqing He  1
Affiliations

The Relationship between Parental Autonomy Support and Children's Self-Concept in China-The Role of Basic Psychological Needs

Wei Chen et al. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental autonomy support and children's self-concept, and to explore the role of basic psychological needs in Chinese primary schools from the perspective of self-determination theory. A total of 3109 children aged 6-13 years participated in eastern China. The results indicated a significant correlation between parental autonomy support, basic psychological needs, and children's self-concept. Basic psychological needs play a partial mediating role between parental autonomy support and children's self-concept. Specifically, autonomy support varied by need types whereas parental control steadily played a negative predictive role. Parental autonomy support and control predicted children's self-concept differently through three basic psychological needs, with differences across gender and grades. Boys and elder children had stronger relationships to competence needs, while girls were sensitive to autonomy needs; in addition, both of them were sensitive to relatedness needs. The mediating effects model and cross-group analyses revealed the complex predictive role of parental autonomy support on children's self-concept in China, providing an effective entry point for cross-cultural research and family education to improve children's psychological well-being.

Keywords: basic psychological needs; children’s self-concept; mental health; parental autonomy support; primary school children.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Research hypothesis model M1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The distribution of children’s self-concept by gender and grade.
Figure 3
Figure 3
General mediation effects model of basic psychological needs MG. Note. Red represents the standardized path coefficients for the total sample, blue for the boys’ group, and green for the girls’ group. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mediating effect model of autonomy needs, MAN. Note. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mediating effect model of competence needs, MCN(gender). Note. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Mediating effect model of competence needs, MCN(grade). Note. ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The mediating effect model of relatedness needs, MRN. Note. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Li F., Cui Y., Li Y., Guo L., Ke X., Liu J., Luo X., Zheng Y., Leckman J.F. Prevalence of mental disorders in school children and adolescents in China: Diagnostic data from detailed clinical assessments of 17,524 individuals. J. Child. Psychol. Psychiatry. 2022;63:34–46. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13445. - DOI - PubMed
    1. The 2023 Blue Book of China’s Mental Health Released. [(accessed on 10 October 2023)]. Available online: https://health.gmw.cn.
    1. Wang X., Wang X., Ma H.B. Manual of Mental Health Rating Scale. Chinese Mental Health Journal; Beijing, China: 1999. pp. 306–307.
    1. Trautwein U., Lüdtke O., Köller O., Baumert J. Self-esteem, academic self-concept, and achievement: How the learning environment moderates the dynamics of self-concept. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 2006;90:334–349. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.90.2.334. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Su L., Wan G., Yang Z., Luo X., Li X., Liu M., Li Z., Huang C., Wang M. The Revising of Piers-Harris’s Self-concept Scale in Hunan Province. Chin. J. Clin. Psychol. 1994;1:14–18+64.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by The Post-funded Projects of the National Social Science Fund, China, grant number 21FGLB068.

LinkOut - more resources