Abstract
Parenting plays a vital role in children’s development. Children’s competence motivation is a unique and essential element of children’s approaches to learning. However, little is known about the relationship and the underlying mechanisms between parenting and children’s competence motivation. The present study examined the relationship between positive parenting, children’s attachment, curiosity, and competence motivation as perceived by the parents. Data was collected from 311 parents with children studying in three kindergartens in Hong Kong. The results suggested that positive parenting was not only directly related to preschool children’s competence motivation, but also indirectly through: (a) the independent mediating role of children’s attachment, (b) the independent mediating role of children’s Deprivation-type epistemic curiosity, and (c) the serial mediating role of attachment and Deprivation-type epistemic curiosity. With reference to the family systems theory, attachment theory, and self-determination theory, the present study provided evidence for the serial mediating roles of preschool children’s attachment and Deprivation-type epistemic curiosity in the relationship between positive parenting and children’s competence motivation as perceived by the parents.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Sylvia Y.C.L. Kwok: Conceptualization, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing- Original draft preparation, Writing - Review & Editing, Supervision, Project administration. Yumei Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing- Original draft preparation, Writing - Review & Editing. Kim Kwok: Investigation, Data Curation, Writing - Review & Editing, Project administration. All authors have read and approved the content and agree to submit for consideration for publication in the journal.
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Yumei Li, Sylvia Y.C.L. Kwok, and Kim Kwok declare that they have no conflict of interest. On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
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Kwok, S.Y., Li, Y. & Kwok, K. Positive parenting, attachment, epistemic curiosity, and competence motivation of preschool children in Hong Kong: A serial mediation model. Curr Psychol 42, 26079–26089 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03680-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03680-0