The relationship between parenting styles and children’s social competence in the Chinese context

In recent years, preschool children’s levels of social competence have been found to be related to parents’ childrearing practices. As shown by previous research, parenting styles have a great influence on young children’s social and emotional development (e.g., Anthony et al., 2005; Berg, 2011; Farrell, 2015; Suat, 2018). Young children come to meet others in preschool and encounter complex interpersonal demands, which challenge their development of social competence (Anthony et al., 2005). Some researchers indicated that social competence is related to “the ability to develop peer and adult relationships that are necessary to succeed in both academic and non-academic settings” (Mendaz et al., 2002, p. 134). Therefore, a relatively high level of social competence may help build a foundation for children’s future success in both academic and non-academic settings. The literature has shown numerous findings on the relationship between parenting styles and young children’s levels of social competence. However, limited research has addressed the Chinese context specifically. Since the Chinese context may affect parenting styles culturally and socially, thus influencing young children’s development of social competence. Therefore, this study focuses on investigating the relationship between parenting styles and children’s social competence in the Chinese context specifically, which can potentially build a foundation for future research in related fields and help improve daily education practices in family education.