Kevin Handley and Dr. Niwako Yamawaki, Department of Psychology
Of all the research studying the influence of stressors on parents, only a few studies have actually addressed demographic factors as stressors. Even then, there has yet to be a study that specifically seeks to delineate exactly which demographic factor predicts which type of parenting style. This project sought to delineate which demographic factors (e.g. area of residence, SES, age, and education) are predictive of maladaptive parenting styles, and which factors are predictive of adaptive parenting styles. The intent was that if certain demographics were found to be highly predictive of maladaptive parenting styles, then perhaps governments could be persuaded to implement programs to assist and train at-risk parents and parents-to-be.
In this study, we looked at the demographic data for the parents of students Grades 1 through 9. A total of 12 schools were chosen: 6 from commerce-oriented northern Taiwan, and 6 from agriculture-oriented southern Taiwan. Half of the schools sampled from were elementary schools (Grades 1 through 6), while the other half were junior high schools (Grades 7 through 9). Each elementary school and junior high school was chosen on the basis of socioeconomic status (SES). There was an upper, middle, and lower level SES elementary school and an upper, middle, and lower level SES junior high school chosen for both northern and southern Taiwan.
Because of the difficulty in securing cooperation from schools, data collection took a lot longer than anticipated. Upper level SES schools showed the greatest willingness to participate, whereas lower level SES schools showed the least willingness to participate. In total, 16 schools were asked to participate in the study, and schools that declined participation had interesting reasons. One low-SES elementary school in southern Taiwan refused participation because most of the students’ parents were unwed cohabitants—a social taboo in Taiwan, but a necessary evil for those too poor to afford a formal, traditional wedding. A low-SES junior high school from northern Taiwan refused participation because the principal felt the parents would be too embarrassed to disclose information about their monthly salary. Another low-SES school in northern Taiwan refused participation because the principal felt that the parents were not educated enough to fully understand the contents of the questionnaire.
While the questionnaire was fairly straightforward, there was a problem in translation regarding the birthplace of participants. The translation used was an older, more formal word that was misunderstood by most participants. Thus, this demographic variable had to be removed from analysis. Furthermore, because of the nature of the questions, the data gathered represents not how parents actually behave towards their children, nor does it represent what attitudes the parents may actually personally hold. Instead, the results merely show what these parents think society expects of a “good” parent.
Of the 1200 questionnaires issued, 690 were returned yielding a response rate of 57.5%, with one school still yet to have returned its completed questionnaires. The response rate was higher in the south than in the north perhaps due more to the diligence of the teachers who assisted in issuing the questionnaires rather than parental willingness. There was, however, a noticeable difference between parents’ response rate. Usually more mothers responded than fathers (by about 10), although there were a couple schools where more fathers responded. Further evaluation of gender, average education level, and questionnaire response patterns for parenting style still need to be conducted—information that would prove or disprove the hypothesis that Taiwanese mothers are more authoritarian and fathers more authoritative (Hypothesis 3).
Because of the large amount of data, only a preliminary analysis has been conducted and further statistical analysis (including predictive analyses) remains to be completed. Results from the preliminary analysis have yielded only general information about potential trends. Regarding age, parents in the north were generally about 2 years older than parents in the south. Eventually, participant response rates for each age group will be evaluated for predictive strength (for each item, per area and per SES). Regarding parent’s education, it was unsurprising that high-SES parents had higher levels of education, mid-SES parents had medium levels of education, and low-SES parents had low levels of education; in Taiwan, education level is an extremely strong predictor of SES. Regarding number of children, the trend was that parents in the north with higher income tended to have fewer children, whereas parents with lower income tended to have more children; in the south, there was no noticeable difference. Whether the number of children influences parenting style still remains to be seen.
It was hypothesized that rural residence, lower SES, older age, and lower education would predict authoritarian and neglectful parenting (Hypothesis 1). In addition, it was hypothesized that suburban and metropolitan residence, moderate to upper SES, young age, and higher education will predict authoritative, mid-range, and indulgent parenting (Hypothesis 2). Preliminary analysis merely revealed that high-SES parents tended to be more indulgent, these results the same for both the north and the south. Results also suggest that parents in the south have more authoritarian values than parents in the north. Regarding authoritative parenting, participant responses were highest first in the south’s high-SES and second in the north’s mid-SES. These relationships still need to be evaluated further. For example, further statistical analysis will include (1) comparing raw scores and t-scores, (2) a per-item and per-area analysis of parenting style versus parent’s education level, and finally (3) comparing Z-scores of participant response for all demographic variables (i.e., different areas, gender, income, etc.).
In addition to further statistical analysis, there are many questions that still need to be addressed. First, are low-SES parents able to have many children because they live with their extended family, a tradition still common especially in the countryside? Second, what is the relationship between salary, marital status, and place of residence? Third, is there a significant correlation between military service and participant response (per item)? Finally, concerning unanswered questionnaire items, why were they unanswered? Were questions for frequently unanswered unclear or did parents intentionally avoid answering them?
Although this project proved to be more challenging than expected (and has taken far longer than expected), the overall experience of interacting with Taiwanese parents and teachers along with the anticipated benefits from implications of the results made this an extremely rewarding experience.