Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.
Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
J Res Adolesc. 2024 Jun;34(2):395-409. doi: 10.1111/jora.12923. Epub 2024 Mar 13.
Adolescents' family obligation is a cultural strength that shows enduring prevalence in China. Given that the meaning of family obligation has undergone rapid changes in recent decades, it is crucial to examine the role of family obligation in adolescent adjustment in contemporary China. More importantly, although past research has investigated the consequences of family obligation on adolescents' adjustment, little is known about the antecedents of Chinese adolescents' family obligation. Using a two-wave longitudinal sample of 450 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 13.78 years, SD = .71 years; 49% female) and their parents, the current research explored two questions. First, this study examined the role of family obligation in adolescents' academic achievement, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems over early adolescence. Second, this study explored the role of parents in predicting Chinese adolescents' family obligation, specifically whether parental expectations or parental acceptance was predictive of adolescents' family obligation over time. Third, this study investigated whether family obligation is an underlying mechanism between parenting and Chinese adolescents' adjustment. Results showed that Chinese adolescents' family obligation was longitudinally associated with increased academic achievement and reduced externalizing problems. Moreover, perceived parental acceptance, but not parental expectations, was longitudinally associated with Chinese adolescents' greater family obligation. Notably, family obligation mediated the longitudinal effect of parental acceptance on Chinese adolescents' externalizing problems. By studying both the consequences and antecedents of Chinese adolescents' family obligation, this study helps provide a comprehensive understanding of this cultural strength.
青少年的家庭责任感是一种文化力量，在中国具有持久的普遍性。鉴于家庭责任感在近几十年发生了迅速变化，因此研究家庭责任感在当代中国青少年适应中的作用至关重要。更重要的是，尽管过去的研究已经调查了家庭责任感对青少年适应的影响，但对于中国青少年家庭责任感的前因知之甚少。本研究使用了 450 名中国青少年（平均年龄为 13.78 岁，标准差为 0.71 岁；49%为女性）及其父母的两波纵向样本，探讨了两个问题。首先，本研究考察了家庭责任感在青少年早期的学业成绩、外化问题和内化问题中的作用。其次，本研究探讨了父母在预测中国青少年家庭责任感方面的作用，具体是父母的期望或父母的接纳是否可以预测青少年随时间推移的家庭责任感。第三，本研究调查了家庭责任感是否是父母教养与中国青少年适应之间的潜在机制。结果表明，中国青少年的家庭责任感与学业成绩的提高和外化问题的减少呈纵向相关。此外，感知到的父母接纳，而不是父母期望，与青少年更大的家庭责任感呈纵向相关。值得注意的是，家庭责任感中介了父母接纳对中国青少年外化问题的纵向影响。通过研究中国青少年家庭责任感的后果和前因，本研究有助于全面理解这种文化力量。
