Zhang Feng, Yang Rui
Institute of Applied Psychology, Psychological Research and Counseling Center, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 611756, PR China.
BMC Psychol. 2025 Jan 9;13(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-02345-4.
A happy adolescent may live a healthy and successful life. This study focused on parental expectations in the Chinese cultural context and investigated whether and under what conditions adolescents' perceived parental expectations are associated with their happiness, the affective component of subjective well-being.
This cross-sectional study included a sample of 1510 Chinese adolescents; the average age of the adolescents was 12.39 years, and 55.40% were boys. A questionnaire including the perceived parental expectations scale, self-efficacy scale, connectedness subscale and one item that measured happiness was administered to the adolescents.
The results reveal that self-efficacy moderates the relationship between perceived parental expectations and happiness. For adolescents who exhibit higher levels of self-efficacy, perceived parental expectations are negatively correlated with happiness; in contrast, for adolescents who exhibit lower levels of self-efficacy, perceived parental expectations are not related to happiness. Moreover, the results reveal that connectedness moderates the relationship between perceived parental expectations and happiness. Among adolescents who exhibit higher levels of connectedness, a nonsignificant relationship is observed between perceived parental expectations and happiness; in contrast, among adolescents who exhibit lower levels of connectedness, perceived parental expectations are negatively related to happiness.
This study reveals that, under conditions featuring higher levels of self-efficacy or lower levels of connectedness, perceived parental expectations are not conducive to their happiness. These findings have important implications with regard to parenting practices.
快乐的青少年可能会过上健康且成功的生活。本研究聚焦于中国文化背景下的父母期望，并调查了青少年所感知到的父母期望是否以及在何种条件下与他们的幸福感（主观幸福感的情感成分）相关。
这项横断面研究纳入了1510名中国青少年样本；青少年的平均年龄为12.39岁，其中55.40%为男孩。向青少年发放了一份问卷，其中包括感知到的父母期望量表、自我效能量表、联系性子量表以及一个测量幸福感的项目。
结果显示，自我效能调节了感知到的父母期望与幸福感之间的关系。对于自我效能水平较高的青少年，感知到的父母期望与幸福感呈负相关；相反，对于自我效能水平较低的青少年，感知到的父母期望与幸福感无关。此外，结果显示，联系性调节了感知到的父母期望与幸福感之间的关系。在联系性水平较高的青少年中，感知到的父母期望与幸福感之间没有显著关系；相反，在联系性水平较低的青少年中，感知到的父母期望与幸福感呈负相关。
本研究表明，在自我效能水平较高或联系性水平较低的情况下，感知到的父母期望不利于青少年的幸福感。这些发现对育儿实践具有重要意义。
