Bidirectional longitudinal relations between caregiving styles and young rural Chinese children's academic skills

Abstract

This longitudinal study investigated the bidirectional relations between primary caregivers’ caregiving styles and young rural Chinese children's academic skills. A total of 247 rural Chinese preschool children and their primary caregivers were followed up three times with a one-year time interval between adjacent time points. At each time point (Time 1 [T1], Time 2 [T2), and Time 3 [T3]), the caregivers completed questionnaires assessing their caregiving styles, and the children were tested individually on their Chinese reading and informal and formal math skills. Results from the random intercept cross-lagged model showed that T1 authoritative caregiving positively predicted T2 Chinese reading skills, and T1 Chinese reading skills positively predicted T2 authoritative caregiving. T1 Chinese reading skills negatively predicted T2 authoritarian caregiving. Further analysis showed that children's boarding status (boarders versus nonboarders) did not moderate the relation between caregiving styles and children's academic skills. These findings highlight the importance of authoritative caregiving for the development of preschool children's Chinese reading skills. They also underscore the role of children's better Chinese reading skills in eliciting more authoritative caregiving and less authoritarian caregiving from their caregivers.