부모의 권위감과 양육행동이 청소년의 자율성에 미치는 영향: 중국과 미국 청소년을 중심으로

Although parent-child relationships are fundamental aspects of human development across all societies, this relationship is also shaped in significant ways by culture. Therefore, the present study sought to determine whether adolescent autonomy was predicted in a similar or differential manner by several parent-adolescent variables consisting of parenting behavior, parental authority, and parents’ educational attainment in samples of Chinese and American adolescents. The sample for this study included 418 Chinese adolescents and 226 American adolescents. Utilizing structural equation modeling, the results revealed that the effect of paternal authority on adolescent autonomy development is indirect, with the indirect effect being mediated by the authoritative parenting behaviors for both cultural groups. Therefore, the analyses for Chinese and European American youth generated similar association patterns, such that parenting behaviors served as a mediator in the relationship between paternal authority and adolescents’ autonomy development. The significance of this present study is to contribute to existing knowledge in the field of adolescent development and to the literature on how parental behaviors and authority in collectivistic societies and individualist societies influence adolescent development.