title: The effects of parental education and family income on mother-child relationships, father-child relationships, and family environments in the People's Republic of China.
abstract: Using a cross-sectional design with 407 Chinese children aged 3-5 years and their parents, this study examined the effects of socioeconomic status, specifically parents' education and family income, on the children's mother-child relationships, father-child relationships, and the social environment in their families. The results indicated that income negatively predicted conflict in father-child relationships and positively predicted family active-recreational environments. Income also positively predicted family cohesion among girls but not boys. Maternal education negatively predicted conflict in mother-child relationships and positively predicted closeness in mother-child and father-child relationships, family cohesion, and the intellectual-cultural and active-recreational environments in the family. Paternal education positively predicted family cohesion and intellectual-cultural and active-recreational environments. Income was found to partially mediate the effects of both maternal and paternal education on family active-recreational environments. Findings are discussed in the frameworks of the family stress model and the family investment model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Childhood Education, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong SAR, China. xiao@graduate.hku.hk
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*; D013315:Stress, Psychological