Trajectories of Perceived Parental Psychological Control and the Longitudinal Associations with Chinese Adolescents' School Adjustment across High School Years.

Past research supports the detrimental effects of parental psychological control on adolescent school adjustment in both emotional and academic domains. However, how psychological control changes during adolescence, and how such developmental course is related to adolescent psychological well-being and academic functioning are unclear. The direction of effects between parenting and child behaviors is also inconclusive. This 3-year longitudinal study addressed these research gaps by using five waves of survey data on 710 Chinese adolescents of high school ages (Mean age at T1 = 15.54 years, SD = 0.45, 50% males). Using latent growth curve models and latent class growth analysis, the majority of adolescents (about 63%) reported gradual increases of parental psychological control in the first 2 years of high school but a slight decline afterwards, while the other 37% perceived low and stable levels. Results from parallel latent growth modeling suggested that trajectories of psychological control were positively related to developmental trends of internalizing problems (i.e., depression and anxiety) and maladaptive academic functioning, but negatively associated with the trajectory of adaptive academic functioning, as indexed by intercept-intercept and slope-slope associations. The random-intercept cross-lagged models further revealed that psychological control was predictive of adolescent anxiety and lower adaptive academic functioning, and bidirectionally associated with maladaptive academic-related beliefs and behaviors at the within-person level. Taken together, these findings highlight the crucial role of parental psychological control on adolescent school adjustment in the Chinese cultural context and support the reciprocal model of parent-child interactions.

Two Morphological Awareness Components Have Different Roles in Chinese Word Reading Development for Primary Schoolers.

Morphological awareness is multi-factorial by nature and consists of general morphological knowledge and morphological meaning analysis; the first refers to the recognition and manipulation of morphological structures, and the second refers to the inference of word semantics by utilizing morphological knowledge. Contrasting the roles of two morphological awareness components in word reading could help resolve the controversy about whether morphological awareness could independently contribute to Chinese word reading. Thus, the study explored how morphological awareness components contributed to word reading development in Chinese context. A group of 299 Chinese children in grades 3 and 4 were recruited and tested twice with the interval of half a year, by a series of tasks on morphological awareness components, word reading, and some control variables. Results showed that, after controlling for vocabulary and other linguistic variables, morphological meaning analysis could independently predict word reading, whereas general morphological knowledge could only indirectly predict word reading, a process mediated by morphological meaning analysis. This study showed independent contribution of morphological awareness to Chinese word reading development. By clarifying the ways of how different morphological awareness components support children's word reading development, the findings enhance our understanding about the potential mechanism underlying the relation between morphological awareness and Chinese word reading.

Cascaded processing in naming and reading: Evidence from Chinese and Korean.

Previous studies have shown that the ability to simultaneously process multiple items when these appear in serial format (called "cascaded" processing) is an important element of reading fluency. However, most evidence in support of cascaded processing comes from studies conducted in European orthographies. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine whether the same findings generalize to nonlinear and nonalphabetic orthographies (i.e., Korean and Chinese). Serial and discrete naming of digits and objects were measured in a sample of 610 Chinese and Korean children from Grades 1, 3, 5, and 6. Children were also assessed on discrete word reading and on word- and text-reading fluency. Results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that discrete naming was the main predictor of discrete word reading in both languages as early as Grade 1. Serial digit naming was the main predictor of word-reading fluency across grades and languages. Finally, serial object naming made a unique contribution to word- and text-reading fluency in Chinese upper grades. Taken together, these findings suggest that, beyond accurate and fast word recognition, there is a universal multi-item (or cascaded) processing skill involved in serial naming and reading fluency.

Parental psychological control and academic functioning in Chinese high school students: A short-term longitudinal study.

The present study aimed to examine the reciprocal relationship between parental psychological control and students' academic functioning in urban China. Participants were 731 Chinese high school students in grade 10 (356 boys; Mage  = 15.64 years, SD = 0.68). Two waves of 1-year longitudinal data were collected using student reports of parental psychological control and academic-related beliefs, strategies, and behaviours. Results showed that parental psychological control at Time 1 significantly triggered an increase in students' maladaptive academic functioning at Time 2; and students' adaptive academic functioning at Time 1 significantly predicted parental psychological control at Time 2. Limitations of the present study and implications for practice are discussed. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? According to self-determination theory, parental psychological control has been found to be harmful on students' academic learning in Western societies. We know little about the relation between parental psychological control and academic functioning (adaptive vs. maladaptive) in Eastern societies such as China. What does this study add? Parental psychological control increased maladaptive academic functioning, and adaptive academic functioning decreased parental psychological control, suggesting a more fluid, dynamic parenting-child interaction over time. The predicted relations between parental psychological control and academic functioning of high school students hold across gender. More urbanized adolescents had a high tendency to perceive their parents as psychological controlling, suggesting a change in culture regarding the importance of personal autonomy for more urbanized adolescents.

Responses to academic stress mediate the association between sleep difficulties and depressive/anxiety symptoms in Chinese adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: Sleep difficulties are pervasive in Chinese adolescents, which exert aversive influence on their emotional health. However, the underlying mechanisms of this effect remain unclear. This study addressed whether stress responses mediate the concurrent and prospective relationship between sleep difficulties and depressive/anxiety symptoms in Chinese adolescents. METHOD: 17,946 adolescents (14-18 years-old) were administrated the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Responses to Stress Questionnaire. Further, 710 of them finished the one-year follow-up assessments. Structural equation models were conducted to determine the concurrent and prospective mediation effects of stress responses and the moderated effect of gender and age. RESULTS: Involuntary engagement and disengagement responses, as well as engagement coping, significantly mediated the cross-sectional relationship between sleep difficulties and depressive/anxiety symptoms. Moreover, sleep difficulties at baseline predicted enhanced involuntary engagement responses but reduced the use of engagement coping strategies one year later, resulting in an elevated level of depressive/anxiety symptoms. Finally, females and younger adolescents with greater sleep difficulties were more likely to generate maladaptive stress responses. LIMITATIONS: First, sleep difficulties were only measured using self-reported approaches. Second, potential confounding variables (e.g., socioeconomic status) were not adjusted for. Third, our study only focused on typically-developing youth samples rather than clinical samples. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the important role of stress responses in the relationship between sleep difficulties and depressive/anxiety symptoms. The findings might also shed some light on the psychological intervention of sleep difficulties and mood disorder in adolescent populations.

Influence of parental academic involvement on the achievement goal orientations of high school students in China: A latent growth model study.

BACKGROUND: Many studies on parental involvement in their children's education have limitations in cross-sectional designs in spite of examining the relationships between this involvement and achievement goal orientations. Thus, little is known about whether and how parental involvement affects achievement goal orientations over time. AIMS: This study examines the influence of parental involvement on achievement goal orientations among Chinese high school students. SAMPLE: The participants included 741 high school students (367 girls; Mage  = 15.51 years, SD = .46) in China. METHODS: The data were collected in five waves with a 6-month interval, starting in the autumn of tenth grade and ending in the autumn of twelfth grade. In each wave, participants reported their perceived degree of parental involvement, mastery goal orientation, performance-approach goal orientation and performance-avoidance goal orientation. RESULTS: Over time, a decline was seen in these high school students' perceived level of parental involvement and mastery goal orientation, while an increase in their performance-approach goal orientation and stability in terms of their performance-avoidance goal orientation were found. In addition, the results indicated that the level of and changes in parental involvement had significant effects on the changes in mastery goal orientation, and were unrelated to those of two performance goal orientations. CONCLUSIONS: These findings evidence the dynamic nature of parental involvement and students' achievement goal orientations, as well as the positive influence of such involvement on the endorsement and development of mastery goal orientation, while this was not the case for the other two performance goal orientations.

The Role of Mothers' Child-Based Worth in Their Affective Responses to Children's Performance.

This research examined whether American and Chinese mothers' tendencies to base their worth on children's performance contributes to their affective responses to children's performance. Study 1 used daily interviews to assess mothers' warmth (vs. hostility) and children's school performance (N = 197; Mage  = 12.81 years). In Study 2, such affect was observed in the laboratory following children's manipulated performance on cognitive problems (N = 128; Mage  = 10.21 years). The more mothers based their worth on children's performance, the more their warmth (vs. hostility) decreased when children failed in Study 1. This pattern was evident only among Chinese mothers in Study 2. In both studies, child-based worth did not contribute to mothers' affective responses to children's success.

Different Subcomponents of Executive Functioning Predict Different Growth Parameters in Mathematics: Evidence From a 4-Year Longitudinal Study With Chinese Children.

Executive functioning (EF), an umbrella term used to represent cognitive skills engaged in goal-directed behaviors, has been found to be a unique predictor of mathematics performance. However, very few studies have examined how the three core EF subcomponents (inhibition, shifting, and working memory) predict the growth parameters (intercept and slope) in mathematics skills and even fewer studies have been conducted in a non-Western country. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine how inhibition, shifting, and working memory predict the growth parameters in arithmetic accuracy and fluency in a group of Chinese children (n = 179) followed from Grade 2 (mean age = 97.89 months) to Grade 5 (mean age = 133.43 months). In Grade 2, children were assessed on measures of nonverbal IQ, number sense, speed of processing, inhibition, shifting, and working memory. In addition, in Grades 2-5, they were assessed on arithmetic accuracy and fluency. Results of structural equation modeling showed that nonverbal IQ, speed of processing, and number sense predicted the intercept in arithmetic accuracy, while working memory was the only EF subcomponent to predict the slope (rate of growth) in arithmetic accuracy. In turn, number sense, speed of processing, inhibition, and shifting were significant predictors of the intercept in arithmetic fluency. None of the EF subcomponents predicted the slope in arithmetic fluency. Our findings reinforce those of previous studies in North America and Europe showing that EF contributes to mathematics performance over and above other key predictors of mathematics, and suggest that different EF subcomponents may predict different growth parameters in mathematics.

Developmental Trajectories of Attention in Typically Developing Chinese Children: A Four-Wave Longitudinal Study.

We conducted a 4-year longitudinal study to investigate trajectories of attention in a sample of 145 Chinese children. The Test of Everyday Attention was administered and latent growth modeling was used to capture developmental trajectories. We found that children's selective attention showed a linear increase, whereas attentional control and sustained attention increased rapidly then slowed down over 4 years. There was no significant correlation between the slopes of growth model for any subsystems. Girls showed higher initial levels of selective attention than boys, but no difference in growth rate. These findings support different developmental patterns in the attention network systems.

The Structure of Speed of Processing Across Cultures.

We examined whether a general processing factor emerges when using response times for cognitive processing tasks and whether such a factor is valid across three different cultural groups (Chinese, Canadian, and Greek). Three hundred twenty university students from Canada (n = 115), China (n = 110), and Cyprus (n = 95) were assessed on an adaptation of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (D-N CAS; Naglieri & Das, 1997). Three alternative models were contrasted: a distinct abilities processing speed model (Model 1) that is dictated by the latent four cognitive factors of planning, attention, simultaneous and successive (PASS) processing, a unitary ability processing speed model (Model 2) that is dictated by the response time nature of all measures, and a bifactor model (Model 3) which included the latent scores of Models 1 and 2 and served as the full model. Results of structural equation modeling showed that (a) the model representing processing speed as a collection of four cognitive processes rather than a unitary processing speed factor was the most parsimonious, and (b) the loadings of the obtained factors were invariant across the three cultural groups. These findings enhance our understanding of the nature of speed of processing across diverse cultures and suggest that even when cognitive processes (i.e., PASS) are operationalized with response time measures, the processing component dominates speed.

Is processing of symbols and words influenced by writing system? Evidence from Chinese, Korean, English, and Greek.

We examined cross-linguistic effects in the relationship between serial and discrete versions of digit naming and word reading. In total, 113 Mandarin-speaking Chinese children, 100 Korean children, 112 English-speaking Canadian children, and 108 Greek children in Grade 3 were administered tasks of serial and discrete naming of words and digits. Interrelations among tasks indicated that the link between rapid naming and reading is largely determined by the format of the tasks across orthographies. Multigroup path analyses with discrete and serial word reading as dependent variables revealed commonalities as well as significant differences between writing systems. The path coefficient from discrete digits to discrete words was greater for the more transparent orthographies, consistent with more efficient sight-word processing. The effect of discrete word reading on serial word reading was stronger in alphabetic languages, where there was also a suppressive effect of discrete digit naming. However, the effect of serial digit naming on serial word reading did not differ among the four language groups. This pattern of relationships challenges a universal account of reading fluency acquisition while upholding a universal role of rapid serial naming, further distinguishing between multi-element interword and intraword processing.

Multivariate Neural Representations of Value during Reward Anticipation and Consummation in the Human Orbitofrontal Cortex.

The role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in value processing is a focus of research. Conventional imaging analysis, where smoothing and averaging are employed, may not be sufficiently sensitive in studying the OFC, which has heterogeneous anatomical structures and functions. In this study, we employed representational similarity analysis (RSA) to reveal the multi-voxel fMRI patterns in the OFC associated with value processing during the anticipatory and the consummatory phases. We found that multi-voxel activation patterns in the OFC encoded magnitude and partial valence information (win vs. loss) but not outcome (favourable vs. unfavourable) during reward consummation. Furthermore, the lateral OFC rather than the medial OFC encoded loss information. Also, we found that OFC encoded values in a similar way to the ventral striatum (VS) or the anterior insula (AI) during reward anticipation regardless of motivated response and to the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and the VS in reward consummation. In contrast, univariate analysis did not show changes of activation in the OFC. These findings suggest an important role of the OFC in value processing during reward anticipation and consummation.

Differential mesolimbic and prefrontal alterations during reward anticipation and consummation in positive and negative schizotypy.

Schizotypy is associated with anhedonia. However, previous findings on the neural substrates of anhedonia in schizotypy are mixed. In the present study, we measured the neural substrates associated with reward anticipation and consummation in positive and negative schizotypy using functional MRI. The Monetary Incentive Delay task was administered to 33 individuals with schizotypy (18 positive schizotypy (PS),15 negative schizotypy (NS)) and 22 healthy controls. Comparison between schizotypy individuals and controls were performed using two-sample T tests for contrast images involving gain versus non-gain anticipation condition and gain versus non-gain consummation condition. Multiple comparisons were corrected using Monte Carlo Simulation correction of p<.05. The results showed no significant difference in brain activity between controls and schizotypy individuals as a whole during gain anticipation or consummation. However, during the consummatory phase, NS individuals rather than PS individuals showed diminished left amygdala and left putamen activity compared with controls. We observed significantly weaker activation at the left ventral striatum during gain anticipation in NS individuals compared with controls. PS individuals, however, exhibited enhanced right ventral lateral prefrontal activity. These findings suggest that different dimensions of schizotypy may be underlied by different neural dysfunctions in reward anticipation and consummation.

Mothers' Goals for Adolescents in the United States and China: Content and Transmission.

This research examined children's socialization toward culturally valued goals during adolescence in the United States and China. 223 mothers listed and ranked their 5 most important goals for their children (mean age = 12.85 years). Children ranked the importance of the goals listed by their mothers and explained why they were or were not important to them. American mothers placed heightened emphasis on their children maintaining feelings of worth and pursuing what they enjoy. Chinese mothers stressed their children achieving outcomes, as did African American mothers. European American children's rankings of importance were the least similar to those of their mothers, and they gave the fewest autonomous reasons for importance suggesting that their adoption of mothers' goals was weakest.

The role of rapid naming in reading development and dyslexia in Chinese.

We examined in a series of studies the mechanism that may underlie the relationship between Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) and reading (accuracy and fluency) in Mandarin Chinese. Study 1 examined the "arbitrary" connections hypothesis in a sample of Grade 2 children (N=182). Study 2 contrasted the phonological processing, orthographic processing, and speed of processing hypotheses in a sample of Grade 2 children followed until Grade 5 (N=72). Finally, Study 3 contrasted the same hypotheses in a sample of Grade 4 children with dyslexia (n=30) and chronological-age controls (n=30). The results indicated that (a) RAN is unrelated to Paired Associate Learning (PAL) tasks that tap the ability to form arbitrary connections between characters and their pronunciation, (b) controlling for nonverbal IQ and orthographic processing was sufficient to explain the RAN-reading accuracy relationship but not the RAN-reading fluency relationship, and (c) the observed differences between dyslexics and controls in RAN diminished after controlling for orthographic processing. Taken together, these findings suggest that RAN is related to reading accuracy (and partly to reading fluency) because children must access orthographic representations from long-term memory. Although accessing these representations is sufficient for accurate word recognition, it is not sufficient for fluent reading, which also requires efficient parafoveal processing.

Why are Chinese mothers more controlling than American mothers? "My child is my report card".

Chinese parents exert more control over children than do American parents. The current research examined whether this is due in part to Chinese parents' feelings of worth being more contingent on children's performance. Twice over a year, 215 mothers and children (Mage  = 12.86 years) in China and the United States (European and African American) reported on psychologically controlling parenting. Mothers also indicated the extent to which their worth is contingent on children's performance. Psychologically controlling parenting was higher among Chinese than American mothers, particularly European (vs. African) American mothers. Chinese (vs. American) mothers' feelings of worth were more contingent on children's performance, with this contributing to their heightened psychological control relative to American mothers.

Latent factor structure of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System: a confirmatory factor analysis in a Chinese setting.

This study aims to measure the psychometric properties of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (D-N CAS) and to determine its clinical utility in a Chinese context. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine the construct validity of the Chinese version of the D-N CAS among a group of 567, normally developed children. Test-retest reliability was examined in a random subsample of 30 children at a five-week interval. The clinical discrimination of the D-N CAS was also examined by comparing children with and without ADHD (18 children in each group) and by comparing children with and without Chinese reading disabilities (18 children in each group). The current Chinese sample demonstrated a four-factor solution for cognitive performance among children with normal development: Planning, Attention, Simultaneous processing and Successive processing (χ2(48)=91.90, p=.000; χ2/df=1.92, RMSEA=.050, GFI=.966, CFI=.954). Moreover, all subtests of the battery demonstrated acceptable test-retest reliability (r=.72-.90, p<.01) at a five-week interval among the subjects of the small subsample. Children with ADHD performed significantly worse than normal children on the Attention factor (p<.001) and the Planning factor (p<.05) of the D-N CAS, and children with Chinese reading disabilities performed significantly worse than normal children on the Simultaneous processing factor (p<.01), the Successive processing factor (p<.001) and the Planning factor (p<.05) of the D-N CAS. These findings suggested that the current four-factor structure of the D-N CAS was similar to the original factor structure of the test. The latent factor of the D-N CAS was fairly stable across the cultures. Moreover, the D-N CAS can distinguish between children with ADHD or Chinese reading disabilities and normally developed children.