Study Shows Autonomy Essential to Children of All Cultures

University of Illinois researchers studying parenting styles in both the U.S. and China have shown that controlling parents are destructive to children's academic achievement no matter what the cultural context.

The six-month study appearing in the September/October issue of the journal Child Development focused on the emotional and academic functioning of 806 American and Chinese seventh graders from middle class. Researchers studied their grades and surveyed them on their moods, academic habits and their parent's parenting styles.

They found that parental efforts to control children via shame, manipulation or guilt had similarly negative effects on the emotional and academic wellbeing of children from both cultures. Meanwhile allowing children a degree of autonomy in making their own decisions had a positive effect on all the children--but a notably greater affect on the Americans.

The results suggest that children have a basic need for self-determination independent of culture. However, in societies where individualism is prized, the benefits of autonomy may be greater.

Read more: Study shows parenting styles have similar effects in China and U.S.