Parenting Style in Problem-Solving Situations: A Cultural Exploration Based on Structured Observational Methods in Hong Kong

This chapter explains the understanding of parenting in a Chinese context by identifying culture- and domain-specific patterns of parenting behaviors and examines their impact on children's school-related performance. It describes the debate on applying parenting style typologies to the Chinese population by using structured observational methods in examining parenting behaviors and styles in parent-child interactions in problem-solving situations. The analysis focuses on identifying profiles of parenting behaviors in problem-solving contexts and examining the relationships with children's school-related outcomes. The focus of observation in this study is on the interaction between parents and children engaging in problem-solving situations that resemble homework supervision, a common activity in families with school-age children in Hong Kong. Cluster analysis shows that Chinese parents in Hong Kong behaved in patterns identified as authoritarian, authoritative, disengaged, and task-oriented. Chinese fathers in Hong Kong were found to exhibit more varied parenting patterns than mothers.