Socioeconomic status and problem behaviors in young Chinese children: A moderated mediation model of parenting styles and only children

INTRODUCTION: This study tested a moderated mediation model of child number (CN) and parenting styles (PS) in the relationships between family socioeconomic status (SES) and young children’s problem behaviors (PB). METHODS: A sample of 1,101 children (M(age) = 4.90 years, SD = 1.07) and their parents participated in this study. Parents reported on PS, SES, and children’s PB. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results show SES was positively related to authoritative parenting and negatively related to authoritarian parenting; problem behaviors were negatively related to authoritative parenting and positively related to authoritarian parenting; authoritative parenting and authoritarian parenting mediated the relationship between SES and PB; and singleton moderated the relationship between SES and PB. The combination of only children and low levels of SES could lead to high PB levels, while the combination of non-only children and high levels of SES could lead to high PB levels. At the same SES, only children had higher PB levels than non-only children.