Religion, Family, and Chinese Youth Development by Jerf W. K. Yeung

Author:Jerf W. K. Yeung [Yeung, Jerf W. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781000333701
Google: kJoMEAAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-12-30T02:54:41+00:00

Family socialization and externalizing health and symptoms of Chinese youths

In researching youth development, scholars tend to consider behavioral problems, delinquency, deviant acts, smoking and drinking, substance abuse, and the illicit and criminal performances of young people as the negative side of externalizing development (Deane et al., 2018; Deng & Roosa, 2007; Giannakopoulos et al., 2009; Walton & Flouri, 2010; Wiesner & Shukla, 2018). Helping behaviors, volunteering, civic participation, donations, altruistic acts, and caring for those in need are thought of as the positive side of externalizing development (Bono et al., 2019; Gunnoe, Hetherington, & Reiss, 1999; Hutchinson et al., 2019; Ottoni-Wilhelm, Estell, & Perdue, 2014; Wray-Lake, Syvertsen, & Flanagan, 2016). The negative side of youth externalizing development is defined as behavioral manifestations that would bring about detrimental consequences and harm to others, the family, peers, society, legal and economic systems, as well as the youth actors themselves (Bynum, 2010; Byrnes, 2003). The positive side of youth externalizing development connotes any behaviors and acts with the intention to benefit and be conducive to the needs and development of others, the family, peers, society, legal and economic systems, as well as the youth actors themselves (Petersen, 2017; Silbereisen, 2007). In fact, the development of externalizing health or symptoms among youths has far-reaching implications for their interpersonal relationships, mental health, social competence, and future achievement. Hence, it is worthy of research. Of theoretical relevance, social learning theory posits that youth behavioral patterns, choices, and performances are progressively cultivated and acquired in the socialization context of family processes and parenting practices through observation, modeling, and molding, which as a result formulate their externalizing development (Bandura, 1977; Caputo, 2004; Levesque, 2018). In addition, attachment theory presumes that youths who have close and secure relationships and communication with their parents would be more susceptible to the influences of family processes and parenting practices, which then lead to effective social control to regulate their behavioral decisions and expressions (Dadds & Barrett, 1996; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2015; Vivona, 2000), thereby contributing to their externalizing health or symptoms. Furthermore, if youths feel isolated and deserted by their cultivating family, they will become estranged from their parents, which makes family processes and parenting practices less effective in contributing to their externalizing health and, as such, incurs more externalizing problems (Bjarnason, 1998; Heydari et al., 2013).

For youth behavioral problems, pertinent empirical research stresses the importance of family socialization by behavioral maladjustment of youths. In their recent study, Wang, Hu, and Wang (2018) examined the effects of personality, family, and classroom environments on both emotional and behavioral problems of Chinese adolescents. They found that personality and family environment showed the strongest significant effects on the emotional and behavioral problems of these adolescents. Correspondently, Giannakopoulos, Mihas, Dimitrakaki, and Tountas (2009) reported that poor parent–child relations, a parental marital status of anything other than being married, and low maternal subjective mental health were significantly predictive of emotional/behavioral problems among a random sample of adolescents in Greece, and parent–child relations had the strongest influence on adolescent emotional/behavioral problems.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.