Parenting Style and Children's Self-Care Ability: The Moderating Role of Executive Function

Abstract

Background: Children's self-care ability (SCA) is a very important part of early development and school readiness. Previous studies have shown that parenting style is essential factor that influence young children's SCA. However, much less is known about the association between different types of parenting styles and children's SCA, let alone the moderating role of executive function (EF). Methods: This study used measures such as parenting style, EF and SCA to survey children (N = 482) aged 3–7 years old and their parents. Results: The results indicated that democratic parenting style was positively correlated with children's SCA, while other parenting styles were negatively correlated with children's SCA. Moreover, with the exception of inconsistent parenting style and authoritarian parenting style, the predictive effect of parenting styles on young children's SCA is moderated by young children's EF: Democratic parenting styles and children's SCA were significantly and positively correlated when children's EF was high rather than low; coddling and permissive parenting styles and children's SCA were significantly and negatively correlated when children's EF was high rather than low. Conclusions: These findings suggest that democratic parenting styles are effective in promoting the development of SCA in children with high EF.