Psychological Development and Education ›› 2011, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (2): 140-150.

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A Three-Level Model of Parent-Child Communication: Theory, Scale and Application in Chinese 5th-6th Graders

CHI Li-ping   

  1. Department of Psychology, China Women's University, Beijing 100101
  • Online:2011-03-15 Published:2011-03-15

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Abstract: The present study aimed to construct a parent-child communication model based on system views,and develop a corresponding instrument named as "the parent-child communication scale" after reviewing previous literature,interviewing relative specialists and some parents and children.In the parent-child communication model,the family was regarded as a system,including all family members,their relations and the interaction of the relations.Concretely,the model described the parent-child communication on the following three levels:(1) compo-nent-level,measuring the communication ability of each family member;(2) relationship-level,examining the quality of dyadic communication occurred between father and child or mother and child;(3) system-level,emphasizing the relationship of mother-child and father-child communications.In order to measure the characteristics of parent-child communication on above three levels,a "parent-child communication scale" was developed.The results indicated that:(1) The characteristics of parent-child communication could be well described on the three levels:the ability of communication,the quality of parent-child communication and the relationship between mother-child and father-child communications.The present scale met the demand of psychometrics criterion,so it could be used to explore characteristics and patterns of parent-child communication.(2) Children's communication abil-ities were poorer than their parents';and fathers scored lower than mothers on the communication abilities.The quality of father-child communication was worse than that of mother-child.The mother-child and father-child communications were unbalanced.Children's fathers seldom communicated with them.(3) Structure equation modeling revealed that it was parents' audient ability but not expression ability could predict the quality of parent-child communication,and it was the quality of father-child communication served as the predictor of the harmony of mother-child communication and father-child communication.

Key words: parent-child communication, theory of system, theory construction, scale development

CLC Number: 

  • B844.1
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