关键词: 主观幸福感, 父母参与, 一致性, 响应面分析, 性别差异

Abstract: Parental involvement refers to parents'engaging in children’s school, family, personal life, and other aspects, which reflects parents’ understanding, interest, and willingness to participate in children’s daily activities. Previous studies have shown various benefits of parental involvement on children’s development. Based on the structural family theory, the balance of paternal and maternal involvement is essential for children, which may enhance their attachment and reduce anxiety. However, the empirical studies showed inconsistent results. The current study aims to examine how congruence or incongruence of children’s perceived paternal and maternal involvement may relate to their subjective well-being. The specific research goals are: (1) If the maternal and paternal involvement are incongruence may influence subjective well-being; (2) If the maternal and paternal involvement are congruently high, compared with congruently low, may influence subjective well-being; (3) If the maternal and paternal involvement are in incongruence, in which paternal involvement is relatively high or low, may influence subjective well-being; and (4) Child’s gender may differ in these associations. The study utilized a two-year longitudinal design. Participants were 1145 four-grade students from dual-earners families of 13 elementary schools in Beijing and Haikou. Written consents were sent to schools, parents, and children themselves. Experienced experimenter paid annual visits to collect data from students. Participants filled in maternal and paternal involvement questionnaires at the first wave, and subjective well-being scale at two time points. Some demographic characteristics such as gender, age, home possessions, parents’ job status, and parents’ educational level were also collected for controlling variables. Regarding statistical analysis, the study conducted independent t-tests and Pearson’s correlation to get basic statistics of variables. By using polynomial regression and response surface analysis, the main research goals were examined. Preliminary results showed girls scored higher in subjective well-being at the second wave. No significant child’s gender difference was found in maternal involvement, paternal involvement, and subjective well-being at the first wave. Correlation results showed that maternal and paternal involvement were significantly associated with subjective well-being at two waves. The results of polynomial regression and response surface analysis showed that: (1) If the maternal and paternal involvement were in congruence or not did not influence subjective well-being; (2) If maternal and paternal involvement are congruently high or low significantly influenced subjective well-being, in which children’s subjective well-being were relatively high when maternal and paternal involvement were congruently high; (3) When the maternal and paternal involvement were in incongruence, in which paternal involvement was relatively high or low, only had a significant association with boys’ subjective well-being, but not for girls. Specifically, more paternal involvement versus maternal involvement was associated with boys'higher concurrent and over time’s subjective well-being. After controlling variables such as family socioeconomic status, children’s age, and children’s subjective well-being at the first wave, the primary results and the significance of the coefficients were still stable. In contrary to structural family theory, there was no congruence effect of parental involvement on children’s subjective well-being. Both high in maternal and paternal involvement manifested its benefits for children’s subjective well-being, compared with congruently low in parental involvement. Regarding incongruent situations, the incongruence effect was only significant in boys not for girls, suggesting gender differences. The study was unique in examining the congruence and incongruence effect of parental involvement on children, as well as considering the gender of students and utilizing the polynomial regression and response surface analysis to reduce possible errors. Implications of this study included enhancing both maternal and paternal involvement to improve children’s positive development, as well as paying more attention to the father’s essential parenting role, especially for boys. Further research may expand the sample, specify different types of involvement, and develop more time points to generalize these findings.

Key words: subjective well-being, parental involvement, congruence, response surface analysis, gender difference