Chinese parents' perceived social change and their organisation of preschoolers' learning activities

Abstract

China has experienced dramatic transformations over recent decades, which has significant implications for childrearing. This study examined whether Chinese parents' perceived social change would mediate the association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and children's involvement in various learning activities in the home, community and extracurricular contexts. The study included 312 urban Chinese parents with preschool‐aged children. Parents completed measures on perceived social change, their involvement in children's home literacy, numeracy and play activities, as well as children's participation in community‐based activities and commercially provided extracurricular activities (EAs). The results indicated that higher‐SES parents perceived more opportunities and prospects and less work‐related risk and adversity as a function of social change. Parents who perceived more opportunities and prospects were more involved in almost all types of children's learning activities except EAs. Parents who perceived more work‐related risk and adversity only showed decreased involvement in home literacy activities. Parents who endorsed new values more strongly were more likely to enrol their children in EAs and demonstrate greater involvement in children's home literacy activities. The findings revealed substantial within‐group variations in parents' subjective experiences with social change and how parents' perceived social change might shape their ways of organising children's learning environment.