The Impact of Parental Autonomy Support on Family Adaptation in the Context of “Double Reduction”: The Mediating Role of Parent–Child Communication and Cohesion

Abstract

The implementation of the “Double Reduction” policy indicates a significant change in the way households operate, such as through parental education conception and parenting form, in which family adaptation needs particular attention. Parental autonomy support has been evidenced to be related to family adaptation in prior studies. However, the mechanism underlying the relationship between parental autonomy support and family adaptation in the context of “Double Reduction” are not clear enough but remain fascinating. This study aims to explore the process through which parental autonomy support affects the whole family’s adaptation in the context of “Double Reduction” from the perspectives of parent–child behavior and emotions (i.e., parent–child communication and parent–child cohesion). A cross-sectional design based on the questionnaire method was used to collect the characteristics of 4239 adolescent parents (1493 fathers and 3427 mothers; Mage = 43.20, SDage = 22.39) one year after the implementation of the “Double Reduction” policy. In addition, this study also used the retrospective method to obtain the characteristics of parental autonomy support before the “Double Reduction” policy. In the context of “Double Reduction”, the research results found that parental autonomy support can predict family adaptation; parental autonomy support can also influence the whole family’s adaptation through the quality of parent–child interaction. This study reveals the impact mechanism of parental autonomy support on family adaptation under the background of “Double Reduction” in China and provides insights on how to improve the adaptation of the entire family from the perspective of parent–child interaction.