Class Distinction in Parenting Styles in Urban China: Cross-validation by Different Data and Measurements

Sociologists proposed theoretical argument about class distinction in parenting styles for long time. Although it has been examined by many quantitative researches across social science, they suffer from overly measuring particular parenting practice rather than global parenting styles. This measurement problem also exists in current studies for China and even brings controversial conclusions. This study turns to categorical measurement for parenting styles, employs occupation, education and socioeconomic status as multiple indicators for class, and re-examine the class-parenting association in urban China. Through cross-validation by using different measurements and analyzing Shanghai municipal as well as national data, the finding is that there really exists class distinction in parenting styles. That is, high status families are more likely to adopt authoritative or democratic approach rather than authoritarian or neglectful approach.