Parent-child mutuality in the early school years

This thesis aims to contribute to theoretical understanding of the nature and development of parent-child dyadic mutuality during children’s transition to school. Results are presented from two multi-method, multi-informant research projects. The first two studies in this thesis draw on an ESRC-funded longitudinal project, which involved a sample of 260 families from across the UK. The third study in this thesis includes findings from a sister- study, based in Hong Kong and funded by the WEMP Foundation. Each of these projects include parent interviews and questionnaires, remote testing sessions with children, and the Etch-a-Sketch Online (ESO) - a novel online observational tool to assess goal-directed parent-child interactions. A key focus of this dissertation is the role of the child in contributing to the positive quality of the parent-child relationship, indexed by dyadic mutuality. To this end, two socio- cognitive constructs were assessed: executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM). In the first empirical chapter, I examined cross-sectional links between EF, ToM, and two aspects of children’s behaviours: autonomy and positivity. The results also indicated substantial levels of dyadic affect contagion; when parental positivity was controlled, executive function (EF) was associated with measures of child autonomy but was unrelated to child positivity. Supporting the validity of our novel remote assessments, between-construct associations closely matched results from in-person studies. The second empirical study built on this longitudinally, focusing on indices of parent and child mentalizing in relation to dyadic mutuality. Here, cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses showed that, for boys (but not girls), variation in ToM at 5 years was a significant predictor of parent-child mutuality at 6 years. Finally, the third study compared the nature and determinants of mutuality in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong (UK and HK). Parental determinants included education and mind-mindedness, as well as parents’ self-reported SES and psychological distress, and mind-mindedness; child determinants included EF and ToM, controlling for child age and gender. Ratings of mutuality were significantly higher for parent-child dyads in the UK than HK. Regression analyses showed site differences in the predictors of mutuality: in the UK, only child ToM contributed to mutuality, while in HK, mutuality was predicted by parent education, child ToM and EF.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Heng, Jean Anne

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hughes, Claire

• cross-cultural
• dyadic mutuality
• early school years
• social cognition

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/c5161e50-d071-4445-97cd-c5a94c1b19c0/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.110586

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/371393