Parental socialization goals and behaviors for appreciation, parents’ own appreciation, and children’s appreciation: a longitudinal study of Chinese parent–child dyads

Abstract

Most extant research on parental socialization for child appreciation has either conflated appreciation and gratitude or fallen foul of a conceptual-operational mismatch, yielding theoretical controversies and inconsistent results. Using a matched conceptualization and operationalization of appreciation and based on three waves of data from 496 Chinese parent–child dyads (child age M = 10.25, SD =.69; 51.6% girls at Wave 1), this study examines: (a) associations among parental socialization goals and behaviors (e.g., I pointed out to my child that they have received something special) for child appreciation, parents’ own appreciation, and children’s appreciation; and (b) similarities and differences between appreciation and gratitude socialization processes. Results indicated that parental appreciation socialization goals at Wave 1 positively related to children’s appreciation at Wave 3 (i.e., 16 months later) via a positive association with parental socialization behaviors at Wave 2 (i.e., 8 months later). This mediation disappeared after incorporating parents’ own appreciation at Wave 2, which uniquely and positively related to children’s appreciation at Wave 3. When simultaneously including parents’ own appreciation and gratitude at Wave 2, only their appreciation positively related to both children’s appreciation and gratitude at Wave 3. Such findings highlight the importance of promoting parents’ own appreciation when facilitating children’s appreciation and differentiating between appreciation and gratitude.