The Relationship Between Parental Harsh Discipline,Adolescents' Self-Disclosure And Adolescents' Academic Adjustment

Parental use of harsh discipline has been a common method of disciplining children worldwide. Psychological aggression(PA), corporal punishment(CP) and severe physical abuse(SPA) are the major forms of parental harsh discipline in childhood. Numerous studies have demonstrated that the three types of parental harsh discipline may lead to negative effects on adolescents' adjustment. Adolescent who experienced parental harsh discipline have more externalizing problem behaviors(e.g., aggression, delinquency, conduct disorder, and antisocial behavior) and internalizing problem behaviors(e.g., anxiety/depression, withdrawal), and experienced low self-esteem, lack of social skills and interpersonal problems. Among those studies above, some studies also have consistently found that parental harsh discipline was associated with adolescents' academic adjustment. For example, adolescents who experienced parental harsh discipline commonly had poor performance and low academic achievement in school. In addition, compared with adolescents who did not experience parental harsh discipline, adolescents who experienced parental harsh discipline generally had lower educational attainment. Moreover, the relationship between parental harsh discipline and adolescents' academic adjustment may be affected indirectly by other variables, such as adolescents' self-disclosure. Studies have found that parental disciplinary behavior could predict the level of adolescents' self-disclosure. Meanwhile, adolescents' self-disclosure may be useful to their academic adjustment. Adolescents' self-disclosure to their parents may enhance adolescents' academic adjustment. However, most previous research examining the relationship between parental harsh discipline, adolescents' self-disclosure and academic adjustment was conducted in Western countries. Because there are so many differences between China and Western countries in history, policy, regime, notion, and humanistic background, the relationship between parental harsh discipline, adolescents' self-disclosure and academic adjustment in China may be different from Western countries. Thus, we need to explore this issue in China.The present study used a longitudinal design to examine the relationship between parental harsh discipline, adolescents' self-disclosure and academic adjustment. A total of 473 nine grade adolescents from Jinan, Shandong Province completed the Chinese version of Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales(CTSPC)(Straus, Hamby, Finkelhor, Moore, & Runyan, 1998), five items about the level of adolescents' self-disclosure to parents(Kerr & Stattin, 2000), and GOALS-S(Dowson & Mc Inerney, 2004). Adolescents' academic achievement was measured using the total final exam scores of Chinese, Math, and English after standardization within the class.The main conclusions of the present study were as follows:1. Parental harsh discipline, adolescents' self-disclosure to parents and adolescents' academic achievement were related to adolescents' gender. Specifically, boys received more paternal and maternal PA, CP, and SPA than girls. The level of girls' self-disclosure to parents was significantly higher than the level of boys'. Academic achievement of girls was significantly higher than that of boys.2. Correlation analysis found that paternal and maternal PA, CP, and SPA were negatively correlated with adolescents' self-disclosure. Paternal and maternal PA, CP, and SPA were negatively correlated with adolescents' academic achievement. Paternal and maternal PA, CP, and SPA were not correlated with adolescents' learning strategies. Adolescents' self-disclosure were positively correlated with adolescents' academic achievement and learning strategies.3. Structural equation modeling(SEM) analyses showed that adolescents' self-disclosure play a mediating role in the relationship between paternal and maternal PA and adolescents' academic achievement, paternal and maternal PA and adolescents' academic achievement, and paternal and maternal PA and adolescents' academic achievement.