The role of democratic family and school environment in urban and rural Chinese adolescents' attitudes about children's rights and their psychological well-being.

摘要

This study examined the significance of perceived parent and teacher support for autonomy and responsiveness, along with perceptions of democratic social organization, in the development of conceptions of children's rights. Relations between these family and school environments and adolescents' psychological well-being were also examined and a contrast between urban and rural settings within mainland China was included. Current findings suggest that Chinese adolescents display patterns of children's rights attitudes similar to those found in Western settings. Different possible pathways of family and school environmental impact on children's rights attitudes are found and explored. Current findings support psychological models that propose that the promotion of autonomy and responsiveness is critical to adolescents' psychological well-being across cultures. Moreover, these findings provide strong evidence that features of democratic environments (e.g., mutual respect between parents and children, opportunities for children to express their opinions, shared decision making) are relevant to people in non- Western cultures.