Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
Evidence shows that parents vary in the extent to which they base their self-worth on their children’s performance, with those high in child-based worth engaging in more insensitive parenting as manifest in their greater use of controlling practices. However, much is still unknown concerning the role of parents’ child-based worth in their affective experience and parenting practices in the achievement context, as well as its role in parents’ responses to children’s failure, which can be threatening to parents high in child based-worth. Research from social and personality psychology suggests that when individuals hinge their self-worth on their performance in a specific domain, there are negative implications for their emotional functioning (e.g., anxiety), cognitive processes (e.g., performance attribution), behaviors (e.g., self-regulation), and interpersonal relationships.
To date, investigators have not examined factors that may attenuate the negative implications of parental child-based worth nor developed intervention programs for parents’ high in child-based worth. The growing body of research on self-compassion, however, suggests that it may be a promising direction for intervention. Self-compassion has not only been linked to better psychological functioning and more adaptive responses to negative events but also mindful parenting. With an emphasis on taking a non-judgmental stance toward oneself, self-compassion may be effective in countering the preoccupation with children’s performance among parents high in child-based worth.
The central idea guiding the proposed study is that parents’ child-based worth may have negative implications for their affective experience and parenting in the achievement context as well as emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to children’s performance, and that self-compassion may attenuate these negative implications. About 120 parents will complete an online survey and report on the extent to which they base their self-worth on children’s performance in the social domain. These parents and their children in fourth through sixth grades will then visit the lab for an experiment. Self-compassion will be induced in those parents randomly assigned to the experimental condition. Parent-child dyads will then participate in a self-presentation task and receive feedback designed to create a failure experience. Reports by parents, observers, and children will be used to evaluate parents’ affective experience and use of mindful as opposed to insensitive parenting in this achievement context, as well as parents’ affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to children’s failure. Findings will advance understanding of parents’ child-based worth and elucidate if self-compassion is a promising direction for interventions targeting parents’ child-based worth.
有證據顯示家長對於子女的表現會在不同程度上抱有掛鉤心理，亦即把自我價值與子女的表現掛鉤。家長越抱有掛鉤心理，則越傾向以操控的方式教養子女而忽略子女的感受。然而，這種掛鉤心理如何影響家長的情感體驗及管教方式，我們所知甚少。另外，子女表現欠佳時，抱有掛鉤心理的家長可能會感到自我價值受到威脅，在這種情況下這些家長會作出怎樣的反應仍有待進一步研究。社會及人格心理學的研究指出當人把自我價值與自己在某個領域的表現掛鉤時，會對其情感（例：焦慮）、認知（例：績效歸因）、行為（例：自我調節）以及人際關係產生負面影響。
到目前為止，尚未有研究探討有何因素可以緩解家長的掛鉤心理所帶來的不良影響，亦未有針對這種掛鉤心理的介入措施。近年累積了不少有關自我疼惜的研究，為介入措施的設計提供了一個方向。自我疼惜的人心理功能較佳，面對負面事件時的反應較合宜，亦較多使用靜觀育兒法。自我疼惜強調不以批判的立場看待自己，或許能有效應對抱有掛鉤心理的家長對子女成績的過度關注。本研究的理念是家長的掛鉤心理可能對他們產生負面影響，包括影響他們就子女表現的情感體驗和管教方式，以及面對子女表現時在情感、認知及行為方面的反應，而自我疼惜或許能減少這些負面影響。
約120位家長會先透過網上問卷報告他們在多大程度上把自我價值與子女的社交表現掛鉤，然後這些家長會帶同其就讀四至六年級的子女到實驗室參與研究。家長會被隨機分配成實驗組和對照組，實驗組的家長會被引導去嘗試自我疼惜。及後每對親子會進行有關自我介紹的任務，過程中會收到一些反饋以模擬表現不佳的情況。任務完成後，家長、觀察員和孩子提供的資料會用作評估家長在任務期間的情感體驗、靜觀育兒，以及家長面對子女未如理想的表現時在情感、認知及行為方面的反應。研究結果將有助我們進一步了解家長的掛鉤心理，並顯明自我疼惜是否適合用於設計針對家長掛鉤心理的介入措施。
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