Article

Youth & Society

Parental Rearing,
2014, Vol. 46(2) 155­–175
© The Author(s) 2011
Reprints and permissions:
Attachment, and sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0044118X11427573
Social Anxiety in yas.sagepub.com

Chinese Adolescents

Pia Risholm Mothander1

and Mo Wang1

Abstract
This cross-sectional study investigated associations between perceived
parental rearing, attachment, and social anxiety. 510 Chinese middle school
students, aged 12 to 20 years, completed a set of questionnaires includ-
ing “Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran” for Children (EMBU-C), Inven-
tory for Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and Social Anxiety Scale for
Adolescents (SAS-A). The results showed that intercorrelations between
adolescents’ rated attachment to parents were stronger than between
parental and peer attachment. Girls scored higher on attachment to mother
and peer than boys. Lack of parental rejection and presence of emotional
warmth were strongly related to parental attachment. The rated level of
total anxiety was not related to gender or age, but it was lower than what
has earlier been reported from China. Perceived rejection from fathers and
mothers’ as well as attachment to peer and mother acted as predictors;
together they explained 19% of the variance in social anxiety.

Keywords
parenting, peers, anxiety

1
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Corresponding Author:
Pia Risholm Mothander, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University,
Stockholm 10691, Sweden.
Email: prm@psychology.su.se

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

156 Youth & Society 46(2)

Adolescence is a time of emotional maturation during which children nor-

mally expand their supportive contacts beyond the family. The developmental
path indicates that the child’s dependence is transferred from parents to peers,
as they increase their socioemotional competence, explore new intimate rela-
tionships, and develop an adult identity (Allen, 2008). However, this positive
development can be impeded by individual difficulties, such as anxiety
(Degnan, Almas, & Fox, 2010). In current conceptualizations, anxiety disor-
ders during childhood are seen as a combination of biological and environ-
mental factors, where children’s socioemotional functioning is strongly
shaped by their relationship context (Brown & Whiteside, 2008). Culture is a
contextual factor that has been suggested to have a great influence upon the
parent–child relationship in both Western and non-Western societies (Song,
Thompson, & Ferrer, 2009). Still, the number of published studies focusing
on associations between parental rearing and school-aged children’s well-
being in non-Western societies is limited compared with the number of stud-
ies presenting data from Western societies. Specifically, investigations
performed in rapidly developing non-Western countries are sparse.
The evidence of links between family environment and children’s socio-
emotional functioning comes from two main research lines; the first being
studies on parenting and the second on child behavior. Baumrind (1966) dis-
cussed parenting styles and identified three distinct patterns of parental
behavior: authoritative parenting (with high expectations and responsive-
ness), authoritarian parenting (high expectations and low responsiveness)
and permissive parenting (low expectations and high responsiveness). The
attachment theory, as formulated by Bowlby (1969), describes how the psy-
chobiological needs for protection and emotional security are expressed in
the child’s behavior. It has been demonstrated that the caregivers’ provision
of a secure base to which the child can return in times of trouble predicts the
child’s later ability to use his or her behavioral capacity to explore and form
intimate relationships (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). Even
though parents remain central in their children’s lives throughout childhood,
the attachment theory postulates that the parent–child relationship develops
from a behavioral to a mental level, where the cognitive and affective inner
working model (IWM) of the parent’s availability shapes the school-aged
child’s state of mind regarding attachment (Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985).
In this view, attachment is essential not only on a behavioral level during
early childhood but also as a mental construct across the lifespan, making
attachment theory a useful frame for studying emotional well-being in the
transition during adolescence from childhood to adulthood. There is now
convincing research indicating that secure attachment during adolescence is

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Mothander and Wang 157

associated with the presence of a parent who is sensitive to the adolescent’s

internal state of mind (Allen, 2008). Whereas affectionate, accepting and car-
ing parental behavior have been seen as protective factors, low parental
acceptance, rejection, a high level of control and overprotection have been
seen as risk factors for developing attachment insecurity (Vasey & Dadds,
2001). Cassidy, Kirsch, Scolton, and Parke (1996) showed that having a
secure relationship with parents during adolescence was associated with hav-
ing secure representations of peers, which, in turn, was related to the enhance-
ment of quality of peer experiences.
Theories of anxiety development have suggested that parental control,
acceptance, and modeling of anxious behavior (Wood, McLeod, Sigman,
Hwang, & Chu, 2003) as well as overprotection, rejection, and lack of warmth
and emotional support are associated with school-aged children’s manifesta-
tions of anxiety (Bögels & Phares, 2008; Degnan et al., 2010). Muris,
Meesters, Merckelbach, and Husenbeck (2000) reported that both parental
rearing and attachment contributed to the severity of children’s anxiety-
related symptoms. However, the identified family factors could, as discussed
by Bögels and Brechman-Toussiaint (2006), also be related to child psycho-
pathology in general and not specifically to anxiety problems. The above
mentioned researchers have warned that, although childhood anxiety is a
widespread problem in many societies, the etiology and sequelae of the prob-
lem still remain complex and elusive. Although traditional models have
sought to explain the development of childhood anxiety in terms of single
main effects (of parental control or child temperament), a more modern
approach emphasizes the role of environmental and relational context in the
development and maintenance of childhood anxiety from preschool age to
adolescence. On the basis of these assumptions, more research on family life
in different cultural contexts is needed.
The cultural frame within which parents raise their children in Asian soci-
eties has been suggested to differ from that in the West. Traditionally, family
life in East Asia has been described as being influenced by Confucianism
characterized by its focus on interdependence, emotional harmony, and filial
piety (Song et al., 2009). Most Asian cultures are portrayed as collectivistic,
with control of one’s emotions, deference to the group, and parental authority
being key concepts, in contrast to Western cultures, where independence,
self-expression, and the uniqueness of individuals are highly valued. In the
Chinese culture, the high level of parental control exerted and the “guan”
form of being authoritarian are assumed to represent the parental desire for
the children to become successful (Stewart, Bond, Kennard, Ho, & Zaman,
2002). On the other hand, no culture remains unchanged across time, and it

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

158 Youth & Society 46(2)

has been suggested that China’s national policy of one child per family intro-
duced as a response to the nation’s large population growth in the last two
decades has led to profound changes in family context and child-rearing
arrangements (van IJzendoorn & Sagi-Schwartz, 2008). This makes the topic
of family functioning in China of intense interest. Recent Chinese attachment
research based on self-reports has indicated that secure childhood attachment
promotes self-evaluation (Song et al., 2009), peer popularity (Wu & Zou,
1995), and peer acceptance (Chen, Chen, Li, & Wang, 2009), whereas it
reduces children’s aggressive behavior (Li, 2007). In one study, the level of
subjective well-being was found to be higher among securely attached ado-
lescents than among those who were insecurely attached (Yang, Wang, Li,
Teng, & Ren, 2010). Parents’ negative rearing behavior, as for example over
protection, rejection, punishment or improper discipline, has also been shown
to be related to childhood anxiety (Wang, Su, Wang, Liu, Shong, & Ren,
2000). Zhou, Xu, Ingles, Hidalgo, and La Greca (2008) found no evidence for
gender differences in self-reported social anxiety in China, but they found
that older adolescents rated their social anxiety as higher and interpreted the
higher level in their findings as being related to the increasing prevalence of
dating the opposite sex during middle adolescence.
Of specific relevance for clinical work with adolescents are reported dif-
ferences in socioemotional functioning between boys and girls in the West
(Sroufe, Egeland, Carlson, & Collins, 2005) as well as in Asia (Nishikawa,
Sundbom, & Hägglöf, 2010; Song, 2009). Western reports have indicated
that girls describe themselves as having more emotional relationships that
can be described as close with their parents and peers than do boys (Hay &
Ashman, 2003). Kenny and Gallagher (2002) found that girls reported higher
levels of empathy than boys and that the girls’ empathy development relied
less on parental attachment and more on non-family related factors like
sociocultural norms and peer influences. However, girls have been demon-
strated to report more social anxiety than boys and their close friendships
have been revealed to be more strongly associated with their level of social
anxiety, illustrating the complexity of socioemotional functioning during
adolescence (La Greca & Lopez, 1998). Gullone and Robinson (2005)
reported that, regardless of gender, older adolescents had less secure attach-
ment to parents than younger adolescents but more secure attachment to their
peers. Roelofs, Meesters, ter Huurne, Bamelis, and Muris (2006) confirmed
that perceptions of parental rearing are important, but they also discussed
separate pathways where the father and the mother are assumed to have a
unique impact on the behavior of boys or girls respectively. Fathers have
been described to encourage adolescent independence more than mothers

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Mothander and Wang 159

who are more supportive of the ability to relate well emotionally (Bögels &
Phares, 2008; Kenny & Gallagher, 2002).
When doing cross-cultural research, the cultural validation of the chosen
instruments for collecting data is of vital importance (Nishikawa, et al., 2010;
Quoss & Zhao, 1995). Most self-report questionnaires designed to measure
perceptions of parental behavior as well as attachment have been developed
and validated in the West, but there are a few instruments; Egna Minnen
Beträffande Uppfostran (EMBU; Perris, Jacobsson, Lindström, Von
Knorring, & Perris, 1980), Inventory for Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA;
Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) and Social Anxiety Scale (La Greca & Lopez,
1998) that have been validated and found applicable in non-Western cultures
(Ma, Wang, & Wang, 1999; Song et al., 2009; Zhou, et al., 2008). Given that
the People’s Republic of China is the country with one of the world’s largest
population groups, more research is warranted to explore how Chinese ado-
lescents reflect on their relationship context and social functioning. Most
cross-sectional research on this topic is based on retrospective data, where
respondents have been asked to report on their recollected memory of paren-
tal rearing and childhood attachment. No recent studies have, to our knowl-
edge, investigated how both current perceptions of parental rearing and
attachment are linked with anxiety problems during adolescence, a research
question that should be of interest in modern China, with its radical changes
in family patterns in the last 40 years. As to now, there is little information on
how these changes are affecting the well-being of the present generation of
adolescents.
The first aim of this study was to explore the concurrent associations
between perceptions of parental rearing and self-assessed current attachment
to one’s father, mother, and a selected peer in a sample of Chinese adoles-
cents. The second aim was to study age and gender differences in perceptions
of parental rearing, attachment, and social anxiety. The third aim was to
examine if perceptions of parental rearing and attachment to parents and
peers were able to predict social anxiety in the sample under investigation.

Method
Participants

The sample was composed of 510 students (240 boys and 270 girls) attend-
ing a Chinese middle school in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China. The
chosen school was situated in a middle class area in the southern part of
Beijing. The age of the students in the sample ranged from 12 to 20 years

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

160 Youth & Society 46(2)

with 283 students being in junior middle school from grades 7 to 9 (132 boys
and 151 girls, age in years M = 14.05, SD = .98) and 227 students in senior
middle school from grades 10 to 12 (108 boys and 119 girls, age [years] M
= 17.14, SD = .93). The sample was divided into two age groups for the
statistical analyses, the junior middle school group (JMS) and the senior
middle school group (SMS). All students were ethnic Chinese, with 75% of
the families originating from the Beijing area, 8% from the nearby regions
and 17% from other parts of China. Of the students, 80% of the boys and
82% of the girls were the only child in their family.

Measures
Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran for Children (EMBU-C). EMBU-C (the
Swedish acronym for “my memories of upbringing”) developed by Castro,
Toro, Van der Ende, and Arrindell (1993), and modified by Grüner, Muris,
and Merckelbach (1999) was used in this study. EMBU-C was derived from
the original Swedish EMBU (Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran; Perris
et al., 1980), an 81-item inventory for assessing adults’ recollections of their
parents’ rearing behavior. The EMBU-C consists of 40 items intended to
assess children’s and adolescents’ current perceptions of their parents’ rear-
ing behavior. For each EMBU-C item, the assessment first focuses on father’s
rearing behavior and then on mother’s rearing behavior, using a 4-point Lik-
ert-type scale to rate the frequency of the particular behavior (1 = no, never
to; 4 = yes, most of the time). The instrument yields four subscales where the
sum-score reflects the parent’s degree of overprotection in 10 items (e.g.,
“When you get home, you have to tell your parents what you have been
doing”), rejection in 10 items (e.g., “If anything happens at home, you get
blamed for it”), emotional warmth in 10 items (e.g., “When you are unhappy,
your parents console you and cheer you up”) and anxious rearing in 10 items
(e.g., “Your parents worry about what you are doing after school”). The inter-
nal consistency has been reported to be satisfactory for the original English
EMBU-C version (α coefficient = .81; Castro et al., 1993) as well as for the
Japanese EMBU-C version (α coefficients = .76 to .88; Nishikawa et al.,
2010). For this study, the EMBU-C was translated into Chinese by the second
author using the Chinese EMBU (Ma et al., 1999) as a model. As many of the
EMBU-C items are identical with those in the EMBU, but simplified and
adapted to be understood by a younger age-group, a back translation was not
considered necessary. The Chinese EMBU-C was finalized after pilot testing,
and consecutive discussions of specific items were held with two native Chinese
English teachers until consensus was reached. The EMBU-C four factor

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Mothander and Wang 161

model, suggested by Castro et al. (1993) and proven to be valid in an Asian

context already (Nishikawa et al., 2010), was chosen after having tested the
psychometric properties of the Chinese EMBU-C. A principal components
factor analysis with Oblimin rotation was carried out on the 40 items, where
fathers and mothers separately explained 41% and 46% of the variance
respectively, which corresponds to the original of 37% for fathers and 35%
for mothers (Muris, Meesters, & van Brakel, 2003). Almost all items loaded
substantially on intended four factors. The α coefficients for internal consis-
tency for the Chinese EMBU-C scales varied between .74 and .89.
The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA). Attachment quality was
assessed with the IPPA, an instrument developed to measure the adolescent’s
“internal working model” (IWM) of his or her experience of attachment with
the mother, father, and a selected peer (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987). The
parental scale of the IPPA includes 25 items: 9 tapping mutual trust (e.g.,
“My parents respect my feelings”), 8 focusing on quality of communication
(e.g., “My parents can tell when I’m upset over something”), and 8 items the
degree of alienation (e.g., “I don’t get much attention at home”). For the
IPPA peer scale, the respondent is asked to keep a selected peer in mind when
answering the questions. The peer scale is presumed to assess a related but
distinct attachment domain; it, too, includes 25 items, 9 tapping mutual trust,
9 the quality of communication, and 7 the alienation from the selected peer.
Respondents are supposed to complete the IPPA questionnaire by indicating
how often each statement is true for them on a 5-point Likert-type scale.
Response categories are (1 = Never or Almost Never to; 5 = Always or Almost
Always). The IPPA has been translated into Chinese and validated by Song
(2004) who reported the internal consistency to be satisfactory (α coefficient =
.87), as was the retest reliability over a 3-week period (r = .86). The Chinese
IPPA was used in this research and as recommended, the overall score for the
three IPPA scales was used. A high IPPA score indicates a positive quality of
attachment that is, high level of trust, good communication, and a low level
of alienation feelings to father, mother, or peer, respectively. In our sample,
the IPPA internal consistency was considered to be satisfactory with α coef-
ficients varying between .92 and .93 for the scale scores.
Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A). The SAS-A was developed to
assess subjective experiences of social anxiety in adolescents (La Greca &
Lopez, 1998). The scale is composed of 18 descriptive self-statements and
4 filler items reflecting activity preferences or social preferences. Each item
is rated on a 5-point scale indicating how often the statement fits with the
participant’s experience (1 = not at all to; 5 = all the time). Three subscales
have been identified. The first subscale, fear of negative evaluation (FNE),

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

162 Youth & Society 46(2)

includes eight items and reflects fears, concerns, or worries in relation to

negative evaluations from peers (e.g., “I worry about what other kids think of
me”). The second subscale, social avoidance and stress (SAD-New), contains
6 items and reflects social avoidance and distress with new social situations
or unfamiliar peers (e.g., “I get nervous when I meet new kids”). The third
subscale, social avoidance and stress (SAD-General), includes four items and
reflects generalized or pervasive social distress, discomfort, and inhibition
(e.g., “I feel shy even with kids I know well”). In this research, a Chinese
version of SAS-A, translated and validated by Zhou and coworkers (2008),
was used. In their investigation, the internal consistency varied from an α
coefficient of .61 to one of .85 and the range for the test-retest reliability over
a 2-week interval was from r = .61 to r = .84. For the SAS-A sum score that
was used in the present regression analysis, the α coefficient was .92, and for
the subscales, the α coefficients varied between .73 and .89.

Procedure
The headmaster of the school selected for the investigation was contacted by
the second author, the project was presented to him, and with his permission
the class teachers were approached. As student data were collected anony-
mously in class rooms on one single occasion and under the responsibility of
the school headmaster, parental consent was not applied for. The procedures
followed the ethical rules of the Swedish Psychology Association. The ques-
tionnaires were handed out to the teachers who distributed and collected
them in the classrooms. The students were informed through the school
broadcasting system that their participation was absolutely voluntary, the
instructions were read aloud and it was stressed that there were no names on
the questionnaires and the individual answers were anonymous. Later, the
second author went to each classroom to answer questions and to check that
the respondents were answering the questionnaires independently. The fill-
ing in of the questionnaires required approximately 30 min and the order of
the instruments included was established at random for each classroom. No
students declined to contribute. However, 7% of the questionnaires had to be
rejected because of incomplete answers.

Results
SPSS version 16.0 was used for the data analyses. The two age-groups, the
JMS and the SMS groups, were studied separately. In addition, the group

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Mothander and Wang 163

Table 1. Pearson Product–Moment Correlation Coefficients Within the EMBU-C

Scores.

EMBU-C—Mother

Junior middle Senior middle

school school Boys Girls
Measure (N = 283) (N = 227) (N = 240) (N = 270)
EMBU-C—Father
Overprotection .83** .78** .79** .83**
Rejection .79** .87** .84** .78**
Emotional .75** .84** .80** .76**
warmth
Anxious rearing .82** .81** .80** .84**

Note: EMBU-C = my memories of upbringing for children; IPPA = Inventory of Parent and
Peer Attachment. **p < .0.01

was divided according to gender. Pearson product moment–correlations

were used to investigate relationships within and between measures for the
two age-groups and for boys and girls, respectively. Two-way between-
groups ANOVAs were conducted to explore the impact of age-group and
gender on the ratings of parental rearing, parent and peer attachment, and
social anxiety, respectively. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was
conducted to explore the predictive power of parental rearing and attachment
in relation to social anxiety for the two age-groups when age and gender was
controlled for.
The first aim of the study was to explore associations within measures:
between perceptions of fathers and mothers’ rearing behavior as well as between
attachment to the adolescent’s father, mother, and the selected peer. The calcu-
lated associations within measures are presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3.
The results suggested that mothers and fathers’ EMBU-C mean scale
scores were strongly and significantly interrelated for both age-groups, as
well as when the group was split according to gender. The correspondence
between the attachment to father and the attachment to mother, as assessed
with IPPA, was strong for both age-groups and for boys and girls, respec-
tively. However, the associations between attachment to mother and attach-
ment to peer as well as between attachment to father and attachment to peer
were weaker but still significant for both the age-groups as well as for the
boys and the girls separately.

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

164 Youth & Society 46(2)

Table 2. Pearson Product–Moment Correlation Coefficients Within the IPPA

Scores.

IPPA—Mother

Junior middle Senior middle

school school Boys Girls
Measure (N = 283) (N = 227) (N = 240) (N = 270)

IPPA—Father .66** .83** .80** .67**

Note: EMBU-C = my memories of upbringing for children; IPPA = Inventory of Parent and
Peer Attachment. **p < .0.01

Table 3. Pearson Product–Moment Correlation Coefficients Within the IPPA

Scores

IPPA—Peer

Junior middle Senior middle

school school Boys Girls
Measure (N = 283) (N = 227) (N = 240) (N = 270)
IPPA—Father .36** .25** .36** .26**
IPPA—Mother .23** .25** .29** .16**
Note: EMBU-C = my memories of upbringing for children; IPPA = Inventory of Parent and
Peer Attachment. **p < .0.01

The relationships between the adolescents’ perceptions of parental rearing

and attachment to parents and peer were analyzed with Pearson product–
moment correlations and the results are presented in Table 4.
The results indicated that perceived rejection by father was negatively
related to attachment to father for boys and girls in both age-groups as well
as for girls’ attachment to peer in the SMS group. Father’s emotional warmth
was strongly and positively related to attachment to father as well as to
attachment to peer, except for girls in the SMS group where no significant
association was found. Furthermore, father’s anxious rearing was positively
related to attachment to father for girls in both age groups but only for boys
in the JMS group.
The associations between the mother’s rearing behavior and attachment to
mother and to peer indicated a similar pattern. Mother’s overprotection was

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

 Table 4. Pearson Product–Moment Correlation Coefficients Between the EMBU-C Scores and the IPPA Scores by Age-Groups and
Sex.
Junior middle school Senior middle school Junior middle school Senior middle school

IPPA—Father IPPA—Mother IPPA—Father IPPA—Mother IPPA—Peer IPPA—Peer

Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls
Measure (N = 132) (N = 151) (N = 132) (N = 151) (N = 108) (N = 119) (N = 108) (N = 119) (N = 132) (N = 151) (N = 108) (N = 119)

EMBU-C—Father
Overprotection .06 −.08 −.07 −.04 .17 .11 −.04 −.17
Rejection −.31** −.35** −.30** −.37** .09 −.09 −.02 −.25**
 Emotional .76** .74** .64** .82** .19* .33** .33** .13
warmth
Anxious rearing .33** .21* .12 .22* .25** .19* .22** −.03
EMBU-C—Mother
Overprotection −.03 −.02 −.12 −.15 .21* .16 .10 −.09
Rejection −.28** −.22** −.32** −.35** −.17* .00 .03 −.20*
 Emotional .65** .75** .65** .79** .16 .21** .29** .19*
warmth
Anxious rearing .21* .30** .09 .10 .28** .16 .32** −.00

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Note: EMBU-C = my memories of upbringing for children; IPPA = Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment.
*Significant at the .05 level, two-tailed. **Significant at the .01 level, two-tailed.

165
166 Youth & Society 46(2)

positively related to attachment to peer for boys in the JMS group. Mother’s
rejection was negatively related to attachment to mother for boys and girls in
both age groups as well as to boys’ attachment to peer in the JMS group and
girls’ attachment to peer in the SMS group. Mother’s emotional warmth was
positively related to attachment to peer in all groups except for the boys in the
JMS group, where no significant association was revealed. Mother’s anxious
rearing was positively related to attachment to her for boys and girls in the
JMS group as well as with attachment to peer for boys in both the JMS and
the SMS groups.
The second aim was to study age and gender differences in the perceptions
of parental rearing, attachment, and social anxiety. The results for the two-
way between ANOVAs made for the EMBU-C, IPPA, and the SAS-A mean
scores for JMS and SMS groups as well as for boys and girls independently
are presented in Table 5.
The results indicated a significant interaction effect between age-group and
gender on the adolescents’ perception of fathers’ anxious rearing, F(1, 506) =
4.36, p = .040, η2 = .009, showing that the junior middle school girls perceived
a significantly higher level of paternal anxious rearing than the others. None of
the other mean scores for the scales exhibited an interaction between age and
gender. There was a main effect for age on the mean scores for fathers’ as well
as for mothers’ overprotection, rejection, and anxious rearing suggesting that
the younger students perceived higher levels of these parental behaviors than
the older ones. Furthermore, the boys rated their fathers’ as well as their moth-
ers’ rejection as higher than the girls. In addition, the boys rated their mothers’
overprotection as higher than the girls. The girls rated attachment to mother as
well as attachment to peer as higher than the boys. On the SAS-A, the younger
students rated their FNE as higher. In addition, the girls rated their fear of nega-
tive evaluations as higher than the boys.
The third aim was to explore the relationship between specific aspects of
upbringing and social anxiety. We conducted a regression analysis, to test
whether the scores from the EMBU-C and the IPPA scales were able to pre-
dict social anxiety, as assessed using the SAS-A total score, after controlling
for the adolescents’ age-group and gender. The results from the hierarchical
multiple regression analysis performed are presented in Table 6.
Age-group and gender were entered into the model in Block 1 but
explained only 0.7% of the variance in the reported social anxiety. After
entering the EMBU-C scores in Block 2, the variance explained by the model
reached 15.0%, F(13, 496) = 8.79, p = .000 and, finally, when the IPPA scale
scores were entered in Block 3, the total variance explained by the model as
a whole was 18.6%, F(13, 496) = 8.72, p = .000. In the final model, unique

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

 Table 5. Means and Standard Deviations for Scales by Age-Groups and Sexes.
Junior middle Senior middle
school school Boys Girls

(N = 283) (N = 227) (N = 240) (N = 270)

Scales M SD M SD F(1, 506) η2 M SD M SD F(1, 506) η2

EMBU-C—Father
Overprotection 2.19 0.58 1.99 0.55 16.95*** .03 2.15 0.52 2.06 0.57 3.56 .01
Rejection 1.89 0.57 1.73 0.49 12.09*** .02 1.90 0.60 1.74 0.48 11.69*** .02
Emotional warmth 2.69 0.70 2.67 0.65 0.14 .00 2.69 0.65 2.67 0.70 0.02 .00
Anxious rearing 2.60 0.62 2.44 0.55 7.76** .02 2.52 0.60 2.53 0.60 0.00 .00
EMBU-C—Mother
Overprotection 2.30 0.60 2.14 0.58 10.04** .02 2.30 0.56 2.18 0.60 5.44* .01
Rejection 1.93 0.58 1.80 0.51 7.88** .02 1.96 0.60 1.79 0.50 12.81*** .03
Emotional warmth 2.79 0.64 2.74 0.63 0.93 .00 2.72 0.61 2.82 0.65 3.08 .01
Anxious rearing 2.70 0.60 2.56 0.59 6.01* .01 2.66 0.59 2.62 0.61 1.08 .00

IPPA—Father 9.16 1.41 9.33 1.28 1.80 .00 9.19 1.34 9.27 1.37 0.45 .00
IPPA—Mother 9.46 1.33 9.53 1.24 0.38 .00 9.33 1.30 9.63 1.27 6.64** .01
IPPA—Peer 10.13 1.27 9.99 1.22 1.62 .00 9.86 1.25 10.25 1.23 12.42*** .02

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

SAS-A: total 7.28 2.26 7.08 1.91 1.02 .00 7.04 2.22 7.33 2.00 2.29 .01
SAS-A FNE 2.59 0.92 2.41 0.78 5.53* .01 2.42 0.87 2.60 0.85 4.87* .01
SAS-A SAD–new 2.54 0.86 2.58 0.77 0.36 .00 2.51 0.86 2.60 0.78 1.55 .00
SAS-A SAD–general 2.15 0.82 2.09 0.68 0.14 .00 2.11 0.78 2.13 0.74 0.67 .00
Note: EMBU-C = my memories of upbringing for children; IPPA = the inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment; SAS-A = Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents; FNE = fear
of negative evaluation.

167
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
168 Youth & Society 46(2)

Table 6. Summary of Hierarchical Regression With EMBU and IPPA Predicting

Anxiety.

Block R2 δR2 ΔR2 F β

Age-group and gender 0.7% 0.3% 0.7% 1.81 —
EMBU 15.0% 13.3% 14.3% 8.79*** —
Rejection, father .21 (19, 8)*
Rejection, mother .21 (22, 6)*
IPPA 18.6% 16.5% 3.6% 8.72*** —
Attachment, mother −.22**
Attachment, peer −.16***
Note: EMBU-C = my memories of upbringing for children; IPPA = Inventory of Parent and
Peer Attachment.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

contributions were found for mothers’ rejection (β = .23, p = .020), for

fathers’ rejection (β = .20, p = .047) as well as for attachment to peer (β =
−.16, p = .000) and attachment to mother (β = −.22, p = .018).

Discussion
As the amount of data published on the well-being of Chinese adolescents is
limited, we wanted to open up a discussion on this topic by exploring the
associations between the data received both within and between the used
measures. As expected, and in accordance with the literature from the West,
the intercorrelations between adolescents’ rated attachment to mother and to
father were stronger than the correlations between parental attachment and
peer attachment, suggesting the existence of separate, but partially overlap-
ping, internal constructs (Crowell, Fraley, & Shaver, 2008). In addition, the
associations between rated parental rearing and attachment to parent were
stronger than between rearing and attachment to peers. Allen (2008) as well
as Hazan and Zeifman (1999) has suggested that family rearing patterns and
attachment to parents reflect complementary facets of the family environ-
ment, but they also propose that peer attachment is a distinct, but neverthe-
less related, attachment construct. Our data from a non-Western society
support the view that parental and peer relationships are perceived as differ-
ent. We suggest that both play important roles in the adolescent’s transition
to an adult identity and in the preparation for developing supportive relation-
ships besides the parental relationships. When looking more in detail at the

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Mothander and Wang 169

associations between perceived parental rearing and attachment, both paren-

tal rejection and emotional warmth were strongly related to the perceived
attachment to father as well as to mother, anxious rearing was only related to
the younger adolescents’ parental attachment but overprotection was not at
all related to parental attachment. This might indicate that lack of rejection,
perceived emotional warmth, and anxious rearing (prevalent for the younger
adolescents) reflect a common construct or a main dimension of parental
care, as was described by Muris and coworkers (2003) in their research on
childhood anxiety and associated with attachment to parents.
In addition, our results correspond with earlier publications suggesting
that adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ rearing are related to their age,
associated with their level of maturation and independence (Allen, 2008;
Kobak & Duemmler, 1994). The older adolescents in our sample did not
seem to feel as exposed to parental care as the younger ones, since they
reported less overprotection, less rejection, and less anxious rearing both
from their fathers and mothers. However, when we considered the sample as
a whole, the boys reported more rejection both from fathers and mothers than
the girls. Furthermore, the boys reported more maternal overprotection than
the girls. Our results could indicate that the boys rated themselves as being
more exposed to deficits in parental rearing than the girls, something that
might reveal that male and female adolescents experience parental expecta-
tions differently (Giudice, 2009; Song et al., 2009). However, it is of impor-
tance to note that our results do not imply that the actual parental behavior
differed, only that the adolescents’ perceptions did.
In Western cultures, it has often been stressed that adolescents struggle to
form their identity and that, during this period of their lives, they are in the
process of differentiating themselves emotionally from their parents, which
makes valid attachment research with this age-group difficult (Gullone &
Robinson, 2005; Kerns & Richardson, 2005). The girls in our sample reported
higher scores on attachment to their mother, demonstrating an emotional inti-
macy between daughters and mothers reflecting sociocultural norms in many
cultures across the world. Not unexpectedly, the girls reported higher scores
for attachment to their chosen peer than the boys did. The Chinese girls seem
to present a similar pattern to that reported from research conducted in the
West, signifying that emotional relationships with both mothers and peers are
perceived as more central for girls than boys (Hay & Ashman, 2003; La
Greca & Lopez, 1998).
Our final aim was to investigate the relationship between self-reported
parental rearing, attachment, and anxiety. Feelings of social anxiety affect
many children during middle and late childhood and it is important to search

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

170 Youth & Society 46(2)

for both theoretical and empirical explanations within different cultural con-
texts. In accordance with earlier data presented from China by Zhou et al.
(2008), our results indicated no significant differences in total level of social
anxiety between boys and girls, but in contrast to their results, the younger
adolescents in our sample scored significantly higher in FNE as did the girls
when the sample was split according to gender. In addition, the SAS-A mean
total score in our sample was lower than what was found in the Chinese
sample investigated by Zhou and coworkers (44.56 compared with 49.47)
and more in line with what was reported from their Spanish comparison
group (43.17). This might indicate that some groups of modern Chinese ado-
lescents are in the process of developing a more Western-like pattern of rat-
ing their anxiety feelings, a finding that needs to be further investigated
before any conclusions can be drawn.
The third aim of our work was to explore the predictive power of parental
rearing and attachment to parent and peer when gender and age were con-
trolled for. Our results showed, in line with what has been reported in earlier
studies (Nishikawa et al., 2010), that parental rejection, both paternal and
maternal, was associated with social anxiety, but in contrast to what was
reported by Roelofs et al. (2006), perceived parental anxious rearing did pre-
dict neither feelings of anxiety, nor did overprotection as was described by
Bögels, van Oosten, Muris, & Smulders (2001). As was expected, peer
attachment predicted the level of social anxiety, suggesting that secure ado-
lescents were less bothered by feelings of social anxiety. In addition, attach-
ment to mother predicted the level of anxiety indicating that a secure state of
mind regarding attachment to the mother is associated with low level of anxi-
ety feelings during adolescence.
The limitations of our study have to be acknowledged. First, the research
was performed on the basis on self-reporting, a methodology in frequent use
with adolescents because they have been considered to be good informants
about internalizing difficulties, peer relationships, and friendships (Loeber,
Green, & Lahey, 1990). However, it can be argued that self-reports are sensi-
tive to social expectations and that the respondents are only reflecting their
explicit perceptions of parenting and attachment. With these limitations in
mind, the design of the research presented here did not offer possibilities to
make in-depth assessments of the adolescents’ state of mind regarding attach-
ment to their parents and peers, as this was not realistic with the present
sample size. As stated, the EMBU-C was translated by one of the authors
and a proper back-translation was not viable, however, as was also dis-
cussed in the method section, the consensus discussions with two Chinese

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Mothander and Wang 171

English-speaking teachers during the process of translation meant that the

translation was considered to be good enough for the purpose of this study.
Second, the fact that no students refused to participate has to be considered,
and it can be speculated that the validity of the results attained was hampered
by perceived group pressure. Furthermore, it can be argued that the answers
were influenced by the students’ expectations in the classroom situation, but
the rate of participation might also reflect an interesting tendency toward
positive compliance among Chinese adolescents.
Third, because the study was designed to be cross-sectional, there might
have been a risk of shared method variance. Methods believed to address the
same or theoretically close dimensions were used in one sample and data
were collected on just one occasion. To minimize systematic spill-over
effects from one measure to another, the scales in the set of questionnaires
were presented in a different orders for different classroom groups of stu-
dents. Finally, it is important to stress that no conclusions can be drawn about
possible causal relationships between parental rearing, attachment, and anxi-
ety in the Chinese culture. Whether the identified parental factors cause
childhood anxiety still needs to be investigated.
Still, we believe that our results can add to the understanding of the links
between parental rearing and anxiety. As Brown and Whiteside (2008) stated,
earlier results have been contradictory and have often been criticized for
using retrospective data. Our results, which are based on concurrent percep-
tions as measured in the EMBU-C and in IPPA in a Chinese sample of ado-
lescents, confirm not only the importance of peer relationships but also the
parental influence and the adolescent’s relationship with their parents, and
especially with the mother. Even though the attachment to father does not
predict social anxiety, our data does not imply that his parenting is unimport-
ant. Both mothers’ rearing and attachment to mother were related to fathers’
rearing and attachment to father, signifying the parental importance of both
parents, but fathers’ impact on the adolescents’ well-being might be more
indirect and channeled through mothers’ behavior, as suggested by Bögels
and Phares (2008).
The results presented in this paper have to be discussed in the light of the
present situation for young people in China. The Chinese society is today
undergoing tremendous social changes and the impact on the emotional well-
being of the younger generation needs to be monitored. We can conclude that
the Chinese adolescents in our sample, coming from an urban area in Beijing,
do not rate their level of social anxiety as different compared with reports
from Western adolescents. As our results are not totally congruent with the

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

172 Youth & Society 46(2)

picture earlier presented from China, we want to stress the importance of

exploring the associations between family factors and social functioning fur-
ther. We want to encourage more longitudinal, as well as cross-sectional,
studies on adolescent well-being and social functioning in East Asia. Such
research might shed light not only on how to support troubled adolescents
within the culture but also increase the general understanding of the emo-
tional maturation during this period of life.

Acknowledgements
We want to thank the students and staff in Jinsong Beijing Fourth Secondary School
for their cooperation.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or pub-
lication of this article.

References
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attach-
ment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Allen, J. P. (2008). The attachment system in adolescents. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.),
Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 419-435).
New York, NY: Guilford.
Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attach-
ment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in
adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16, 427-453.
Baumrind, D. (1966). Effects of authoritative parental control on child behaviour.
Child Development, 37, 887-907.
Bögels, S. M., & Brechman-Toussaint, M. L. (2006). Family issues in child anxiety:
Attachment, family functioning, parental rearing, and beliefs. Clinical Psycho-
logical Review, 26, 834-856.
Bögels, S. M., & Phares, V. (2008). Fathers’ role in the etiology, prevention, and
treatment of childhood anxiety: A review and new model. Clinical Psychology
Review, 28, 539-558.
Bögels, S. M., van Oosten, A., Muris, P., & Smulders, D. (2001). Family correlates
of social anxiety in children and adolescents. Behaviour Research and Therapy,
39, 273-287.

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Mothander and Wang 173

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Attachment (Vol. 1). London, UK: Tavistock.
Brown, A. M., & Whiteside, S. P. (2008). Relations among perceived parental rear-
ing behaviors attachment style, and worry in anxious children. Journal of Anxiety
Disorders, 22, 263-272.
Cassidy, J., Kirsch, S., Scolton, K., & Parke, R. D. (1996). Attachment and represen-
tations of peer relationships. Developmental Psychology, 32, 892-904.
Castro, J., Toro, J., Van der Ende, J., & Arrindell, W. A. (1993). Exploring the feasi-
bility of assessing perceived parental rearing styles in Spanish children with the
EMBU. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 39, 47-57.
Chen, X., Chen, H., Li, D., & Wang, L. (2009). Early childhood behavioral inhibi-
tion and social and school adjustment in Chinese children: A 5-year Longitudinal
Study. Child development, 80, 1692-1704.
Crowell, J., Fraley, R. C., & Shaver, P. (2008). Measurement of individual differences
in adolescent and adult attachment. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook
of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 599-637). New York,
NY: Guilford.
Degnan, K. A., Almas, A. N., & Fox, N. A. (2010). Temperament and the environ-
ment in the etiology of childhood anxiety. Journal of Child Psychology and Psy-
chiatry, 51, 497-517.
Giudice, M. D. (2009). Sex, attachment, and the development of reproductive strate-
gies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 1-67.
Grüner, K., Muris, P., & Merckelbach, H. (1999). The relationship between anxious
rearing behaviors and anxiety disorders symptomatology in normal children.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 30, 27-35.
Gullone, E., & Robinson, K. (2005). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment–
Revised (IPPA-R) for Children: A psychometric investigation. Clinical Psychol-
ogy and Psychotherapy, 12, 67-79.
Hay, I., & Ashman, A. F. (2003). The development of adolescents’ emotional stability
and general self-concept: The interplay of parents, peers, and gender. Interna-
tional Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 50, 79-93.
Hazan, C., & Zeifman, D. (1999). Pair bonds as attachments: Evaluating the evidence.
In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research,
and clinical applications (pp. 336-355). New York, NY: Guilford.
Kenny, M. E., & Gallagher, L. A. (2002). Instrumental and social/relational correlates
of perceived maternal and paternal attachment in adolescence. Journal of Adoles-
cence, 25, 203-219.
Kerns, K. A., & Richardson, R. A. (Eds.). (2005). Attachment in middle childhood.
New York, NY: Guilford.
Kobak, R., & Duemmler, S. (1994). Attachment and conversation: A discourse anal-
ysis of goal-corrected partnerships. In D. Perlman & K. Bartholomew (Eds.),

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

174 Youth & Society 46(2)

Advances in the study of personal relationships (pp. 121-149). London, UK: Jessica
Kingsley.
La Greca, A. M., & Lopez, N. (1998). Social anxiety among adolescents: Linkages
with peer relations and friendships. Journal of Abnormal Children Psychology,
26, 83-94.
Li, Y. (2007). Parental influences on children’s social and overt aggression in China:
Effects of parenting behavior, marital conflict, and parent–child attachment. Disser-
tation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 68, 4156.
Loeber, R., Green, S. M., & Lahey, B. B. (1990). Mental health professionals’ percep-
tion of the utility of children, mothers, and teachers as informants on childhood
psychopathology. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 19, 136-143.
Ma, H., Wang, X. D., & Wang, X. L. (1999). Handbook of psychological health
assessment and scales. Beijing: Chinese Psychological Health Magazine.
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adult-
hood: A move to the level of representation. Growing points of attachment theory
and research: Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
50, 66-106.
Muris, P., Meesters, C., Merckelbach, H., & Husenbeck, P. (2000). Worry in children
is related to perceived parental rearing and attachment. Behavior Research and
Therapy, 38, 487-497.
Muris, P., Meesters, C., & van Brakel, A. (2003). Assessment of anxious rearing
behaviors with a modified version of “Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran”
Questionnaire for children. Journal of Psycholopathology and Behavioral Assess-
ment, 25, 229-237.
Nishikawa, S., Sundbom, E., & Hägglöf, B. (2010). Influence of perceived parental
rearing on adolescent self-concept and internalizing and externalizing problems in
Japan. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 57-66.
Perris, C., Jacobsson, L., Lindström, H., Von Knorring, L., & Perris, H. (1980). Devel-
opment of a new inventory for assessing memories of parental rearing behavior.
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 61, 265-274.
Quoss, B., & Zhao, W. (1995). Parenting styles and children’s satisfaction with par-
enting in China and the United States. Journal of Comparative Family Studies,
26, 265-280.
Roelofs, J., Meesters, C., ter Huurne, M., Bamelis, L., & Muris, P. (2006). On the
links between attachment style, parental rearing behaviors, and internalizing and
externalizing problems in nonclinical children. Journal of Child and Family stud-
ies, 15, 331-344.
Song, H. R. (2004). Chinese adolescent attachment to parents and friends in relation
to two dimensions of self-Esteem: A developmental perspective. Psychological
Science, 27, 479-493.

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015

Mothander and Wang 175

Song, H., Thompson, R. A., & Ferrer, E. (2009). Attachment and self-evaluation in
Chinese adolescents: Developmental and gender differences. Journal of Adoles-
cence, 32, 1267-1286.
Sroufe, L. A., Egeland, B., Carlson, E. A., & Collins, W. A. (2005). The development
of the person: The Minnesota study of risk and adaptation from birth to adult-
hood. New York, NY: Guilford.
Stewart, S. M., Bond, M. H., Kennard, B. D., Ho, L. M., & Zaman, R. M. (2002).
Does the Chinese construct of guan export to the West? International Journal of
Psychology, 37, 74-82.
van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2008). Cross-cultural patterns of attach-
ment: Universal and contextual dimensions. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.),
Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 880-905).
New York, NY: Guilford.
Vasey, M. W., & Dadds, M. R. (2001). An introduction to the development of psycho-
pathology of anxiety. In: M. W. Vasey & M. R. Dadds (Eds.), The developmental
psychopathology of anxiety (pp 25-48). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Wang, X., Su, X., Wang, Y., Liu, X., Shong, Y., & Ren, L. (2000). Correlative study
on anxiety and parental rearing patterns in middle school students (Abstract). Chinese
Mental Health Journal, 14, 344-345.
Wood, J., McLeod, B., Sigman, M., Hwang, W.-C., & Chu, B. (2003). Parenting and
childhood anxiety: Theory, empirical findings, and future directions. Journal of
Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 134-151.
Wu, F., & Zou, H. (1995). The association between attachment quality and peer rela-
tionships of preschool children. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 27, 434-441.
Yang, H., Wang, D., Li, T., Teng, F., & Ren, Z. (2010). The impact of adult attach-
ment and parental rearing on subjective well-being in Chinese late adolescents.
Social Behavior and Personality, 36, 1365-1378.
Zhou, X., Xu, Q., Ingles, C. J., Hidalgo, M. D., & La Greca, A. M. (2008). Reliability
and validity of the Chinese version of the Social Anxiety Scale for adolescents.
Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 39, 185-200.

Author Biograhies
Pia Risholm Mothander, PhD, is an associate professor in Clinical Psychology at
Stockholm University, department of Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Mo Wang, MSc, is a master student in Psychology at Stockholm University,

Department of Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Downloaded from yas.sagepub.com at University of Bristol Library on March 19, 2015