Parental autonomy support and psychological control and children's biobehavioral functioning: Historical cohort differences in urban China

Abstract This study examined parental autonomy support and psychological control and their relations with child biobehavioral functioning. Participants included 238 Chinese parent–child dyads (M age-child = 8.38 years, 42.0% girls) in two cohorts (2013 and 2021). Parents in the 2021 cohort displayed higher levels of autonomy support and psychological control during the parent–child interaction than in the 2013 cohort. Parental psychological control was positively associated with emotion regulation and negatively associated with externalizing problems in the 2013 cohort, but not in the 2021 cohort. Parental psychological control was also negatively associated with vagal suppression in the 2021 cohort, but not in the 2013 cohort. The result suggests that sociocultural contexts may shape the display of parental behaviors and their significance for child development.