Maternal Overcontrol and Young Children’s Internalizing Problems in China: The Roles of Social Competence and Teacher-Child Conflict

Research Findings: This study aimed to explore the mediating role of social competence and the moderating role of teacher-child conflict in the relation between maternal overcontrol and Chinese preschooler’s internalizing problems. Participants were 216 children aged 3–4 years, from two kindergartens in Shanghai, China. Mothers completed the observation of mother-child interaction task. Teachers completed the assessment of children’s social competence, internalizing problems, and teacher-child conflict. Result of mediation showed that maternal overcontrol indirectly predicted child internalizing problems through its negative association with child social competence. Moderated mediation results show that teacher – child conflict moderated the relation between maternal overcontrol and child social competence. Moreover, lower levels of teacher-student conflict can buffer the negative impact of maternal overcontrol on child social competence, and thus reduce children’s internalizing problems. Practice or Policy: Maternal overcontrol as a negative parenting is related to children’s maladjustment in current China. Reducing teacher-child conflict might alleviate the negative effects of maternal overcontrol on child social adjustment.