Mindful Parenting and Trajectories of Child Social-Emotional Development: A Study on Chinese Migrant Preschoolers

Mindful parenting is an essential aspect of parenting practices, yet the role of mindful parenting in children’s social-emotional development in Chinese culture is poorly understood. This study examined how mindful parenting would predict the trajectories of social-emotional development among Chinese migrant preschoolers.

A total of 108 migrant families with preschool-aged children participated in three waves of data collection over 1 year. Parents completed questionnaires on their mindful parenting and their children’s self-regulation. Children’s behavioral regulation, emotion knowledge, and social problem solving skills were assessed using individual assessments.

Three aspects of mindful parenting (i.e., compassion and acceptance, interacting with full attention, and emotional awareness of the child) positively predicted children’s initial levels of self-regulation. However, there were no significant associations between mindful parenting and children’s initial levels or growth rates of behavioral regulation, emotion knowledge, and social problem solving skills.

These findings revealed mixed evidence of the role of mindful parenting in Chinese preschoolers’ social-emotional development, and they highlighted the need to understand mindful parenting and its developmental effects in different cultural contexts.

Preregistration: This study is not pre-registered.