The objective of this study was to examine the structural models of positive/negative parenting attitude, sport life skill, and transfer targeting Chinese student-athletes. This study collected data from 257 middle and high school students to achieve the objective. This study analyzed the collected data using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling.
Model 1: Relationship among positive parenting attitude, life skills, and transfer
The model 1 showed that positive parenting attitudes positively affected life skills and transfer. Life skills also affected transfer positively. The results indicated that if parented supported autonomy, provided a coherent structure, and showed affectionate attitudes, it could help student-athletes develop and transfer life skills. These results agreed with the results of various previous studies (Gould & Carson, 2008; Holt et al., 2017) that claimed the relationship between positive parenting behaviors and life skills. Yun, Lim, and Jang (2017), who reported that parenting attitudes influenced the character and morality of athletes, and Mossman and Cronin (2019), who argued that positive parenting attitudes affected the life skills and enjoyment of student-athletes, also supported the results of this study.
Hodge et al. (2013) proposed the LDI/BNT LS (conceptual model of LS development) model. This model explains the relationship between parenting attitudes and the life skills of student-athletes in connection with basic psychological needs. This model argues that the basic psychological needs and supportive climate formed under the influence of significant others play a critical role in the development and transfer of life skills for the youth participating in sport. In other words, student-athletes satisfy their basic psychological needs by perceiving positive parenting attitudes, and they learn higher self-initiative and learning motivation through this. Moreover, a high level of intrinsic motivation helps them positively interact with other sport participants (Wheeler & Green, 2014). In fact, Johnston, Harwood, and Minniti (2013) quantitatively proved that student-athletes with high participation motivation were more advantageous in developing life skills such as goal setting, time management, and problem-solving. Therefore, the positive attitude of parents rearing them is important for student-athletes to develop life skills in sport and use them in their lives.
Several studies have reported that intervention programs improved parenting attitudes. For example, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, and van IJzendoorn (2017) studied the promotion of parenting attitudes and reported that the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) increased sensitive caregiving, improved parental self-efficacy, and provided more favorable attitudes toward caregiving and limit setting. Spencer, Topham, and King (2020) meta-analyzed 28 studies and also reported that online education programs for parents helped the promotion of positive parenting attitudes.
However, as indicated earlier, even though interest in significant others and the development of life skills for the youth have been increasing in the sport PYD field, still relatively little interest has been given to the role of parents. In fact, many researchers (Camiré, Kendellen, Rathwell, & Turgeon, 2020; Turgeon, Camiré, & Rathwell, 2021) have evaluated PYD online education for coaches, but there is no content on parent education. As shown by the results of this study, a positive parenting attitude, indicating the active support and encouragement of parents, is most important. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and provide intervention means for parents of children who participate in sport to acquire useful information.
Model 2: Relationship among negative parenting attitude, life skills, and transfer
Negative parenting attitudes affected sport life skills and transfer negatively. These results agreed with the argument of many researchers (e.g., Gould & Carson, 2008; Holt et al., 2017) that the development of the youth participating in sport could vary depending on the parenting attitudes of parents toward their children. Danioni, Barni, and Rosnati (2017) reported that parental pressure reduces positive psychological and emotional variables (e.g., the competence, self-esteem, and pleasure of the youth) that could be experienced in sport. It was also supported by the argument of Skinner et al. (2005) that the rejecting attitude of parents weakened the relatedness of children, inconsistency hindered the formation of children’s competence experience, and coercion interfered with the psychological autonomy development of children.
One cause of this result could be the collectivism atmosphere in China. Chinese parents have a higher level of interest and involvement because they emphasize the college admission of their children more than the parents in the western culture (individualism) (Fong, 2007). It is because Chinese parents have a strong tendency to consider their children's success as a family glory. Yoshikawa, Way, and Chen (2012) analyzed the Chinese parents and found that parents' anxiety about their children's academic performance increased as their children advanced through school. Moreover, parents who feel anxious about their children's studies are more likely to show rejection, coercion, and inconsistent negative parenting attitudes toward their young children (14-18 years old). In other words, parents of student-athletes would force their children to win in games so that they can go to good colleges. A number of studies have proved that this negative parenting attitude results in the negative developmental outcomes of student-athletes such as aggression, antisocial behaviors, stress, and negative emotions (Dorsch et al., 2016).
On the other hand, it is necessary to understand that the cultural background of China is rooted in Confucianism. In oriental cultures, vertical relationships according to age and position are implicitly applied. It can be also found in the parent-child relationship. Parents who raise children based on Confucian values tend to demand their children to behave as they want while keeping a certain distance from their children because they believe that they should show prestige as parents (Chuang, Glozman, Green, & Rasmi, 2018). In this home environment, student-athletes are more likely to do actions (e.g., excessive social comparison, and anti-social behavior) that impede their positive development without hesitation to receive attention and recognition from their parents.
In general, negative parenting attitudes tend to make student-athletes self-goal-oriented and intoxicated with the win-at-all-cost philosophy (Keegan, Harwood, Spray, & Lavallee, 2009). Under the atmosphere, student-athletes are more likely to experience negative development, as opposed to PYD, in order to improve their match performance or to meet their parents' needs or expectations. In particular, negative parenting attitudes adversely affect children's mental health such as depression as well as cause the negative development of children (Bruce et al., 2006). Christofferson and Strand (2016) argued that it is necessary for parents to (a) understand the philosophical values and structure of sport, (b) prevent misunderstanding with referees and coaches by clearly understand the rules of sport, (c) create a conflict-free environment by understanding sportpersonship, and (d) know how to present positive behaviors by recognizing and regulating their emotions in order to improve negative parenting attitude.
Testing mediation effects
Positive and negative parenting attitudes had positive and negative impacts on life skill transfer, respectively, through sport life skills. The results showed that parenting attitudes affected the transfer of life skills indirectly as well as directly. The result of this study concurred with the results of previous studies (Newman et al., 2020) revealing that the role of parents was important for promoting the positive development of the youth.
Pierce et al. (2017) did not view that the transfer of life skills always produced positive results. For example, attacking the opponent's weaknesses is a good strategy for victory in various sport such as soccer and taekwondo, but it is not always true in daily life. In the long run, it is rather likely to be socially criticized to achieve success by taking advantage of the other person's weakness in life. Therefore, it should be remembered that knowing the true meaning and use of life skills in a sport environment and put them into practice can be positive or negative depending on the role of their parents.
It is commonly accepted that the behavior and language of parents are key variables greatly influencing the development of children (Mossman & Cronin, 2019; Ramachandran, 2000). In particular, modeling presented by the social learning theory specifically explains how parental behavior can affect the transfer of student-athletes’ life skills (Bandura, 1991; Kerr et al., 2019). According to this theory, student-athletes imitate what they see and feel consciously or unconsciously. For example, student-athletes who see the inconsistent behavior of their parents (e.g., not keeping promises, not complying with rules, and changing behavior depending on their mood) are more likely to show a similar tendency. On the other hand, children of parents who set and implement clear rules and plans can learn elements (e.g., time management and goal setting) that help them develop life skills. In other words, the successful transfer of student-athletes’ life skills is directly or indirectly influenced by various parenting behaviors that are provided by their parents in daily life, such as opportunities to use the skills, support, rewards, and detailed explanations.
The relationship between positive/negative parenting attitudes and the development and transfer of student-athletes’ life skills can also be found in neuroscience. In particular, the mirror neuron system theory suggests that parents can be the behavior mirror of their children (Oberman, Pineda, & Ramachandran, 2007). This is supported by the fact that the brain part used while acting and that activated when observing or imagining something are identical (Sternberg, 2016). For instance, when student-athletes observe their parents' behavior, the same brain part activated while acting is stimulated. As this stimulus accumulates, the possibility of a behavior increases. However, their brains are not yet able to determine whether the behavior of their parents is right or wrong. Regardless of the value of the observed parental behavior, the brain operates upon a command. Therefore, parents always need to examine their own actions and the consequences of them.
Future direction
First, although this study focused on the role of parents, the influence of coaches cannot be ignored in the sport environment (Bae, Lim, & Jang, 2019; Pierce et al., 2017). In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to the interaction effect of the two groups rather than the individual influence of parents or coaches. As Newman et al. (2020) pointed out, parents and coaches influence the development and transfer of student-athletes’ (or youths participating in sport) life skills separately, but the level of outcomes can vary depending on how the two groups interact. For example, the development and transfer of life skills of a student-athlete who has a democratic coach and coercive parents can be different from those of a student-athlete who has a democratic coach and affectionate parents. Therefore, future studies need to evaluate the roles of parents and coaches comprehensively rather than examining a parent group and a coach group separately.
Second, it is necessary to develop a tool that can measure whether parents teach life skills in order to more specifically test the influence of parents on the development and transfer of student-athletes’ life skills. Recently, a scale was developed to evaluate the life-skill coaching level of coaches who are the significant others in the sport field (Camiré et al., 2021). Researchers can evaluate the effects of the life-skill coaching level of coaches on the development and transfer of student-athletes’ life skills by using this scale. This supports the explicit approach that the largest effect can be acquired when teaching life skills intentionally (Lim, 2019). However, there is no scale for measuring the life-skill coaching of parents. Therefore, future studies are needed to develop measuring tools that can evaluate whether parents intentionally teach life skills to their children.
Third, it should be noted that student-athletes and parents interact. Interaction means that two parties affect each other. It is highly likely that student-athletes and their parents are more likely to interact with each other while developing and transferring life skills. The Actor-Partner Independence Model (APIM) can be used to statistically test this. APIM is a statistical technique commonly used to examine the relationship between variables that interact between a husband and a wife or between parents and a child. Therefore, future studies may employ different methodological approaches such as APIM to objectively evaluate the interaction between student-athletes and parents.