This research doesn't just look at the differences between Chinese and US parents, but it established a correlation between parents' child-based worth and their use of psychological control. It means that mothers with greater child-based worth are more controlling, said Florrie Fei-Yin Ng, a professor of psychology at Chinese University of Hong Kong, and lead author of the paper.
"The more the parents feel that their worth hinges on their children's performance, the more pressure they have to do whatever they can to push their kids," said Ng.
In Chinese communities, parents often compare their children's performances either in public or in private. Parents often say to their children, "We're doing this for your own good" or "Everything I did, I did for you."
Although many young parents in their 20s or 30s say they don't want to put too much pressure on their children as their parents did, they still admit that if their children don't do well in school, they would feel embarrassed or feel that they had "lost face.