The relationship between involvement in household chores and problem-solving abilities among preschool children and the moderating role of parental scaffolding
Household chores as activities of daily living positively affect young children's development, allowing children to build knowledge and confront real-life challenges, which cannot be separated from problem-solving ability. Problem-solving ability is a key factor in early childhood development, furnishing children with vital cognitive and behavioral strategies for navigating diverse future scenarios. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between participating in household chores and problem-solving abilities among young children and the role of parental scaffolding from the perspective of parent-child interactive dynamics in two steps. First, young children (n = 125, M<sub>age</sub> = 4.13-year-old, SD = 0.61) participated in problem-solving tasks, while concurrently, their parents completed a structured questionnaire evaluating children's household chore involvement and parental scaffolding strategies. The second study analyzed the patterns of parental scaffolding using videos of parent-child interactions(n = 31). The results revealed a significant positive correlation between involvement in household chores and problem-solving ability, with parental scaffolding moderating this relationship. Moreover, video analyses revealed a pattern of high-level parental scaffolding during problem solving for household chores. Specifically, parents tended to provide more cognitive scaffolding in the initial stages of problem solving, gradually reduce interventions as the task progressed to allow the child to feel autonomy, and provide high-quality emotional scaffolding throughout the task. These findings highlight the positive effect of participation in household chores on the development of problem-solving abilities among young children as well as the importance of parental scaffolding being provided and withdrawn in a timely manner according to young children's needs.
Authors
- L. Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4967-482X)
- Aruna Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6458-4138)
- Liying Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5919-1946)
- Xia Hong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6832-2298)
- Yingze Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2640-8311)
- Shuo Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0678-7380)
Institutions
- Shanghai Normal University (CN)
- Jiading District Central Hospital (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Acta Psychologica
- Published
- 2025-09-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105629
- Primary Topic
- Family and Disability Support Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00