Parental Strategies for Managing Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors in Young Children: A Comparison Across Two Countries

Across cultures, how parents manage children’s problem behaviors shapes the environment for children’s development. Our study addressed the existing lack of cross-cultural comparison on parents’ strategies for addressing young children’s externalizing and internalizing-type behaviors. A total of 104 parents of preschool-aged children from the United States ( n = 50, M age = 36.24) and China ( n = 54, M age = 35.68) participated in a semi-structured interview. Using a series of hypothetical vignettes depicting externalizing and internalizing behaviors in young children, we elicited open-ended responses regarding how parents would enact management in the face of children’s common problem behaviors. Parents’ responses were coded and composited into higher-order categories of parent management strategies. Across both sites, parents endorsed using non-aggressive power assertions most frequently in response to externalizing behaviors, while endorsing providing aid and support most frequently in response to internalizing behaviors. Our findings indicated main site effects on some but not all management strategies, with cross-site differences being more salient for externalizing-type behaviors. These findings enhance our understanding of cultural variations in the customary practices that may be used to manage different types of disruptive and distress-related behaviors in young children.