An exploratory study on school children's intent attributions for parental structuring behaviors

This paper begins by proposing a theory-driven, two-dimensional model of children's intent attributions for parental structuring behaviors. The two dimensions are parent-centered intents vs child-centered intents and instrumental goals vs social-emotional goals. These two dimensions imply four categories of intent attribution for parental structuring behaviors. An exploratory study was conducted to examine school children's intent attributions for parental structuring behaviors. Responses in the four proposed categories were observed. Additionally, two new categories emerged from the data: parental structuring behaviors for the sake of the parents' intangible benefits and parental structuring behaviors for the sake of social interests. Research implications of these findings are discussed.