Parent Expectations of Young Children in Taiwan‪.‬

Abstract This study investigated how 223 mothers and 200 fathers of 3- to 6-year-old children from Taiwan saw their child-rearing strengths and shortcomings. The Mandarin version of the Parent as a Teacher Inventory (PAAT) was administered to each of the 423 subjects. This instrument is designed to examine five aspects of interaction between parent and child. Multivariate analyses of variance were applied to determine the significant effects of eight independent variables on the five PAAT subscales. The variables that significantly affected parent responses were (1) amount of time spent with a child, (2) household income, (3) parent education, and (4) gender of parent. The variable with the most impact was time spent with a child. Parents who spent 10 hours or more per week interacting with their child demonstrated greater strengths than peers who spent less time interacting with their child, as indicated on all subscales of the PAAT.