“PLEASE LET YOUR CHILDREN HAVE THEIR CHILDHOOD!”: PARENTING BEHAVIOURS AND THEIR IMPACTS ON THE SOCIALISATION AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF YOUTHS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Bronfenbrenner (1999) conceptualises human development to be a phenomenon that is rooted in a complex system consisting of numerous social agents. However, in Singapore, while children’s academic excellence is greatly valued, children’s non-academic development and socialisation have not received enough attention from the parents. As parents are the most influential social agents to cultivate children’s various aspects of well-being and development, this qualitative study draws on Bronfenbrenner’s (1999) theory to examine how parent-child interactions (PCIs) within individual households shape children’s socialisation experiences and subjective well-being throughout their childhood and adolescent years. To do this, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 final-year university students in Singapore, prompting them to recall and reflect on their life experiences particularly regarding their relationships with their parents. I also conducted separate semi-structured interviews with the parents (mother-father dyads) of 5 student interviewees, which allow comparisons between the children’s and parent’s perspectives. Findings show that children’s and their parents’ reports of parenting are largely overlap, although children are more critical of their parents’ influence on their life experiences as compared to their parents perceptions of their own influences. Nonetheless, children interviewees generally acknowledge that their parents have done their best, or what they think was their best in helping them survive the stressful and competitive climate of Singapore, although they do wish for their parents to have been more emotionally available towards them.