Parental Labor Education,Children's Housework Participation,and Children's Social Skills During the Preschool Years

Abstract

Understanding the factors that influence young children's social skills development is critical for fostering their long-term success. Recent studies have identified a positive association between parental labor education and children's social skills. However, few longitudinal studies have examined the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. To address this gap, we conducted a 6-month longitudinal study involving 247 preschool-aged children (M = 60.59 months, SD = 5.97). After controlling for children's age, only-child status, and family socioeconomic status, the results demonstrated that parental labor education attitudes at Time 1 (T1) not only directly predicted children's social skills at Time 2 (T2) but also indirectly influenced them through the chain mediation of parental labor education behaviors (T1) and children's housework participation (T1). However, neither parental labor education behaviors (T1) nor children's housework participation (T1) alone significantly mediated the relationship between parental labor education attitudes (T1) and children's social skills (T2). These findings highlight the importance of cultivating positive parental attitudes and behaviors toward labor education. Additionally, actively engaging children in housework may further enhance their social skills development.

Keywords

parental labor education attitudes parental labor education behaviors children's housework participation children's social skills chain mediating effects

Introduction

Children's social skills represent a set of learned competencies that enable individuals to demonstrate socially appropriate behaviors while inhibiting inappropriate ones, thereby facilitating effective interpersonal functioning, these skills encompass responsibility and cooperation (Gresham & Elliott, 1990). The preschool period (ages 3–6) serves as a particularly sensitive developmental window for acquiring these fundamental abilities, as they form the basis for establishing positive peer relationships, achieving school readiness, and successfully navigating formal educational environments (Marksteiner et al., 2025; Zehner et al., 2024). Empirical evidence suggests that deficits in social skills during early childhood predict multiple adverse outcomes, including impaired adult–child interactions, peer rejection, increased loneliness, and subsequent behavioral maladjustment (Lodder et al., 2016).

Rooted in ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2007), children's social skills development is profoundly shaped by proximal microsystems, with the family emerging as the primary and most enduring influence (Guo et al., 2023; Yue et al., 2024). The ontogeny of these skills originates through parent–child interactions within familial contexts (Liu et al., 2022). Emerging evidence has identified parental labor education as a significant predictor of preschoolers’ social skills (Coppens & Rogoff, 2022). For instance, relevant research demonstrates that involving children in appropriate household chores can enhance their initiative in perspective-taking and collective decision-making abilities (Mejía-Arauz et al., 2015; Rogoff, 2014). These early competencies scaffold critical capacities for social skills, including responsibility and collaboration, which show longitudinal stability into adulthood (Rende, 2015, 2021; White et al., 2019). Consequently, examining the mechanisms linking parental labor education to social skills acquisition represents a crucial research direction.

The significance of parental labor education is profoundly shaped by cultural context. In many Western societies, which often emphasize individualism, domestic chores are primarily viewed as a means to foster children's personal responsibility, self-reliance, and to reduce the family burden (Dunn & Gardner, 2013). In contrast, within China's collectivist-oriented society, which is deeply influenced by Confucian values, the approach to children's housework is more complex. Historically, academic excellence has been intensely prioritized, often at the expense of other activities, leading some parents to undervalue the developmental benefits of housework (Li & Xie, 2020). Nevertheless, contemporary Chinese society is experiencing a notable shift in attitudes. This transformation is further reinforced by recent national policy initiatives. The Family Education Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China (2021) explicitly mandates that “parents shall assist minors in developing a correct view of labor, encourage their participation in appropriate domestic tasks, and enhance their self-management and independent living abilities.” This policy elevates labor education at the household level to an integral component of holistic child development. Against this distinctive socio-cultural and policy backdrop, this study seeks to investigate how parental attitudes and behaviors regarding labor education influence the development of children's social skills, with the broader aim of elucidating the contemporary implications of family-based labor education in China.

Although recent research has investigated the connection between parental labor education and children's social skills, little is known about the mechanism through which parental labor education influences preschooler's social skills. Furthermore, most relevant studies have used cross-sectional designs, leaving the longitudinal relationship between parental labor education and children's social skills unclear. Considering these research limitations, this study conducted a 6-month follow-up with 247 parents of children aged 3–6 years to examine the predictive effects of parental labor education on children's social skills and explore the underlying mechanisms involved.

Relationship Between Parental Labor Education Attitudes and Children's Social Skills

Extensive research demonstrates that parental attitudes toward labor education play a crucial role in shaping preschoolers’ social skills development. Parental labor education attitudes refer to parents’ beliefs and perceptions regarding the goals, content, methods, and values of labor education, which are formed based on their understanding of their children and child development. The attitudes include goal perception, content perception, method perception, and value perception (Huang, 2021). When parents perceive household chores as a way for children to prepare for the future, develop responsibility, care for others, children have the potential for improving social skills (Dunn & Gardner, 2013). Anthropological studies further indicate that parental conceptualization of household chores as collaborative family activities significantly predicts children's engagement in cooperative behaviors (Coppens et al., 2014). In contrast, when parents view household chores as competing with academic learning, children may experience reduced opportunities to develop fundamental social abilities such as effective communication, cooperative problem-solving, and shared responsibility (Ambetsa, 2016). These findings collectively highlight the significant impact of parental labor education attitudes on early social skills, especially in cultural contexts where traditional educational values may influence perceptions of household labor's developmental value.

The Mediating Role of Parental Labor Education Behaviors in the Relationship Between Parental Labor Education Attitudes and Children's Social Skills

Parental attitudes toward labor education may influence their corresponding educational behaviors. Parental labor educational behaviors comprise the deliberate strategies and actions adopted by parents to facilitate and guide their children's participation in structured household labor within the family context (Marzalik, 2016). According to Darling and Steinberg's (1993) Parenting style-context model, parental practices—and ultimately child outcomes—are driven by parental goals and values. Research demonstrates that parents’ perceptions of household chores directly influence children's chore allocation patterns, with parents who recognize the developmental benefits of chores (e.g., fostering autonomy and initiative) being more likely to systematically involve their children in such tasks (Coppens & Alcalá, 2015; Tepper et al., 2022). Conversely, parents who undervalue the developmental significance of chore participation tend to restrict or completely avoid assigning household responsibilities to their children. Furthermore, parental labor education attitudes predict the quality of instructional strategies employed, as parents with positive orientations toward labor education are more inclined to utilize encouragement-based approaches and provide appropriate scaffolding during children's task engagement (Hammond & Carpendale, 2015; Marzalik, 2016). In summary, parental attitudes toward labor education fundamentally shape their chore allocation decisions and instructional strategies in household task engagement.

Parental labor education behaviors may shape preschoolers’ social skills development. Research by Coppens (2015) demonstrates that children from families who systematically engage them in developmentally appropriate household chores exhibit enhanced prosocial behaviors and cooperative dispositions compared to peers with limited chore participation. Complementary findings by Waugh et al. (2015) reveal that parental scaffolding behaviors during domestic tasks—particularly through encouragement and guided assistance—not only increase children's task engagement confidence but also foster subsequent manifestations of prosociality, including sharing behaviors and responsible conduct in social contexts. These consistent research findings collectively confirm the formative role of parental labor education practices in shaping early social skills acquisition.

The Mediating Role of Children's Housework Participation in the Relationship Between Parental Labor Education Attitude and Children's Social Skills

Parental labor education attitudes may affect children's housework participation. Children's housework participation refers to children's involvement in unpaid daily tasks within the family to maintain their own or other family members’ well-being. It encompasses two types: self-care household tasks and family-care household tasks (Dunn et al., 2014). Research has demonstrated that parental perceptions of household chores serve as either facilitators or barriers to children's engagement in domestic tasks (Cordero-Coma & Esping-Andersen, 2018; Lee & Tang, 2022). For instance, Goh and Kuczynski (2014) examined the different attitudes of Chinese urban families regarding children's participation in household chores. The findings revealed that families who perceived household chores as a valuable socialization experience had higher levels of children's engagement in such tasks, while families that viewed household chores as a distraction from academics or focused solely on academic achievements had lower frequencies of children's housework participation. Another study also found that when parents consider that involving infants and young children in household chores can promote their cooperative autonomy, children frequently have the opportunity to participate in household chores. In contrast, when parents express that it is unimportant and unrealistic for infants and young children to initiate household chores, children rarely or even never participate in any household chores (Coppens & Alcalá, 2015). These findings underscore the pivotal role of parental attitudes in structuring children's early housework experiences.

Children's housework participation may influence the development of their social skills. This proposition is supported by the Individual-Environment Interaction Model (Lerner et al., 2006), which posits that an individual's behavior is influenced by the interaction between their personal factors and environmental factors. Within this theoretical framework, a robust body of research substantiates that developmentally appropriate household task engagement provides critical opportunities for cultivating prosocial competencies (Armstrong-Carter et al., 2025; Coppens & Rogoff, 2022). This relationship emerges from children's intrinsic motivation to contribute, with household activities offering natural contexts for nurturing this predisposition into sustained prosocial dispositions (Hammond et al., 2017). Empirical evidence demonstrates that preschoolers engaged in regular, age-appropriate chores exhibit significantly enhanced achievement motivation, responsible conduct, and prosocial orientation compared to peers with limited domestic participation (Armstrong-Carter et al., 2023; Armstrong-Carter & Telzer, 2021; Dunn et al., 2014). Longitudinal data further corroborate these benefits, revealing persistent positive associations between early chore involvement frequency and subsequent measures of cooperation ability, peer relationship competence, and overall social adjustment in middle childhood (White et al., 2019). These convergent findings across developmental stages unequivocally establish household chore participation as a viable pathway for optimizing young children's social skills acquisition.

The Chain Mediating Role of Parental Labor Education Behaviors and Children's Housework Participation in the Relationship Between Parental Labor Education Attitudes and Children's Social Skills

As discussed above, both parental labor education behaviors and children's housework participation may independently mediate the relationship between parental labor education attitudes and children's social skills. Previous research has established associations between supportive parental labor education behaviors and children's active chore engagement (Hammond & Brownell, 2018; Lee & Tang, 2024). Specifically, when parents provide appropriate scaffolding during domestic tasks, children demonstrate not only increased participation frequency but also greater task engagement efficiency, as evidenced by studies with toddlers aged 18–24 months (Hammond & Carpendale, 2015). These behavioral patterns create a virtuous cycle wherein parental modeling and support enhance children's willingness to undertake household responsibilities, which in turn provides more opportunities for social skills practice (Waugh et al., 2015). This reciprocal dynamic supports the hypothesis that parental labor education behaviors and children's housework participation may operate through a chain mediation mechanism, where positive parental attitudes first promote effective parental behaviors, which subsequently facilitate children's chore participation, ultimately fostering social skills development.

The Current Study

With a sample of 247 children aged 3–6 years old from Chinese families, this 6-month longitudinal study examined how parental labor education attitudes predicted children's social skills through the chain mediating role of parental labor education behaviors and children's housework participation. The hypotheses are as follows (see Figure 1):

H1: parental labor education attitudes (T1) directly predict children's social skills (T2).

H2: parental labor education behaviors (T1) independently mediate the relationship between parental labor education attitudes (T1) and children's social skills (T2).

H3: children's housework participation (T1) independently mediates the relationship between parental labor education attitudes (T1) and children's social skills (T2).

H4: parental labor education attitudes (T1) positively predict children's social skills (T2) through the chain mediating role of parental labor education behaviors (T1) and children's housework participation (T1).

Figure 1.

Research hypotheses.

Method

Participants

A total of 397 parents (primarily mothers) of children enrolled in K1 through K3 level classes were recruited through convenience sampling from three private kindergartens in China to participate in the pre-test (T1). Six months later, 247 parents completed the post-test (T2) due to the sample loss caused by factors such as transfers. The sample loss rate was 37.8%. To examine possible bias resulting from sample loss, an independent samples t-test was used to compare children who participated throughout with those who were absent at T2. Results showed no significant differences between the two groups at T1 concerning the parental labor education attitudes, parental labor education behaviors and children's housework participation (p > 0.05).

As shown in Table 1, among the 247 families who participated in both T1 and T2, 122 (49.4%) were boys and 125 (50.6%) were girls. The average age of the children was 60.59 months (SD = 5.97). Of these families, 45 (18.2%) were one-child, and 202 (81.8%) were non-one-child. The average age of parents was 33.02 years old (SD = 4.35) with 127 (51.4%) having a college degree or above. In terms of annual household income, 89 (36.0%) had an annual household income below 50,000 Chinese Yuan (CNY), 99 (40.1%) had an income between 50,000 and 100,000 CNY, and 59 (23.9%) had an income above 100,000 CNY.

Table 1.

Demographic Characteristics of the Participants.

		Number (N = 247)	Percentage
Only-child status	One-child	45	18.2%
Only-child status	Non-one-child	202	81.8%
Child gender	Male	122	49.4%
Child gender	Female	125	50.6%
Grade level	Kindergarten Year 2	112	45.3%
Grade level	Kindergarten Year 3	135	54.7%
Parental education	High school or below	120	48.6%
Parental education	College or above	127	51.4%
Annual household income	Below 50,000	89	36.0%
	50,000–100,000	99	40.1%
	Above 100,000	59	23.9%

Procedure

Data were collected in June 2022 for the first time (T1) and in December 2022 for the second time (T2). At T1, three kindergartens were selected in China after obtaining informed consent from the respective kindergarten principals and teachers. Subsequently, teachers handed out the questionnaires to parents when they picked up their children, explained the notes to fill in the questionnaires, and asked parents to give them back to the teachers within 1 week. The questionnaires consisted of four parts: Demographic Information, Parental Labor Education Attitudes Scale, Parental Labor Education Behaviors Scale, and Young Children's Housework Participation Scale. Six months later, at T2, the parents who had participated in the T1 study were invited to complete the Social Skills Assessment Scale. This temporal design—measuring predictors and mediators at T1 and the outcome at T2—was implemented to establish temporal precedence, strengthen causal inference regarding the influence of parental labor education on subsequent social skill development, and reduce potential common-method bias.

Measures

Demographic Information (T1)

All participating parents provided demographic information, including their own gender, age, and educational level, as well as their children's age.

Parental Labor Education Attitudes Scale (T1)

The Scale was adapted from the dimensional framework developed by Huang (2021) to assess parents’ views on early childhood labor education. Item generation was informed by the theoretical framework and supplemented with interviews with parents and early childhood educators to enhance relevance. Content validity was established through evaluation by a panel of eight experts in child development and education, leading to item refinement. The scale consists of four dimensions: Goal Perception (parents’ understanding of the objectives of labor education), Content Perception (beliefs regarding specific content covered), Method Perception (views on implementation approaches), and Value Perception (evaluation of the significance of labor education).

The scale was validated with a sample of 660 parents. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on a randomly selected subsample (n = 332) supported the four-factor structure, which collectively accounted for 66.67% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on a separate subsample (n = 328) confirmed good model fit: χ²/df = 3.12, CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0. 91, SRMR = 0.04, RMSEA = 0.07. The model demonstrated a good fit (Hu & Bentler, 1999). The scale showed high internal consistency, with an overall Cronbach's α of 0.94, and subscale αs of 0.85, 0.81, 0.89, and 0.89. The final 21-item instrument uses a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating more positive parental attitudes toward labor education.

Parental Labor Education Behaviors Scale (T1)

The Parental Labor Education Behaviors Scale, originally developed by Li (2021), was used to assess parents’ behaviors related to labor education. The scale consists of 7 items rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating more positive parental labor education behaviors.

To validate the scale within our specific sample, we performed factor analyses on data from 660 participants. The sample was randomly divided into two subsamples. EFA conducted on the first subsample (n = 332) confirmed the original single-factor structure, which explained 60.79% of the total variance. CFA on the second, independent subsample (n = 328) supported the unidimensional model with good fit indices: χ²/df = 1.79, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.98, SRMR = 0.01, RMSEA = 0.04. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency in the current study, with a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.88.

Young Children's Housework Participation Scale (T1)

The Scale was adapted from the dimensional framework of children's participation in household labor proposed by Dunn et al. (2014) for ages 6–14. The initial items were generated based on this framework, a review of relevant literature, national early childhood guidelines, and qualitative interviews with parents to ensure developmental appropriateness. The instrument comprises two dimensions: Self-care household tasks (e.g., managing personal belongings) and Family-care household tasks (e.g., maintaining shared spaces).

Content validity was established through a review by a panel of eight experts in child development, leading to the refinement of items. The scale was validated with a sample of 660 parents. The sample was randomly split into two subsamples for factor analysis. EFA was performed on the first subsample (n = 332), which confirmed the two-factor structure and accounted for 64.02% of the total variance. CFA was then conducted on the second, independent subsample (n = 328), demonstrating good model fit: χ²/df = 2.79, CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.93, SRMR = 0.04, RMSEA = 0.07. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency, with a total Cronbach's α of 0.92 and subscale αs of 0.87 and 0.88. The final 16-item scale uses a 5-point scale from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating greater participation.

Social Skills Assessment Scale (T2)

The measure of social skills was derived from the Chinese version of the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990), which was linguistically and culturally adapted for preschool parents by Liu et al. (2013) under the name Social Skills Assessment Scale. The adaptation process involved standard translation and back-translation to ensure equivalence and established the scale's cultural relevance and psychometric robustness in comparable Chinese populations. In the present study, we selectively employed the “Cooperation” and “Responsibility” dimensions—rather than the full instrument—due to their theoretical relevance to social skills likely influenced by family labor education.

This adapted version of the scale comprised 19 items rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The total social skills score was derived from the combined scores of the two dimensions, with higher scores indicating better social skills in children. The model fit indices were satisfactory: χ²/df = 3.76, CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.90, SRMR = 0.04, RMSEA = 0.06. The overall scale exhibited high internal consistency reliability with a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.94, and the two dimensions demonstrated coefficients of 0.92 and 0.88, respectively.

Data Analysis

Descriptive statistical analysis and correlation analysis were performed. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were first conducted using SPSS 26.0 to obtain the correlation coefficients among all the demographic and study variables, and to identify the potential control variables. Based on the results of these analyses, the PROCESS Model 6 was used to test the chain mediating effects by estimating the Bootstrap 95% confidence intervals (Hayes, 2013).

Results

Descriptive Statistics

Table 2 showed the means, standard deviations, and correlations for the demographic and study variables included in the current study. Except for children's age and only-child status, all study variables were significantly related to each other with the absolute value of correlation coefficients ranging from 0.13 to 0.40 (p < 0.05), which provided statistical support for chain mediation testing. Furthermore, children's age was significantly positively correlated with children's social skills (T2) (r = 0.13, p < 0.05). Only-child status was significantly positively correlated with children's housework participation (T1) (r = 0.16, p < 0.05). The demographic variables that were significantly related to the study variables were included in the model as controlled variables.

Table 2.

Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Analysis (N = 247).

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1 Children's age	—
2 Only-child status	0.18*	—
3 Family socioeconomic status	−0.09	−0.14*	—
4 Parental labor education attitudes (T1)	−0.06	−0.05	0.25**	—
5 Parental labor education behaviors (T1)	0.06	0.03	0.20**	0.40**	—
6 Children's housework participation (T1)	0.23**	0.16*	0.14*	0.13*	0.23**	—
7 Children's social skills (T2)	0.13*	0.11	0.05*	0.13*	0.22**	0.24**	—
M	—	—	9.87	4.36	4.29	3.72	3.78
SD	—	—	3.28	0.51	0.59	0.71	0.69

Note. M = mean; SD = standard deviation. T1 = Time 1; T2 = Time 2. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Chain Mediation Testing

This study examined a chain mediation model with parental labor education attitudes (T1) as the independent variable, parental labor education behaviors (T1) and children's housework participation (T1) as mediators, and children's social skills (T2) as the dependent variable, while controlling for child age, only-child status, and family socioeconomic status. Variables were entered into the analysis using their raw metric.

The bias-corrected nonparametric percentile Bootstrap method with 5,000 samples was employed to tested the chain mediation effect (Hayes, 2013).The results (Figure 2) indicated that parental labor education attitudes (T1) had a significant effect on parental labor education behaviors (T1) (β = 0.44, t = 6.04, p < 0.001), but not on children's housework participation (T1) (β = 0.07, t = 0.73, p > 0.05) or on children's social skills (T2) (β = 0.08, t = 0.84, p > 0.05). Parental labor education behaviors (T1) significantly predicted children's housework participation (T1) (β = 0.19, t = 2.30, p < 0.05) and children's social skills (T2) (β = 0.18, t = 2.09, p < 0.05). Children's housework participation (T1) had a significant effect on children's social skills (T2) (β = 0.16, t = 2.44, p < 0.05).

Figure 2.

Chain mediation model (N = 247). T1 = Time 1; T2 = Time 2. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 3 presents all indirect relationships between parental labor education attitudes (T1) and children's social skills (T2) in the mediation model. It was found that the significant chain mediating role of parental labor education behaviors (T1) and children's housework participation (T1) in the relationship between parental labor education attitudes (T1) and children's social skills (T2) was confirmed, with an effect size of 0.02 (p < 0.05). The independent mediating role of parental labor education behaviors (T1) was not statistically significant, with an effect size of 0.08 (p > 0.05). The independent mediating role of children's housework participation (T1) was not statistically significant, with an effect size of 0.01 (p > 0.05).

Table 3.

Chain Mediation Effects on the Relationship Between Parental Labor Education Attitudes (T1) and Children's Social Skills (T2) (N = 247).

Model pathways	Effect size	95% CI
Parental labor education attitudes (T1) → Parental labor education behaviors (T1) → Children's social skills (T2)	0.08	[-0.003, 0.17]
Parental labor education attitudes (T1) → Children's housework participation (T1) → Children's social skills (T2)	0.01	[-0.02, 0.05]
Parental labor education attitudes (T1) → Parental labor education behaviors (T1) → Children's housework participation (T1) → Children's social skills (T2)	0.02	[0.001, 0.05]
Indirect effect	0.11	[0.02, 0.20]
Direct effect	0.08	[-0.11, 0.27]
Total effect	0.19	[0.007, 0.37]

Note. 95% CI = 95% confidence interval. T1 = Time 1; T2 = Time 2.

Discussion

This longitudinal investigation elucidated the relationship between parental labor education attitudes at baseline (T1) and preschoolers’ subsequent social skills development (T2), while simultaneously examining the chain mediation pathway through parental labor education behaviors (T1) and children's housework participation (T1). Our findings extend previous cross-sectional research by demonstrating that positive parental attitudes toward labor education systematically predict improved social competencies 6 months later, with this relationship being sequentially mediated by: (a) increased implementation of developmentally appropriate labor education behaviors, and (b) enhanced frequency and quality of children's household task engagement. These results provide novel empirical evidence that household labor participation serves as a crucial behavioral mechanism through which parental attitudes are translated into social skills acquisition during early childhood.

The current findings provide robust support for Hypotheses 1 and 4, establishing that parental labor education attitudes (T1) exerted both direct effects on children's social skills (T2) and indirect effects through the chain mediating effects of parental labor education behaviors (T1) and children's housework participation (T1). Analysis revealed that parents with favorable attitudes toward labor education not only created more frequent and structured opportunities for household chore engagement but also employed evidence-based encouragement strategies, which collectively fostered children's development of prosocial competencies through sustained practical experience (Dunn et al., 2014; Hammond & Carpendale, 2015). Conversely, parents with less supportive attitudes exhibited restrictive practices that significantly reduced children's chore involvement, consequently diminishing crucial learning opportunities for acquiring cooperative behaviors and responsible conduct (Coppens & Alcalá, 2015; Waugh et al., 2015).

Inconsistent with the study hypothesis 2, the current study did not identify significant independent mediating effects of parental labor education behaviors (T1) in the relationship between parental attitudes (T1) and children's social skills (T2). This finding suggests that the influence of parental attitudes may require additional mediating pathways beyond direct behavioral transmission. The Individual-Environment Interaction Model (Lerner et al., 2006) provides a plausible explanation, positing that child development results from complex interactions between environmental factors (e.g., parental behaviors) and individual characteristics. In this framework, parental labor education attitudes and behaviors appear to exert their effects primarily through facilitating children's active participation in household chores, which then fosters social skills development. This mediation pattern emphasizes the crucial role of children's direct engagement as a necessary mechanism through which parental influences are translated into developmental outcomes.

The findings did not support Hypothesis 3, children's housework participation (T1) failed to demonstrate independent mediating effects between parental labor education attitudes (T1) and children's subsequent social skills (T2). This result aligns with the parenting style-context model (Darling & Steinberg, 1993), which posits that parental attitudes primarily influence child development through their impact on specific parenting practices. In our context, parental labor education attitudes appear to require translation into concrete educational behaviors, which then facilitate children's active housework participation, ultimately fostering social skills development. These results underscore the importance of implementing two-stage interventions that first help parents transform positive attitudes into practical teaching strategies, and second, create structured opportunities for children to engage in developmentally appropriate household tasks, thereby maximizing social skills acquisition during this critical preschool period.

Limitations and Directions for Future Research

This study has several limitations that should be acknowledged. First, one of the most noteworthy findings of this study is the significant chain mediation effect in the absence of significant individual indirect effects. This pattern suggests that the influence of parental labor education attitudes on children's social skills is not transmitted through either parental behavior or child housework participation in isolation, but rather requires the sequential activation of the entire pathway. This could be indicative of a synergistic effect, where each mediator alone is insufficient to carry the effect, but their combination in a specific sequence creates an emergent pathway that is greater than the sum of its parts. For instance, a positive parental attitude may only lead to improved social skills if it first translates into concrete behaviors, which in turn must successfully elicit actual child participation. An alternative statistical explanation could involve suppression effects, where the mediators may share overlapping variances, making their unique contributions appear non-significant when examined individually, while their combined effect becomes clear in the chain. Future research with larger samples could further disentangle these complex mechanisms. Second, a 6-month longitudinal study design was used to track and analyze the impact of parental labor education on children's social skills. It is worth noting that the follow-up period was relatively short, and the number of follow-ups was limited. Future research could consider extending the tracking period into later childhood or even adolescence to further examine and expand upon the findings of this study.

Implications

Despite the limitations discussed above, the current findings have theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, the research identifies a significant longitudinal relationship between parental labor education and children's social skills in the sample of Chinese families. The study underscores how labor education contributes to children's development of cooperation, responsibility, and communication skills, thereby enriching existing theories of social skills development. Additionally, the study reveals the chain mediation mechanism linking parental labor education behaviors to children's participation in household chores, offering further evidence regarding the role of family labor education in the development and maintenance of children's social skills. On a practical level, the findings provide valuable guidance for family education practices. It is essential not only to focus on changing parents’ attitudes toward labor education but also to improve their behaviors. Encouraging children's active involvement in household chores enables them to cultivate a sense of responsibility and cooperation through hands-on tasks, ultimately enhancing their social skills.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

We extend our sincere gratitude to the participating families for their invaluable contributions to this research.

ORCID iDs

Xiaoya Fu

Xinge Tan

Xiaowei Li

Ethical Approval

This study has obtained ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University (Approval No. [BNU2021111035]).

Prior to the participants’ involvement in this study, informed consent was obtained from all participating students and/or their legal guardians, as appropriate. The privacy, confidentiality and anonymity of all participants were strictly protected throughout the entire research process. All data were collected and analyzed anonymously, with no personally identifiable information retained. The purpose and implementation procedures of the study were fully explained to the participants, and emphasis was placed on their right to withdraw from the study at any time without incurring any adverse effects.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

Ambetsa

E. K.

(2016). The level of involvement of 6–8 year old children in housework in urban areas and its effect on academic performance in early childhood at city primary school, Nairobi, Kenya. International Journal of Early Childhood Education and Care, 5, 28–39.

Armstrong-Carter

Liu

S. H.

Obradovic

Fisher

(2025). Understanding households in which very young children are contributing to the family. Children and Youth Services Review, 175, 108323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108323

Armstrong-Carter

Osborn

Smith

Siskowski

Olson

E. A.

(2023). Middle and high school students who take care of siblings, parents, and grandparents: Associations with school engagement, belonging, and well-being. Aera Open, 9, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221140337

Armstrong-Carter

Telzer

E. H.

(2021). Family assistance spills over into prosocial behaviors toward friends and positive academic behaviors. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 31(4), 1188–1201. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12629

Bronfenbrenner

Morris

P. A.

(2007). The bioecological model of human development. In Lerner

R. M.

Damon

(Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed. Vol. 1, pp. 793–828). Wiley.

Coppens

A. D.

(2015). Parental guidance and children's development of collaborative initiative: Cultural contexts of children's prosocial development [doctoral dissertation. University of California.

Coppens

A. D.

Alcalá

(2015). Supporting children's initiative: Appreciating family contributions or paying children for chores. In Correa-Chávez

Mejía-Arauz

Rogoff

(Eds.), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 49, pp. 91–112). JAI. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2015.10.002

Coppens

A. D.

Alcalá

Mejía-Arauz

Rogoff

(2014). Children's initiative in family household work in Mexico. Human Development, 57(2–3), 116–130. https://doi.org/10.1159/000356768

Coppens

A. D.

Rogoff

(2022). Cultural variation in the early development of initiative in children's prosocial helping. Social Development, 31(3), 656–678. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12566

10.

Cordero-Coma

Esping-Andersen

(2018). The intergenerational transmission of gender roles: Children's contribution to housework in Germany. Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(4), 1005–1019. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12497

11.

Darling

Steinberg

(1993). Parenting style as context: An integrative model. Psychological Bulletin, 113(3), 487–496. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.113.3.487

12.

Dunn

Gardner

(2013). Household task participation of children with and without physical disability. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67(5), e100–e105. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2013.008102

13.

Dunn

Magalhaes

L. C.

Mancini

M. C.

(2014). Internal structure of the children helping out: Responsibilities, expectations, and supports (CHORES) measure. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(3), 286–291. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2014.010454

14.

Goh

E. C. L.

Kuczynski

(2014). She is too young for these chores"—is housework taking a back seat in urban Chinese childhood? Children & Society, 28(4), 280–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2012.00470.x

15.

Gresham

Elliott

(1990). The social skills rating system. American Guidance Service.

16.

Guo

Y. F.

B. Y.

Pan

Y. J.

Vitiello

(2023). The bidirectional relationship between supportive parenting and social skills: A longitudinal study among Chinese preschoolers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 32(9), 2699–2709. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02592-2

17.

Hammond

S. I.

Al-Jbouri

Edwards

Feltham

L. E.

(2017). Infant helping in the first year of life: Parents’ recollection of infants’ earliest prosocial behaviors. Infant Behavior and Development, 47, 54–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2017.02.004

18.

Hammond

S. I.

Brownell

C. A.

(2018). Happily unhelpful: Infants’ everyday helping and its connections to early prosocial development. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1770. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01770

19.

Hammond

S. I.

Carpendale

J. I. M.

(2015). Helping children help: The relation between maternal scaffolding and children's early help. Social Development, 24(2), 367–383. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12104

20.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press.

21.

L. T.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118

22.

Huang

(2021). A survey on labor education concepts of kindergarten teachers and parents. Early Childhood Education (Educational Science), 10(10), 25–30.

23.

Lee

C. F.

Tang

S. M.

(2022). Young children’s housework participation in Taiwan: Serial multiple mediations. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(23), 15448. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315448

24.

Lee

C. F.

Tang

S. M.

(2024). Can AI robot teaching improve children's performance in housework? A quasi-experimental study. Children-Basel, 11(11), 1330. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11111330

25.

Lerner

R. M.

Lerner

J. V.

Almerigi

Theokas

(2006). Dynamics of individual ←→ context relations in human development: A developmental systems perspective. In Lerner

R. M.

Lerner

J. V.

Almerigi

Theokas

(Eds.), Comprehensive handbook of personality and psychopathology: Personality and everyday functioning (pp. 23–43). Wiley.

26.

(2021). A study on the problems and countermeasures of parental labor education for 3-6 year-old children [Master's thesis, Hebei University].

27.

W. Y.

Xie

(2020). The influence of family background on educational expectations: A comparative study. Chinese Sociological Review, 52(3), 269–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2020.1738917

28.

Liu

Qiu

Luo

(2022). Exploring family educational involvement and social skills in Chinese preschoolers: The moderating role of parent-child relationship. Frontiers in Psychology, 4642, 911421. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.911421

29.

Liu

(2013). The role of paternal involvement in child rearing on preschool children's social skills. Psychological Development and Education, 29(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2013.01.002

30.

Lodder

G. M. A.

Goossens

Scholte

R. H. J.

Engels

R. C. M. E.

Verhagen

(2016). Adolescent loneliness and social skills: Agreement and discrepancies between self-, meta-, and peer-evaluations. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45(12), 2406–2416. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0461-y

31.

Marksteiner

Hettler

I. S.

Werne

Hayn

(2025). Effects of a social competence training for children on social competence and self-relevant factors. British Journal of Social Work, 55(6), 2835–2855. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaf075

32.

Marzalik

J. S.

(2016). Socioeconomic variation in children's chores and parental strategies for motivating participation [master's thesis. Roosevelt University].

33.

Mejía-Arauz

Correa-Chávez

Ohrt

U. K.

Aceves-Azuara

(2015). Collaborative work or individual chores: The role of family social organization in children’s learning to collaborate and develop initiative. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 49, 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2015.10.001

34.

Rende

(2015). The developmental significance of chores: Then and now. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 31(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbl.30009

35.

Rende

(2021). Chores: Why they still matter and how to engage youth. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 37(6), 3. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbl.30545

36.

Rogoff

(2014). Learning by observing and pitching in to family and community endeavors: An orientation. Human Development, 57(2-3), 69–81. https://doi.org/10.1159/000356757

37.

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. (2021). Family education promotion law of the People's Republic of China (Presidential Order No. 98). http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c30834/202110/8d266f0320b74e17b02cd43722eeb413.shtml.

38.

Tepper

D. L.

Howell

T. J.

Bennett

P. C.

(2022). Executive functions and household chores: Does engagement in chores predict children's cognition? Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 69(5), 585–598. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12822

39.

Waugh

Brownell

Pollock

(2015). Early socialization of prosocial behavior: Patterns in parents’ encouragement of toddlers’ helping in an everyday household task. Infant Behavior and Development, 39, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.12.010

40.

White

E. M.

DeBoer

M. D.

Scharf

R. J.

(2019). Associations between household chores and childhood self-competency. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 40(3), 176–182. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000637

41.

Yue

Y. P.

Huang

J. J.

Yuan

H. J.

Zhao

Y. F.

Lei

J. Y.

Fan

J. Q.

(2024). The mediating role of self-competence in the relationship between parental involvement and support and children's social skills: Evidence from China. Children and Youth Services Review, 161, 107641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107641

42.

Zehner

T. M.

Paes

T. M.

Devlin

B. L.

Geer

E. A.

Posada

Duncan

R. J.

Schmitt

S. A.

(2024). Social-Emotional competence as a predictor of early numeracy skills. Early Education and Development, 35(8), 1695–1711. 10.1080/10409289.2024.2360878.