To examine how family size influences the effectiveness of a digital parenting intervention in Chinese families with preschoolers.
Approach:
Resource-based perspective: Explores the trade-off between the number of children and the level of investment per child, suggesting that larger families may dilute parental resources.
Family systems perspective: Considers how multiple children create additional relational subsystems that influence parenting practices and family dynamics.
Key Findings:
Larger families may show smaller improvements in child externalizing behaviors due to challenges in maintaining consistent parenting practices across multiple children.
Logistical and time constraints may reduce the intensity of intervention implementation in multichild households.
Mixed evidence exists regarding the impact of family size on parenting quality and stress, with some studies indicating no significant moderation by family size.
Interpretation:
Family size is often treated as a control variable in parenting interventions, which limits insights into how it affects intervention outcomes.
Limitations:
Limited and mixed evidence from previous studies on family size effects.
Interventions are typically designed to emphasize average treatment effects rather than variations by family size.
Conclusion:
Examining the role of family size in parenting interventions could provide valuable insights into intervention processes and outcomes.
