The Effects of Parental Education and Family Income on Mother–Child Relationships,Father–Child Relationships,and Family Environments in the People's Republic of China

Using a cross‐sectional design with 407 Chinese children aged 3–5 years and their parents, this study examined the effects of socioeconomic status, specifically parents' education and family income, on the children's mother–child relationships, father–child relationships, and the social environment in their families. The results indicated that income negatively predicted conflict in father–child relationships and positively predicted family active‐recreational environments. Income also positively predicted family cohesion among girls but not boys. Maternal education negatively predicted conflict in mother–child relationships and positively predicted closeness in mother–child and father–child relationships, family cohesion, and the intellectual‐cultural and active‐recreational environments in the family. Paternal education positively predicted family cohesion and intellectual‐cultural and active‐recreational environments. Income was found to partially mediate the effects of both maternal and paternal education on family active‐recreational environments. Findings are discussed in the frameworks of the family stress model and the family investment model.