Peer-reviewed article
Optimizing the Person-Environment Fit in community childcare and parenting support systems: a pathway to improved wellbeing for children and parents.
Geng J, Zeng P, Li J, Xu N, Wei C et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This research examines how community environments affect the wellbeing of children and parents in Tianjin, China. The study uses Person-Environment Fit Theory to analyze the relationship between community childcare systems and the needs of families. Researchers surveyed children and parents in one district to identify which environmental features most support family wellbeing. The findings show that community systems do meaningfully correlate with how well children and parents' needs are met, though different features contribute differently.
Key points
- There is a significant positive correlation between fulfillment of childcare and parenting needs and community environmental systems
- Different environmental dimensions contribute to varying degrees to need satisfaction
- The research extends Person-Environment Fit Theory to the parenting context
- The study was conducted in Heping District, Tianjin, China using questionnaire surveys with both children and parents
- The research aims to inform development of more targeted community childcare and parenting support systems
Limitations
This study is descriptive and correlational rather than causal; it does not test whether specific interventions improve outcomes. The research is limited to one district in one Chinese city, so findings may not generalize to other communities or countries.
Abstract
With societal advancement, the increasing burden of childcare and parenting has significantly impacted the quality of life and mental wellbeing of both children and parents, posing serious challenges to family stability and sustainable social development. As the primary living environment for children and parents, communities play a crucial role in meeting their daily needs. However, existing research largely proposes generalized child- and parent-friendly strategies at the urban scale, with limited attention paid to the development of targeted community-level childcare and parenting support environments. Grounded in Person-Environment (P-E) Fit Theory, this research develops an applied analytical framework for a Community Childcare and Parenting Support System (CCPSS). It aims to examine the associations between community environmental subsystems and the satisfaction of multi-level needs among children and parents, in order to enhance their wellbeing. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the communities within Heping District, Tianjin, China, collecting data from both children and parents. Pearson correlation analysis and random forest-based importance ranking were used to examine the associations and relative contributions of different community environmental subsystems to the need satisfaction levels of children and parents. The results indicate a significant positive correlation between the fulfillment of childcare and parenting needs and community environmental systems, with different environmental dimensions contributing to varying degrees. This research extends the application of P-E Fit Theory to the parenting context and provides theoretical and empirical evidence to inform the development of more targeted CCPSS at the community level.