Abstract:  With the implementation of the two-child policy in China, there has been an increasing concern about parenting in families with two children. However, there are no published Chinese studies about this area of research. This article provided a comprehensive review on the patterns, causes and consequences of parenting in families with two children. The patterns included parental differential treatment and mediation of sibling relationships. The factors that influenced parenting included experience about caregiving an older sibling, marriage quality, coparenting, and children’s characteristics. The parenting in families with two children may influence children’s psychological and behavioral development through parental differential treatment and mediation of sibling relationships. This article, based on the existing literature, presented a process model of parenting in families with two children. Last, it emphasized that future studies should value the indigenous meaning in conception of parenting and the roles of social changes on parenting.

Key words: family with two children, parenting, differential treatment, sibling relationships