Jenny Yau

Conceptions of Moral, Social-Conventional, and Personal Events Among Chinese Preschoolers in Hong Kong

Sixty-one Chinese preschoolers from Hong Kong at 2 ages (Ms = 4.36 and 6.00 years) were interviewed about familiar moral, social-conventional, and personal events. Children treated personal events as distinct from moral obligations and conventional regulations. Children judged the child as deciding personal issues, based on personal choice justifications, whereas children judged parents as deciding moral and conventional issues. With age, children granted increased decision-making power to the child. In contrast, children viewed moral transgressions as more serious, generalizably wrong, and wrong independent of authority than other events, based on welfare and fairness. Punishment-avoidance justifications for conventional events decreased with age, whereas conventional justifications increased. Young Chinese preschool children make increasingly differentiated judgments about their social world.

Adolescent-Parent Conflict in Married and Divorced Families.

This article examined adolescent-parent conflict in 28 divorced, unremarried mother-custody families and 66 two-parent, married families with 6th-1 1th graders. Married mothers of early adolescents generated more conflicts than did divorced mothers of early adolescents and married mothers of midadolescents, and adolescents from married families rated conflicts as more serious than did adolescents from divorded families. Early adolescents from married families appealed to maintaining personal jurisdiction more when justifying conflicts and were rated as having more positive communication than early adolescents from divorced families. However, affective constraining was greater among midadolescents from married families than from divorded families

Adolescent-Parent conflict in Hong Kong and Shenzhen: A comparison of youth in two cultural contexts

This study examined adolescent–parent conflict among 188 5th-, 7th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade Chinese adolescents, 93 from Hong Kong and 95 from Shenzhen, PRC. Individually interviewed Chinese adolescents reported disagreements with parents over everyday issues, primarily choice of activities, schoolwork, interpersonal relationships, and chores. Conflicts were relatively few in number, moderate in frequency, and mild in intensity, and across contexts, conflicts were more intense in early adolescence (5th and 7th grades) than in late adolescence (12th grade). There were more conflicts over chores and interpersonal relationships in Hong Kong than in Shenzhen and more conflicts over schoolwork in Shenzhen than in Hong Kong, particularly among 7th and 12th graders. As expected, adolescents primarily justified conflicts, particularly conflicts over choice of activities and homework, by appealing to personal jurisdiction, and across contexts, personal reasoning increased with age. Conflicts were resolved primarily by giving in to parents, although adolescents desired more autonomy in decision making than they reported having. Although adolescent–parent conflict among Chinese youth appears to reflect the development of adolescent autonomy, culturally specific processes influence its expression.

Disclosure to Parents About Everyday Activities Among American Adolescents From Mexican, Chinese, and European Backgrounds

Disclosure to parents and reasons for not disclosing different activities were examined in 489 Chinese, Mexican, and European American adolescents (M = 16.37 years, SD = 0.77). With generational status controlled, Chinese American adolescents disclosed less to mothers about personal and multifaceted activities than European Americans and less about personal feelings than other youth, primarily because these acts were considered personal, not harmful, or because parents would not listen or understand. Disclosure regarding prudential behavior was lower among Mexican American than among European American adolescents, primarily due to concerns with parental disapproval. Multigroup path analyses indicated that greater closeness to parents is associated with more disclosure for all youth and activities; associations between family obligation and disclosure varied by domain and ethnicity.

How much do I tell thee? Strategies for managing information to parents among American adolescents from Chinese, Mexican, and European backgrounds.

Strategies for managing information about activities to parents, including partial disclosure, avoidance, lying, and full disclosure, were examined in 479 American adolescents (M = 16.38 years, SD = 0.77) varying in generational status and from Mexican, Chinese, and European backgrounds. Information management strategies for personal, prudential, and overlapping (multifaceted) activities as defined within social domain theory were examined. With age, parental education, and generational status controlled, Chinese American adolescents partially disclosed more to mothers about personal and multifaceted activities than did Mexican American adolescents and more to fathers about personal activities than did European American teens. In contrast, European and Mexican American adolescents fully disclosed more to mothers about personal activities than did Chinese-origin adolescents. Strategies varied by generation among Chinese American youth; second-generation adolescents avoided discussing activities with parents more than did immigrants. Adolescents who fully disclosed about all activities and lied less about multifaceted and personal activities reported stronger endorsement of obligations to assist their families, more trust in parents, and less problem behavior. More depressed mood was associated with more lying about personal activities.

Papel del apoyo parental autónomo percibido, en el rendimiento académico de adolescentes asiáticos y latinoamericanos

Introduction. Driven by an overarching conceptual framework adapted from SelfDetermination Theory, this study tested the direct and indirect effects of perceived parental academic autonomy support vs. academic planning control on the interrelated variables of adolescents’ self-esteem, academic motivation, and academic achievement, using multisample structural equation modeling. Method. A sample of 271 Asian American and 218 Latino American high school students were recruited in Southern California to respond to a questionnaire composed of a battery of adapted and self-constructed scales. Results. In the Asian American sample, perceived parental academic autonomy support had significant direct positive effects on academic achievement, self-esteem, academic motivation, and indirect effects on academic motivation mediated by self-esteem, while perceived parental academic planning control had direct negative effects on self-esteem and academic achievement. However, in the Latino American sample, perceived parental academic autonomy support had positive indirect effects on academic achievement mediated by academic motivation and self-esteem, and perceived academic planning control had negative direct effects on both self-esteem and academic motivation. Discussion and Conclusion. Plausible explanations for the different pathways in the two cultural groups were presented from the cultural perspectives. The potentiality of using parental academic autonomy support as a predictor for academic achievement was also discussed.

Christians in Higher Education: Investigating the Perceptions of Intellectual Diversity Among Evangelical Undergraduates at Elite Public Universities in Southern California

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) in 2005 defined intellectual diversity as “the foundation of a learning environment that exposes students to a variety of political, ideological, and other perspectives” (p. 1). Although research has consistently found the professorate ideologically and politically left of center, many scholars today argue that the claim of ideological or intellectual orthodoxy on campus is largely tendentious. This study expands on research on intellectual diversity by focusing on evangelical undergraduate students attending elite institutions in southern California. The findings demonstrate that a significant correlation exists between students’ religious/political beliefs and perceptions of professor discrimination and bias, suggesting students’ perceptions of intellectual diversity are related to their values and beliefs. Implications of study are framed via Warren Nords notions of secularization.

Mexican American Mothers’ Conceptualization of Autonomy Support and Psychological Control in the Context of Cultural Values

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explored the intertwining relationships among the concepts of parental autonomy support, parental control, and cultural values for Mexican American families. The study was guided by the following questions: (1) What elements of parental autonomy support are identified in Mexican American parents’ involvement in their children’s academic performance? (2) How do Mexican American parents conceptualize “autonomy support” and “parental control”? Sixteen Mexican American mothers expressed their own goals and strategies for home-based parental involvement to support their adolescents’ academic performance, and responded to the prototypes of autonomy support parenting and use of psychological control. Four themes emerged from the data to explain the participants’ practice: (1) Explain the expectations for behavioral and academic pursuit through persistent “telling” and “reminding”; (2) Respond to children’s feelings from parents’ perspectives; (3) Encourage with provisions, praises, and criticisms; and (4) Allow choices upon trust in child’s sense of responsibility. Discussion is focused on how Mexican-American mothers’ conceptualization of “autonomy support” and “parental control” is influenced by the cultural values of educación and respeto. Culturally appropriate autonomy support training is suggested for effective intervention programs for Mexican-American parents.

Adolescent Nondisclosure in Cultural Context Voices of Chinese American Adolescents and Parents

This qualitative study explored second-generation Chinese American adolescents’ nondisclosure to parents on the basis of their experiences in daily interactions. The research questions were as follows: (a) What role does adolescents’ nondisclosure play in parent-adolescent relationships in second-generation Chinese American families? (b) How do factors of adolescent nondisclosure interplay with the cultural context? In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 16 adolescents (6 boys and 10 girls, average age 15) and 11 immigrant parents in a large urban area in the Western United States. The principal theme of the findings shows nondisclosure as an adaptive strategy to pursue autonomy in harmony with parental regulation. Findings are interpreted in light of cultural influences. These findings suggest that Chinese American parents need to make adaptations in the way of their parental control and should focus more on adolescents’ current interests.