Ruth K. Chao

Extending Research on the Consequences of Parenting Style for Chinese Americans and European Americans

This study examined the effects of parent-adolescent relationships on school performance to provide a clearer understanding of why authoritative parenting does not have as beneficial effects for Asian Americans as it does for European Americans. Over 500 adolescents of Chinese- (148 first and 176 second generation) and European-descent (208 primarily third generation or more) families from seven different high schools completed measures of (1) parenting style, (2) parent-adolescent closeness (cohesion subscale from the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Environment Scales II and relationship satisfaction), and (3) school performance. Positive effects of both authoritative parenting and relationship closeness on school performance were found for European Americans and, to some extent, second-generation Chinese, but not first-generation Chinese. These effects were also stronger for European Americans than first-generation Chinese. Through examination of the mediating role of parent-adolescent relationships, this study also found that among European American families, the beneficial effects of authoritative parenting are explained through relationship closeness.

The Parenting of Immigrant Chinese and European American Mothers: Relations Between Parenting Styles, Socialization Goals, and Parental Practices

Abstract Clarification of the cultural meaning of parenting for immigrant Chinese was determined, focusing on parenting style as well as socialization goals and practices. Although the cultural relevance of an alternative parenting style, training, has been demonstrated for Chinese parents, the broader-level cultural values or socialization goals and parental practices that may be related to training have not been examined. Immigrant Chinese n = 95 and European American n = 52 mothers of children in the first through third grades completed measures of Baumrinds parenting styles and Chaos training items, in addition to measures of socialization goals and practices (parental involvement in school). This study found that Chinese mothers endorsed the training, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles, while also endorsing socialization goals for filial piety and structural parental involvement practices in comparison with European American mothers. However, additional analyses for examining ethnic group differences in the associations between training and the other parenting scales, these associations were similar for immigrant Chinese and European American mothers.

Intergenerational cultural conflicts in norms of parental warmth among Chinese American immigrants

This study examines the intergenerational cultural conflict experienced by Chinese adolescents from immigrant families, and its consequences for their adjustment. Intergenerational cultural conflict is assessed as the mismatch between adolescents’ ideals and perceptions of parental warmth. The extent and consequences of such mismatches for these youth are also compared to European American adolescents—who likely did not experience such conflict. One hundred and eighty-four Chinese American (60 first- and 124 second-generation) and 80 European American adolescents completed measures of (1) parental warmth (the acceptance-rejection subscale of the Childrens Report on Parent Behavior Inventory), and (2) psychological adjustment. Chinese American adolescents’ ideals exceeded their perceptions of parents’ warmth to a greater degree than they did for European American adolescents. Moreover, such discrepancies were related to greater adjustment problems for Chinese American adolescents. Although only a small proportion of adolescents reported that parents were warmer than they desired, this excessive warmth had more positive consequences for Chinese American than European American adolescents.

Heritage Language Fluency, Ethnic Identity, and School Effort of Immigrant Chinese and Mexican Adolescents

The assumption that heritage language fluency is an essential component of ethnic identity, and that both factors are important predictors of school effort, was tested across two ethnic groups spanning multiple generations of immigrants. The sample consisted of 207 immigrant Chinese (first- and second-generation) and 354 Mexican (first-, second-, and third-generation) adolescents. The findings demonstrate that heritage language fluency is an important component of ethnic identity for second-generation Mexican adolescents, but not for second-generation Chinese adolescents. Thus, for this latter group, it may not be appropriate to use identity measures that assess heritage language fluency as a part of the general dimension of ethnic identity. The findings also show that higher reading and writing skills in Spanish are significant predictors of school effort for all three generations of Mexican adolescents; in addition, higher ethnic identity exploration is related to the school effort of second-generation Mexican adolescents.

Beyond Socioeconomics: Explaining Ethnic Group Differences in Parenting Through Cultural and Immigration Processes

This study examined both socioeconomic and cultural factors in explaining ethnic differences in monitoring, behavioral control, and warmth—part of a series of coordinated studies presented in this special issue. Socioeconomic variables included mothers and fathers educational levels, employment status, home ownership, number of siblings in the household, and single parent status. Cultural factors included nationality or ethnicity, immigrant status of child, mothers/fathers age of arrival in the United States, mothers/fathers English language use with the child, childs native fluency, and cultural values for independence and interdependence. The sample consisted of 591 European American, 123 African American, 1,614 Asian American, and 597 Latino students in the ninth grade. All the ethnic minority groups were higher than European Americans on behavioral control, and Latinos were also higher than European Americans on monitoring. However, European Americans were higher on parental warmth than Asian Americans and African Americans. These ethnic group differences primarily remained even after controlling for the socioeconomic factors. Finally, in analyses looking within the Asian and Latino groups, differences in parenting were found within both groups due to nationality or ethnicity, youths fluency in the native language, and cultural values of interdependence, although values of independence were also related to the parenting of Asian Americans.

Excavating Culture: Disentangling Ethnic Differences From Contextual Influences in Parenting

Historically, much of the research on parenting has not disentangled the influences of race/ethnicity, SES, and culture on family functioning and the development of children and adolescents. This special issue addresses this gap by disentangling ethnic differences in parenting behaviors from their contextual influences, thereby deepening our understanding of parenting processes in diverse families. Six members of the Parenting Section of the Study Group on Race, Culture, and Ethnicity (SGRCE) introduce and implement a novel approach toward understanding this question. The goal of this project is to study culturally related processes and the degree to which they predict parenting. An iterative process was employed to delineate the main parenting constructs (warmth, psychological and behavioral control, monitoring, communication, and self-efficacy), cultural processes, and contextual influences, and to coordinate a data analytic plan utilizing individual datasets with diverse samples to answer the research questions.

Excavating culture: Summary of results

This is a companion paper to the seven articles also published in this special issue of Applied Developmental Science. This paper summarizes and discusses the results from common analyses that were conducted on different datasets. The common analyses were designed to disentangle contextual and ethnic influences on parenting. Initial ethnic group differences were found in many of the datasets with multiple ethnic groups. Although certain ethnic group differences were explained by contextual influences, some ethnic group differences remained after contextual influences were controlled. Follow-up analyses with datasets containing cultural variables revealed within group differences in the degree to which ethnic differences in parenting may be accounted for by contextual factors versus culturally-specific processes. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed and future directions are offered.

Measurement invariance of language brokering extent and attitudes in linguistic minority adolescents: Item response theory analyses.

Objective: Using item response theory, we sought to evaluate measurement invariance of language brokering extent and attitudes in 3 linguistic minority groups of adolescents. Method: The sample included 765 (302 Chinese American, 327 Korean American, and 136 Mexican American; 57% females) ninth graders from immigrant families. Results: Differential item functioning was detected for several items, and we retained items with equivalent parameters across 3 groups. The final items showed adequate internal consistency reliability and criterion validity. Conclusion: The refined scale is cross-ethnically invariant and appropriate for use with Chinese-American, Korean-American, and Mexican-American adolescents to compare their language brokering experiences.

Parent–adolescent relationships among Chinese immigrant families: An indigenous concept of qin.

This study investigated cultural meanings of positive Chinese parent–child relationships through exploration of an indigenous concept, qin, as experienced by Chinese American adolescents of immigrant parents. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 first-generation and second-generation Chinese American high school students of immigrant parents, focusing on adolescents’ descriptions of the meaning of qin and parental behaviors that foster this quality. According to the Chinese American adolescents who were interviewed, being qin with parents was characterized as closeness to parents and a general sense of togetherness and harmony; showing parents their love through respect, obedience, academic effort, and appreciation; and open communication with the parents, particularly about school. This relationship is primarily fostered by parental devotion and sacrifice, particularly for the child’s education, future opportunities, success, and needs. The results highlight the role of child reciprocation of love and devotion for the parents in a qin relationship.