The goals of this study were: (a) to examine authoritative parenting style among Chinese immigrant mothers of young children, (b) to test the mediational mechanism between authoritative parenting style and children’s outcomes; and (c) to evaluate 3 predictors of authoritative parenting style (psychological well-being, perceived support in the parenting role, parenting stress). Participants included 85 Chinese immigrant mothers and their preschool children. Mothers reported on their parenting style, psychological well-being, perceived parenting support and stress, and children’s hyperactivity/attention. Teacher ratings of child adjustment were also obtained. Results revealed that Chinese immigrant mothers of preschoolers strongly endorsed the authoritative parenting style. Moreover, authoritative parenting predicted increased children’s behavioral/attention regulation abilities (lower hyperactivity/inattention), which then predicted decreased teacher rated child difficulties. Finally, mothers with greater psychological well-being or parenting support engaged in more authoritative parenting, but only under conditions of low parenting stress. Neither well-being nor parenting support predicted authoritative parenting when parenting hassles were high. Findings were discussed in light of cultural- and immigration-related issues facing immigrant Chinese mothers of young children.

Despite its implications for positive youth development, factors and processes that promote civic engagment are critically understudied, particularly among Muslim American adolescents for whom opportunities for civic engagement could be hindered by Islamophobia and hate crimes. Prior work has proposed that parents can strengthen adolescents' group belonging and motivate their civic engagement, but this mediating link has not been empirically tested. Moreover, parents' religious socialization and adolescents' religious identity remain understudied, especially with respect to possible daily fluctuations. We used experience sampling methods to: (1) explore momentary fluctuations and temporal relations between two dimensions of Muslim American adolescents' religious identity (i.e., private regard and centrality) over the course of 14 days (Phase 2); and (2) examine if Muslim American adolescents' momentary religious identity (Phase 2) mediated associations between their stable perceptions of maternal religious socialization (Phase 1) and subsequent civic engagement (Phase 3). Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling revealed positive autoregressive and cross-lagged relations between religious private regard and centrality. Moreover, adolescents' momentary religious identities differentially mediated the associations between maternal religious socialization and civic attitudes and behaviors, suggesting specificity in these developmental processes. Our findings have important implications for programs and policies to support the self-empowerment and positive development of Muslim American adolescents.

Despite increasing anti-Muslim sentiments, the implications of religious discrimination for Muslim-American adolescents' well-being remain understudied. Drawing on the rejection identification and disidentification models, we examined the mediating role of multiple group identities (i.e., religious and national) in the cross-sectional associations between individual-level religious discrimination and internalizing and externalizing problems among 13-to 18-year-old (M = 16.7 years, SD = 1.6) Muslim-American adolescents with immigrant backgrounds. Moreover, building on the attributional ambiguity perspective, we examined the moderating role of group-level religious discrimination in the form of Islamophobia. Religious identity did not mediate the relations between individual-level discrimination and internalizing and externalizing problems, and these relations did not depend on youths' perceptions of Islamophobia. However, individual-level discrimination was associated with American identity, depending on perceptions of Islamophobia. In turn, adolescents' Muslim and American identities were linked to less internalizing and externalizing problems. Implications of our findings for the development of programs and policies are discussed.

The present research used the cluster analysis method to examine the acculturation of immigrant Chinese mothers (ICMs), and the demographic characteristics and psychological functioning associated with each acculturation style. The sample was comprised of 83 first-generation ICMs of preschool children residing in Maryland, Unites States (US). Cluster analysis revealed four acculturation styles: psychologically-behaviorally integrated; psychologically-behaviorally assimilated; psychologically-behaviorally undifferentiated; and psychologically-behaviorally separated. Assimilated mothers were the youngest at immigration and had resided in the US for the longest time. Separated mothers were older at immigration, resided in the US for a shorter time, were less educated, and had lower psychological functioning than mothers in the other clusters. However, there were no differences in demographic characteristics and psychological functioning between psychologically-behaviorally integrated and psychologically-behaviorally undifferentiated clusters. The importance of simultaneously assessing various cultural orientations and components of acculturation was highlighted.

A person-centered examination of acculturation and psychological functioning among Chinese and Korean immigrant mothers in the United States. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.