Chinese American parents’ acculturation and enculturation, bicultural management difficulty, depressive symptoms, and parenting.

Abstract

This study examined whether Chinese American parents’ acculturation and enculturation were related to parenting practices (punitive parenting, democratic child participation, and inductive reasoning) indirectly through the mediation of parents’ bicultural management difficulty and parental depressed mood. Data came from a two-wave study of Chinese American families in Northern California. Mothers and fathers were assessed when their children were in early adolescence and then again in middle adolescence (407 mothers and 381 fathers at Wave 1; 308 mothers and 281 fathers at Wave 2). For both waves, we examined cross-sectional models encompassing both direct and indirect links from parental cultural orientations to parenting practices. We also used individual fixed-effects techniques to account for selection bias in testing model relationships at Wave 2. At Wave 1, via bicultural management difficulty and depressive symptoms, American orientation was related to less punitive parenting and more inductive reasoning for both parents, and Chinese orientation was related to more punitive parenting and less inductive reasoning for fathers. The findings indicate that bicultural management difficulty and parental depressed mood are important mechanisms to be considered when studying the relation between Chinese American parents’ acculturation/enculturation and parenting.

Parent–Child Acculturation Profiles as Predictors of Chinese American Adolescents’ Academic Trajectories

“…Results demonstrate that having a father with a Chinese profile had a negative effect on adolescents’ GPA trajectories. This is consistent with prior work on acculturation and parenting, which indicates that a lack of involvement with the mainstream American culture may make it difficult for parents to be involved in the educational system (Jeonga & Acock, 2014; Turney & Kao, 2009); acculturation difficulties may also engender stress, hindering parents’ ability to support their children’s school work (Costigan & Koryzma, 2011; Kim, Shen, Huang, Wang, & Orozco-Lapray, in press). Interestingly, parental Chinese-oriented acculturation profiles had a negative impact on adolescents’ GPA trajectories only in the case of fathers.…”

“…Given their traditional role as the breadwinner and head of the family (Roer-Strier, Strier, Este, Shimoni, & Clark, 2005), fathers with a Chinese profile may experience more adaptation stress compared to those with an American or Bicultural profile. This stress may compromise fathers’ ability to fulfill their parenting roles (Kim et al, in press), which may explain the faster decrease in GPAs observed among adolescents with Chinese-profile fathers.…”

Annual review of Asian American Psychology, 2014.

“…S. Kang et al, 2014), cultural orientations (e.g., S. H. Chen, M. Hua, et al, 2014; S. Y. Kim, Shen, Huang, Wang, & Orozco-Lapray, 2014), and acculturation profiles (e.g., S.…”

Impact of youth cultural orientation on perception of family process and development among Korean Americans.

“…Empirical findings on the relations between cultural orientations and family processes have largely focused on the parent-child acculturation gap (but not cultural orientations per se) and its impact on relationships, typically parent-child conflict (e.g., Choi et al, 2008; Dinh & Nguyen, 2006; Farver, Narang, & Bhada, 2002; Lau et al, 2005; Ying & Han, 2007) or parenting practices (e.g., S. Y. Kim, Shen, Huang, Wang, & Orozco-Lapray, 2014).…”