Reasons for Migration, Post-Migration Sociocultural Characteristics, and Parenting Styles of Chinese American Immigrant Families

Abstract

With the growing percentage of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. population, it is crucial to understand how pre-migration factors (such as reasons for migration) are related to the adjustment of families in the host country. The present study examined reasons for migration and their associations with post-migration sociocultural factors and parenting styles in a community-based sample of Chinese American immigrant families (N = 258) living in the San Francisco Bay Area. The parents’ self-reported reasons for migration included family reasons (55.1%, e.g., family reunification), betterment reasons (18.0%, e.g., better education and occupational opportunities), and both family and betterment reasons (26.9%). Those who migrated for betterment reasons reported significantly higher parental education and per capita income than the family reason group (p < 0.001) and significantly higher income than the combined reason group (p = 0.007). No significant group differences emerged in cultural orientations and parenting styles after controlling for socioeconomic factors. The findings suggested that Chinese immigrant families who migrated solely for better education and occupational opportunities had significantly higher post-migration socioeconomic status than other reason groups. These differences have relevance for programs and services for new immigrants, as families might need different types of support (e.g., socioeconomic vs. relational) depending on their motivations for migration and post-migration socioeconomic resources.

Reasons for migration, parental acculturation, and language: the case of Chinese American and Mexican American parents and dual language learners

“…The differences lay in that, besides family reasons, and educational and employment opportunities, these studies reported that a smaller number of Chinese families migrated to the U.S. for political refuge on the 1990s. In line with a recent study, we observed that joining family members in the U.S. was Chinese families’ main reason for migration ( Wang et al, 2023 ). Yet, Wang and colleagues investigated migration reasons among low-income (50%) and middle- to higher-income (50%) Chinese American families, whereas, in this study, we characterized the reasons for migration among low-income (100%) Chinese American and Mexican American families.…”

“…Parents reported their answers based on a list containing 10 reasons for migration (item #10 being “other,” where parents could specify other purposes or motivations). As done in a previous study using the same scale ( Wang et al, 2023 ) and to facilitate analysis and interpretation, participants’ answers were organized into three categories: (a) “family reasons” (e.g., joining family members in the U.S., getting married), (b) “betterment reasons” (e.g., leaving for political and/or personal problems, providing children with better education and opportunities, finding a better job, earning a better income), and (c) “multiple reasons” (a combination of “family” and “betterment” reasons as well as “other” reasons). Parents were asked to mark as many answers as applied to them.…”

“…However, there is a dearth of empirical studies investigating the reasons for migration among parents of young DLLs. A more recent study looked at Chinese immigrant parents of 1st- and 2nd-grade children living in the U.S. ( Wang et al, 2023 ). The results showed that parents’ main reasons for migration were to join family members in the U.S., to provide their children with better opportunities–including education–, and because a family member brought them to the country.…”

Exploring Parenting Styles Patterns and Children’s Socio-Emotional Skills

“…While our research on Hypotheses 3 challenges the assumption that parents' age and education are strong determinants of parenting patterns [108][109][110], it is essential to note that the existing literature suggests some weak associations. Therefore, it is crucial to interpret our findings with caution.…”

“…Aiming to define the predictive utility of the identified parental profiles, we also hypothesize that types of parenting profiles will display statistically significant differences in children's and adolescents' externalizing/internalizing behavior problems and prosocial behavior (H2). Finally, attempting to isolate personal and demographic characteristics that predict parental profiles, we expected that demographic factors such as parents age [107,108] and education [109,110] would be associated with children's and adolescents' externalizing/internalizing behavior problems and prosocial behavior profile membership (H3) and expected that younger and more educated parents would be more authoritative and less authoritarian.…”