Self‐Regulatory Development in Children from Chinese Immigrant Families: Evidence for Commonality and Specificity

Abstract

A central theme of acculturative specificity is the heterogeneity of the immigrant experience. This study integrated this application of the Specificity Principle with intergenerational transmission models of selfregulation and identified both common and specific pathways in the self-regulatory development of Chinese American children in immigrant families (N = 169, M age = 9.2 years). Consistent with intergenerational transmission models, results indicated associations between parents' and children's effortful control, with the mediation of these associations via authoritarian parenting. Parental education, family income, and children's bilingual proficiency were also uniquely associated with children's executive function and effortful control. Together, findings provide new directions for research with ethnic minority immigrant families, and underscore the utility of within-group approaches in advancing research on ethnic minority children's development.

Toward complementarity: Specificity and commonality in social‐emotional development

“…Moreover, the negative reactive, low regulated profile was associated with poorer socioemotional adjustment only for the subset of infants whose mothers endorsed low Anglo orientation or high Mexican orientation. These findings align with the emphasis that traditional Mexican culture places on the importance of values of respect and familism, and Mexican-origin parents' emphasis on socialemotional capacities that foster obedience, respect, and moral obligations (seeDavis et al, 2021) Chen et al (2021). showed specific intergenerational self-regulatory processes within an acculturative and socioeconomically diverse sample of Chinese American…”

“…First, there is a need to identify and account for the meaning that individuals attach to social-emotional development in a specific community and why (see Jukes et al, 2021;Lin et al, 2021). Next, a more nuanced understanding regarding how specific contexts contribute to specificities in social-emotional growth is warranted, acknowledging the heterogeneity both within specific groups (Chen et al, 2021;Lin et al, 2021) and across cultural frameworks (Oh et al, 2021;Rothenberg et al, 2021), as well as considering moderators of cultural effects on socialemotional development (Davidov et al, 2021). Indeed, the transferability of parenting interventions aimed at nurturing child development across contexts depends on how well such interventions (including their curriculums and assessment tools) are adapted to the local context (Jeong et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2021), as well as the extent to which bottom-up, community-based approaches (involving all stakeholders) are used to identify and prioritize the needs of a specific group (Abubakar et al, 2019;Speidel et al, 2021).…”

Executive functions, motivation, and children’s academic development in Côte d’Ivoire.

“…We found much larger associations of parental education than household income (approximately 2 times larger) with children’s EFs and achievement, providing evidence that in this context parental education may be a stronger measure of the types of household contexts that support self-regulation development. This is similar to a recent study of Chinese immigrant families in the United States demonstrating a significant effect of parental education, but not family income, on authoritative parenting and EFs (Chen et al, 2021). However, in the current study, parental education and household income were uniquely associated with both measures of EFs and literacy, suggesting that they each play a role in supporting children’s self-regulation and school success.…”

EFs and Motivation Uniquely Predict Children's Academic Development in CIV

“…This is similar to a recent study of Chinese immigrant families in the United States demonstrating a significant effect of parental education, but not family income, on authoritative parenting and EFs (Chen et al, 2021). However in the current study, parental education and NON-ACADEMIC SKILLS IN CÔTE D'IVOIRE 22 household income were unique and significant predictors of EFs and achievement, suggesting that they each play a role in supporting children's self-regulation and school success.…”