Acculturation and Educational Involvement Among Chinese Immigrant Parents: The Mediating Role of Emotional Well-Being

• In Event: Social and Cultural Contexts of Education and Mental Health: Chinese Migrant Families and Immigrant Families

Abstract

Chinese immigrant parents in the U.S. undergo an acculturation process during which they acquire English and American culture while maintaining Chinese language and culture. Research has focused on the influence of mainstream acquisition on their educational involvement (Antony-Newman, 2019), whereas less is known about the impact of heritage maintenance. Acculturation also affects parents’ emotional adjustment (Berry, 2006), and parents with emotional challenges are less responsive to children’s educational needs (Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2020). However, no research has investigated the mediating effect of emotional well-being in the relationship between parental acculturation and educational involvement. Grounded in the acculturation model (Berry, 2006), this study examined how mainstream acquisition and heritage maintenance impacted parental life satisfaction and depression, which in turn influenced school-, home-, and community-based involvement among Chinese immigrant parents.
In this quantitative study (see Table 1 for variables), 250 Chinese immigrant parents were recruited in New York City Chinatowns using a purposively convenience sampling method (see Table 1). Parental English and Chinese proficiency were measured using six items from the General Ethnicity Questionnaire (Tsai et al., 2000), αs = .90 -.97. American cultural acquisition and Chinese cultural maintenance were measured by the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (Ryder et al., 2000), αs = .85. Life satisfaction was assessed using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985), α = .89. Depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (Andresen et al., 1994), α = .82. School, home, and community involvement were measured by items adapted from the Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and 2002 and items developed for this study, αs =.74 - .85.
As shown in Figure 1, mediation analysis showed that first, school involvement was directly associated with parental American cultural acquisition (β = .20, p = .008) and depression (β = -.16, p = .032). However, neither life satisfaction nor depression mediated the relationship between acculturation and school involvement. Second, although home involvement was not directly associated with any aspects of acculturation (ps > .05), parental English proficiency has a significant indirect effect on home involvement through life satisfaction and depression (β = .06, p = .040, 95% CI [.01, .11]). Third, community involvement was directly associated with parental American cultural acquisition (β = .21, p = .008), Chinese proficiency (β = .16, p = .023), and depression (β = -.18, p = .008). Furthermore, parental American cultural acquisition had a significant indirect effect on community involvement through life satisfaction and depression (β = .05, p = .035, 95% CI [.01, .09]). Specifically, American cultural acquisition had a significant indirect effect on community involvement through depression (β = .04, p = .032, 95% CI [.01, .08]). The model had a good fit, χ2(14) = 19.34, p = .152, RMSEA = .04, CFI = .99, SRMR = .03.
This study revealed that parental acculturation, emotional well-being, and educational involvement are intertwined. It contributes to a holistic understanding of factors that impact parental involvement among Chinese immigrant parents at the individual, home, school, community, and sociocultural levels.

Authors

• Xinwei Zhang, Yale University
  Presenting Author

• Peggy A. Kong, Drexel University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chen Chen, Nanjing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author