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Poster #149 - Is That MY Job?: An International Exploration on Chinese Mothers’ and Fathers’ Perspectives on Parental Roles in Four Environments

Fri, March 22, 7:45 to 9:15am, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

The Chinese is one of the oldest and largest ethnic groups in the world. As of 2016, Chinese account for 1.38 billion people. Chinese families have been migrating globally. In 2011, about 11% of Canadian (CAN) immigrants were Chinese (Mainland China (CA), Hong Kong (HK), Taiwan (TW)), over 21% of the visible minority group. Unfortunately, the parenting research on Chinese families is scarce on the within-ethnic comparisons.

Within-ethnic comparisons are critical as China’s complex history includes several populations: Mainland China under the Communist government (PRC), Taiwan under the Nationalist government (ROC), and Hong Kong under the British rule. Taiwan and Hong Kong are considered autonomous political entities with their own government and socioeconomic system. Post-war Taiwan and Hong Kong restored their economy under the capitalist system meanwhile Mainland China underwent radical socialist movements.

The common factor among these Chinese societies has been Confucianism for over 2,000 years. Confucius defined parenting roles; fathers were the primary breadwinners, mothers were responsible for the household and raising of children (“strict father, warm mother”). Research on Chinese families and the influence of Confucian teachings on family dynamics and relationships is sparse. However, it is unclear how Confucianism, political systems, immigration, and other sociocultural contexts influence parenting roles.

This is the first study to explore parents’ perspectives on the parental roles of three-year-old children in four geolocations. With 256 semi-structured interviews, parents were individually asked about what their roles were in the families, and their spouses’. The families were from major cities in respective locations, middle-class, and well-educated (minimum of BA/BSc).

As seen in Tables 1 and 2, parents’ views on mothering and fathering roles were multidimensional and varied by gender and location. For fathering roles, a 2 (Gender) x 4 (Location) x 7 (Roles: Finances, Playmate, Caregiver, Chores, Disciplinarian, Educator/Trainer, Family supporter) repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant effects for Roles, Gender-Roles-Country. Specifically, finances (economic provider, financial manager) was the most mentioned (33% of responses) compared to the other roles (e.g., second highest, educator: 12%). Playmate and caregiver was discussed more often than doing chores or disciplining.

Both CAN parents stated roles of doing chores or being supportive of the family more than the other groups, being an educator more than CH and HK, and playmate more than TW. CH mentioned roles of playmate and disciplinarian more than TW, and TW viewed educator as a parental role more than HK. Generally, CH responses were similar with HK.

Comparing mothers’ and fathers’ responses on fathering roles, TW mothers emphasized fathers as a playmate more often whereas fathers viewed themselves more as educators/trainers. CAN mothers perceived their husbands more as caregivers than did fathers. HK fathers focused on their roles as family support (mediating conflicts, helping extended family) than did their partners. Gender, roles, and locations also varied for parents’ views on mothers’ roles in the family.

With the variations of families' sociocultural, socioeconomic status, immigrant backgrounds, researchers need to continually refine theoretical and methodological frameworks that will capture the nuances and complexities of families.

Authors