Specificity in Parenting Effects Within and Across Cultural Groups and Settings

• In Event: 1-090 - Specificity in Developmental Science: Illustrations from Species, Cultures, and Families

Integrative Statement

Immigrant parents occupy a unique parenting niche, which is influenced by their immigrant context, traditional parenting customs, acculturative experiences, and the parenting values of the larger mainstream culture. The interplay among these various dynamic forces makes understanding parenting in immigrant families and its effects on child development particularly complex. Focusing on Chinese and Korean immigrant families in the United States, I will present findings that support the need to examine specificity of relations between parental characteristics, experiences, and behaviors, and child adjustment outcomes. My presentation explores specificity in parenting processes via its: (a) unique effects (e.g., different forms of parenting), (b) differential effects on child outcomes (e.g., different indices of child adjustment), and (c) interactive effects (e.g., moderating roles of maternal acculturation, experiences with racism, psychological well-being, child characteristics). I will also argue for the significance of understanding parenting and developmental processes within groups and contexts. Findings from our program of research using quantitative and qualitative methodology illustrate culturally unique and shared processes. These findings can inform educators and practitioners why they should be more attuned to the myriad factors that impact specific parenting behaviors and specific child outcomes under specific conditions and in specific contexts, towards supporting healthy family functioning and development in children from immigrant families.

Author

• Charissa S. L. Cheah, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  Presenting Author