Longitudinal Relations Among Cultural Orientations, Self-Regulation, and Socioemotional Adjustment in Chinese American Immigrant Children

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Self-regulation enables children to regulate their emotions and navigate social relationships. Although empirical evidence links self-regulation to children’s adjustment outcomes both concurrently and longitudinally (Robson et al., 2020), research on these links in children from Chinese American immigrant families remains sparse. Moreover, few studies use multiple informants (parent, teacher, child) of children’s adjustment outcomes. Multiple informants may be especially important for children from immigrant backgrounds, considering how immediate cultural context (home vs. school) and cultural norms of behavior may be tied to the reporter. Specifically, family cultural orientation and associated expectations of behavior may shape children's self-regulation (Li Grining, 2012), although links between cultural orientation and self-regulation remain unexplored in extant literature.

The present study examines prospective relations between cultural orientations, self-regulation, and socioemotional adjustment in a sample of Chinese American immigrant children in a longitudinal study from early elementary school years (T1, 6-9 years, N=258) to middle elementary school years (T2, 9-11 years, N=238). Chinese American immigrant children are a rapidly growing population in the U.S., yet longitudinal research on their adjustment outcomes is limited. The first aim of the study is to investigate concurrent and longitudinal associations between children’s self-regulation and socioemotional adjustment. The second aim of the study is to examine longitudinal links between family cultural orientations (Chinese and American) and children’s self-regulation. Self-regulation was measured using a latent factor comprised of children’s performance on laboratory tasks, as well as parent and teacher questionnaires. Socioemotional adjustment was indexed by parent-, teacher-, and child-reports of internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and social competence. Conceived as separate dimensions, parent and child cultural orientations (toward Chinese and American cultures) were measured through parent-reported social relationships, media use, and language patterns.

Results showed that child self-regulation was concurrently and positively associated with parent- and teacher-reported socioemotional adjustment at both T1 and T2. Moreover, self-regulation at T1 positively predicted teacher-reported child adjustment at T2, controlling for T1 adjustment, child gender, and parent education. Regarding the links of cultural orientations to self-regulation, we found parent American cultural orientation at T1 positively predicted children’s self-regulation at T2 controlling for baseline self-regulation, parent education, and child gender. There were no significant interactions between parent and child cultural orientations in predicting self-regulation.

Our findings align with previous studies highlighting the importance of using multiple informants to measure socioemotional adjustment. The significant longitudinal link between self-regulation and teacher-reported adjustment suggests that self-regulation may be especially important in the structured setting of a classroom. The positive longitudinal link between American cultural orientation and self-regulation aligns with previous literature documenting positive outcomes associated with greater acculturation levels. Potential mechanisms worth further exploration include authoritative parenting practices and executive functions associated with bilingual proficiency.

Authors

• Christopher Louis Gys, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• Stephanie Haft, University of California - Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author

• Qing Zhou, University of California - Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author