Perceived Racial Discrimination and Chinese American Mothers’ Authoritarian Parenting: A Moderated Mediation Model

• In Event: Parenting processes and child outcomes among Chinese families in three Western contexts

Abstract

The authoritarian parenting style is characterized by high demandingness and low responsiveness (Maccoby & Martin, 1983) and is consistently linked with negative child developmental outcomes (Kuppens & Ceulemans, 2019) across cultures (Pinquart & Kauser, 2018). Chinese American mothers tend to endorse higher levels of authoritarian parenting than mothers from other ethnic groups in the United States (Checa & Abundis-Gutierrez, 2018). However, little is known about the antecedents that contribute to Chinese American mothers’ authoritarian parenting. Perceived racial discrimination is a chronic contextual stressor that negatively impacts Chinese American mothers’ mental health (Hou et al., 2017), which may in turn, contribute to their increased engagement in authoritarian parenting over time (Yu et al., 2016). However, mothers’ behavioral acculturation (i.e., engagement in the cultural norms of the mainstream culture) and behavioral enculturation (i.e., engagement in the cultural norms of their heritage culture) may modulate the negative effect of racial discrimination on their psychological functioning, by influencing their sense of belonging to the larger society and their own ethnic groups (Alamilla et al., 2015) and their exposure and sensitivity to racial discrimination (Wang et al., 2019). Thus, the present study examined: (a) the mediating role of depressive symptoms in the association between Chinese American mothers’ perceived racial discrimination and their authoritarian parenting 6 months later, and (b) the moderating role of acculturation/enculturation in this association.
First-generation Chinese American mothers (N=143; Mage=38.04 years, SD=4.74) of preschoolers reported on their perceived racial discrimination (Miller et al., 2012; α=.87), behavioral acculturation (α=.76) and enculturation (α=.75; Chen & Lee, 1996), and depressive symptoms (Beck et al., 1996; α=.88) at Time 1(T1), and authoritarian parenting (Robinson et al., 2001) at T1(α=.79) and six months later at Time 2 (T2; α=.78).
Path analyses (see Figure 1) revealed that perceived racial discrimination at T1 was concurrently associated with Chinese American mothers’ higher levels of depressive symptoms, and in turn, higher levels of authoritarian parenting at T2. Furthermore, the association between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms was moderated by acculturation and enculturation (see Figure 2); specifically, the indirect association between racial discrimination and authoritarian parenting through depressive symptoms was only significant at low (ab=0.04, 95%CI[0.004, 0.092]) and mean (ab=0.02, 95%CI[0.001, 0.051]) levels of acculturation, and mean (ab=0.02, 95%CI[0.001, 0.051]) and high (ab=0.03, 95%CI[0.004, 0.082]) levels of enculturation.

Perceived racial discrimination predicted Chinese immigrant mothers’ authoritarian parenting six months later through increased depressive symptoms. Further, this indirect association was buffered by Chinese immigrant mothers’ behavioral acculturation to American culture and exacerbated by their behavioral enculturation to Chinese culture. Acculturation towards American culture may protect mothers’ mental health against racial discrimination by providing a better understanding and a greater sense of connectedness to the larger society (Alamilla et al., 2015). However, enculturation towards the Chinese culture may exacerbate the discrimination effect by increasing their sensitivity to racial discrimination and isolation from the mainstream culture (Downey & Feldman, 1996). These findings highlighted the importance of examining the complex interplay between cultural and contextual stressors and protective factors in understanding Chinese immigrant mothers’ parenting.

Authors

• Xiaoli Zong, University of Maryland - Baltimore County
  Presenting Author

• Huiguang Ren, University of Maryland - Baltimore County
  Non-Presenting Author

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

• Craig H Hart, Brigham Young University
  Non-Presenting Author