Longitudinal Associations Between Non-Indigenous, Indigenous, and Immigrant Mothers’ Engagement and Children’s Socioemotional Development in Taiwan

• In Event: Examining familial and early developmental processes among ethnic majority and minority families in Asia

Abstract

Past research has suggested that children raised by mothers of minorities—either native ethnic minorities or immigrants—develop lower levels of socioemotional competence than those reared by mothers from the majority in societies (e.g., Galindo & Fuller, 2010). However, these findings have largely been drawn from Western populations; it remains unclear whether and how mothers’ social group membership may impact their children’s socioemotional development in Asian societies. We explored these questions in Taiwan, a relatively homogenous society consisting of a clear ethnic Chinese majority and two minorities, indigenous native Taiwanese and new immigrants from Mainland China. As minority parents often spend less time interacting with their children than majority parents do (Kim, 2009), we hypothesized that both indigenous native and new immigrant mothers might interact with children less frequently, and as a result, their children may later develop lower levels of socioemotional competence compared to those reared by Taiwanese Chinese mothers.

Using data from the Kids in Taiwan Database (Chang, 2019), which has collected longitudinal data on young children’s developmental processes in Taiwan, we investigated maternal engagement and children’s socioemotional competence at Time 1 (N = 2030, 988 girls; Mage = 2.99, SDage = 0.06), Time 2 (N = 1781, 867 girls; Mage = 4.00, SDage = 0.06), and Time 3 (N = 1745, 841 girls; Mage = 5.01, SDage = 0.06). Approximately 94% of the children were reared by Taiwanese Chinese mothers, 3% by indigenous native mothers, and the other 3% by new immigrant mothers. Table 1 describes the maternal engagement of the three groups of mothers and their children’s socioemotional development across ages 3 to 5 years.

We found that children’s socioemotional development was impacted by their mothers’ immigrant status, but not by maternal ethnicity. This difference can be explained by different levels of maternal engagement over years. Specifically, from ages 3 to 5 years, children’s socioemotional competence overall increased, B = 0.21, p < .001. During this period, children reared by new immigrant mothers scored lower than those reared by Taiwanese Chinese mothers, B = -0.22, p < .001; by contrast, there was no significant difference between children reared by indigenous versus Taiwanese Chinese mothers. Maternal engagement positively predicted children’s socioemotional competence across ages 3 to 5 years, B = 0.16, p < .001. A serial mediation analysis further showed that compared to new immigrant mothers, Taiwanese Chinese and indigenous mothers engaged more frequently with their children at Time 1, which positively predicted their later engagement with the children at Time 2, and then positively predicted their children’s socioemotional competence at Time 3 (Figure 1).

Our findings suggest that even in an Asian society with greater ethnic homogeneity, mothers’ social group membership can profoundly shape their children’s socioemotional development. Maternal engagement also appears to function as a mechanism for the different levels of socioemotional competence development in children. To conclude, support for mothers, especially those who are adjusting to a new environment themselves, is essential for them to support their children’s socioemotional growth in the early years.

Authors

• Shaocong Ma, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  Presenting Author

• Eva E. Chen, National Tsing Hua University