Poster #54 - It Takes a Village – Exploring Shared Caregiving among Chinese Immigrants Raising Preschoolers during the “Dual-Pandemic”

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

“It takes a village to raise a child” – inspired by this popular saying, this study explored shared caregiving practices and culturally salient decisions Chinese heritage, low-income families have in nurturing preschool children’s home learning. In Chinese heritage families, the routine care and nurturing of young children often involve multiple individuals such as mothers, fathers, and grandparents. It is a practical and culturally-relevant arrangement (Da, 2003; Laughlin, 2013; Uttal, 1999) that may buffer the economic hardships and stress associated with immigration (Kiang et al., 2016; Turney & Kao, 2009). Within-group variations were evident among Chinese heritage families, such as heritage background, working/living experiences in the US, and parenting values that meaningfully shape each caregiver’s childrearing beliefs (Conn et al., 2013; Tu et al., 2019). This presentation shares a subset of findings from a larger qualitative study that interviewed pairs of Chinese heritage caregivers attending the same preschool-aged child. This presentation engages fellow researchers and educators to ponder the typical, daily interactions in shared caregiving, and the extent Chinese heritage caregivers’ coparenting dynamics shape children’s home learning during the “dual pandemic”(Brodie et al., 2021): the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Asian racism.

Twenty-seven primary caregivers (12 dyads and three individuals) representing 15 families were interviewed in Cantonese or Mandarin in 2021. Nine mother-father and six parent-grandparent caregiving arrangements were included. Multiperspectival interpretative phenomenological analysis (Larkin et al., 2019) was used to explore caregiver interviews in pairs, specifically about their meaning-making processes related to cultural orientations, childrearing routines and approaches, relationships with the co-parent, and children’s early learning.

Overall, findings suggested that Chinese heritage caregivers’ shared caregiving practices revolved around the well-being of the whole family and the focal child(ren). As a caregiving unit, they were resilient to the “dual pandemic” by leveraging resources within the family and modifying existing caregiving roles. In mother-father pairs, although the traditional gendered parenting roles persisted, participants described switching their roles when fathers’ financial provider roles were affected by the pandemic. This phenomenon suggested that traditional and gendered childrearing roles within Chinese immigrant families seemed less rigid than those reported by non-immigrants (Chuang & Su, 2009). In parent-grandparent pairs, although grandparents reported only following the parents’ childrearing practices, a closer look at their narratives and life stories revealed that Chinese immigrant grandparents’ childhood experiences, hardships in rural life, and transitions in the US informed their daily care for the young children. Findings provided evidence that grandparents also have their perspectives and experience in childrearing that is beyond the typical image of “grandparents feed, mothers teach” (S. Xiao, 2016).

This study combined the strengths of qualitative research, a multiple-informant design, and an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach to explore the meaning-making processes and cultural influences that are deeply embedded in Chinese heritage caregivers’ childrearing routines and coparenting practices. Findings can compel research, early interventions, and early childhood education programs to consider services and assessments that would align with Chinese heritage caregivers’ shared caregiving dynamics and their culturally, contextually, and developmentally driven childrearing beliefs and practices.

Author

• Lok-Wah Li, Boston Children’s Museum
  Presenting Author