Chinese Parenting and Parent-Child Interactions: Roles of Cultural Context

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Cultural-ecological perspectives have long emphasized the critical influences of culture on parenting, parent-child interactions, and child development, as well as how changes in or transitions across contexts (such as political, economic, social, and immigration) may impact parenting values, behaviors, and psychology. Yet, more research is needed on how parental beliefs, goals, and practices are shaped, organized, and guided by shared cultural values and norms as well as the contextual changes within Chinese and Chinese American families. The proposed symposium includes four papers utilizes a wide range of methods to advance understanding on how cultural contexts, as well as changes across cultural contexts, are linked to parental goals, practices, and developmental outcomes in Chinese and Chinese American families.
Paper 1 investigates Chinese immigrant mothers’ use of psychological control and how it may be associated with their own dimensions (mainstream and heritage) and domains (behavioral and psychological) of acculturation. Paper 2 examines on Chinese parents’ child-centered beliefs and behaviors during rapid economic and social changes in China, as perceived by their college aged children. Paper 3 explores the role Chinese American mothers’ cultural values (e.g., collectivism, familism) have in the association between mother-initiated behaviors and children’s self-regulation. Paper 4 uncovers the differential associations between mothers’ and fathers’ emotion socialization practices and adjustment outcomes in contemporary China. Collectively, this symposium builds knowledge and informs the work of practitioners who work with Chinese and Chinese American families across cultural, geographical, and social contexts.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Yuan Zhang, Michigan State University

Individual Presentations

• Examining the Association Between Acculturation and Parental Psychological Control in Chinese Immigrant Mothers - Presenting Author: Yuan Zhang, Michigan State University; Linda C. Halgunseth, Michigan State University; Preston A Britner, University of Connecticut; Eric Loken, University of Connecticut

• Child-centeredness in Collectivist Culture: Reflections of College Students from Chinese Urban Only-child Families - Presenting Author: Jiayi Liu, Michigan State University; Qi Huang, Michigan State University; Hye-Jin Park, Michigan State University; Desiree B Qin, Michigan State University

• Relations of Cultural Values and Parenting to Child Self-Regulation in Chinese American Families - Presenting Author: Keye Xu, University of California - Los Angeles; Jennie K Grammer, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

• Maternal and Paternal Emotion Socialization Practices and Chinese Adolescent Emotional Adjustment - Presenting Author: Lixian Cui, NYU Shanghai; Meng-Run Zhang, New York University Shanghai; Niobe Way, New York University; Guangzhen Zhang, Southeast University; Xinyin Chen, University of Pennsylvania; Sumie Okazaki, New York University; Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University