Poster #121 - Validation of Low-Income Chinese Immigrant Parents’ Play Belief Behaviors and Parental Assessment of Peer Play

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Methods, History, Theory

Integrative Statement

Migration is a stressful event for the entire family (Ren & Wyver, 2014). Chinese immigrants, who are now the largest single group of arrivals each year into the US (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015), left their home country to provide better resources and experiences for their children, including optimal educational support (Zhou, 2009). Previous research reveals that Chinese parents’ focus on academic achievement has often overshadowed their children’s social-emotional development, a relatively neglected area of investigation within this group. Furthermore, research suggests that Chinese and western views differ in relation to children’s social-emotional performances, leading to dissimilar interpretations and expectations about effective communication between Chinese parents and teachers (Guo & Mohan, 2008).

During early childhood, parents’ beliefs appear to play a significant role in children’s development. The home environment and activities, where parents have control, are generally consistent with parental beliefs; thus, immigrant children who experience different activities at home (where activities reflect their parents’ beliefs) and school (where activities follow a prototypical American preschool curriculum) may subsequently experience difficulties in adapting to the new culture in the classroom (Crosnoe et al., 2016). Little is known about the social behaviors of Chinese immigrant preschool children, as well as parents’ beliefs on their children’s social development. Thus, culturally and linguistically appropriate measures are essential to evaluate children’s social-psychological needs, which can guide teachers to establish better strategies and interventions so that maladjustment can be reduced and competence can be promoted (Ren & Wyver, 2014). However, currently there is no valid measure for Chinese immigrant preschool children that can accurately assess interpersonal competence and behavior difficulties. Thus, the purpose of this project examine the validity of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale Parent report (Fantuzzo, Mendez, & Tighe, 1998) and the Parent Play Belief Scale (Fogle & Mendez, 2006). The PIPPS is a 32-item measure that comprises three dimensions: Play Interaction, Play Disruption, and Play Disconnection and the PPBS is a 25-item measure that comprises two dimensions: Play Support and Academic Focus.

Participants were primary caregivers of 213 Chinese Head Start immigrant children who self-identified as Chinese. A series of exploratory factor analyses were performed using orthogonal (varimax) and oblique (promax) rotations. A two-factor varimax solution produced the most parsimonious structure for the PPBS (see Table 1) and a three-factor promax solution produced the most parsimonious structure of the PIPPS (see Table 2). While a three-factor varimax solution was also suitable, Play Disconnection only included four items with a low level of internal consistency (Table 2). Results suggest that challenging play behaviors might be defined differently by immigrant parents based on their diverse languages, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds (Bulotsky-Shearer et al., 2016).

The results of this study will contribute to an area of research that is currently limited and could provide support for other researchers to better approach Chinese immigrant children by making culture-specific interpretations of their social behaviors with culturally-relevant/validated measures. Implications that will be culturally and contextually relevant for improving Head Start programs that serve Chinese immigrant families will be presented.

Authors

• Sunah Hyun, Tufts University
  Presenting Author

• Christine M McWayne, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author