Abstract
Chinese American parents have a reputation for being “tiger” parents, and Chinese American adolescents are widely viewed as “model” minorities. However, these stereotypes fail to capture the within-group variation among Chinese Americans. This chapter aims to present findings on Chinese Americans’ parenting profiles and adolescent adjustment profiles. Four parenting profiles were identified. Supportive (high levels of positive and low levels of negative parenting) was the most prevalent parenting profile, followed by tiger (high levels of both positive and negative parenting), easygoing (low on both positive and negative parenting), and harsh (low levels of positive and high levels of negative parenting). Three adolescent profiles were identified. Well-adjusted (high levels of academic and socioemotional well-being) was the most prevalent adjustment profile, followed by paradoxically adjusted (high levels of academic and low levels of socioemotional well-being) and poorly adjusted (low levels of academic and socioemotional well-being). There was evidence for stability and change both in Chinese American parenting profiles and in adolescent adjustment profiles across early, middle, and late adolescence. Across the course of adolescence, mothers were found to exert less tiger parenting, while fathers were found to exert more tiger parenting. Slightly more than half of adolescents (55%) stayed in the same adjustment profile across time. Tiger parenting related to a stable paradoxically adjusted adjustment profile, suggesting that tiger parenting may promote academic success, but at the cost of psychological well-being across the course of adolescence. Supportive parenting consistently related to stably well-adjusted adjustment profiles for Chinese American adolescents.
Support for this research was provided through awards to Su Yeong Kim from (1) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 5R03HD051629-02, (2) Office of the Vice President for Research Grant/Special Research Grant from the University of Texas at Austin, (3) Jacobs Foundation Young Investigator Grant, (4) American Psychological Association Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, Promoting Psychological Research and Training on Health Disparities Issues at Ethnic Minority Serving Institutions Grant, (5) American Psychological Foundation/Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, Ruth G. and Joseph D. Matarazzo Grant, (6) California Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Extended Education Fund, (7) American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Massachusetts Avenue Building Assets Fund, and (8) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 5R24HD042849-14 grant awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
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Kim, S.Y., Chen, S., Sim, L., Hou, Y. (2017). Stability and Change in Parenting and Adjustment Profiles Across Early, Middle, and Late Adolescence in Chinese American Families. In: Choi, Y., Hahm, H. (eds) Asian American Parenting. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63136-3_4
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