Year-end Sale % OFF 
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine Cantonese-speaking Chinese American immigrant parents' socialization of emotions in bilingual bicultural preschool children, using a combination of a parent questionnaire and parent language samples from emotion-elicited storytelling tasks. Sixteen Cantonese-speaking parents and their children participated in this study. Children were sequential bilinguals who were exposed to Cantonese (L1) at home since birth, and then learned English (L2) at school. The Chinese parent questionnaire examined parents' emotion talk in the home, as well as the child's dual language background and language distribution. Parents' language samples in Cantonese were collected from three parent-child storytelling tasks that each elicited a different type of negative emotion (sad, angry, scared). Results from the parent questionnaire and the parent language samples were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. In the parent questionnaire, correlation analysis revealed that parents' use of guilt emotions was not associated with any of the other emotion words, suggesting that parents may not talk about guilt as frequently as the other emotions. Results from the parents' language samples showed no significant differences between parents' number of emotion words and emotion explanations across the storytelling tasks, suggesting that parents used negative emotion words similarly across all three books. Further qualitative analysis between the parent questionnaire and the language samples revealed patterns in the way parents use Chinese emotion words with their children. Findings illustrate how the combined use of a parent questionnaire and parent language samples offer complementary information to provide a more comprehensive understanding about Chinese American immigrant parents' socialization of emotions.
Highlights
One of the earliest contexts in which children first learn emotion words is through parent-child interactions in the home environment
The Chinese parent questionnaire revealed that the parents in our study did not talk about guilt emotions with their children as often as they do with other emotions
Results from the Chinese parent questionnaire revealed that the parents in our study did not talk about guilt emotions with their children as often as they do with other emotions
Summary
One of the earliest contexts in which children first learn emotion words is through parent-child interactions in the home environment. Cross-cultural studies have shown that media, magazines, Parents’ Emotion Talk in Bilinguals and books tend to display culturally appropriate emotion behaviors (e.g., facial expressions, tone, body language) (Tsai et al, 2007; Wege et al, 2014), social practices in high vs low arousal activities reflect differences in emotional intensity preferences (Tsai, 2007; Lim, 2016), and differences in the emotion lexicon across languages suggest varied emotional experiences and perspectives (Wong and Tsai, 2007; Pavlenko, 2008) This is especially important for immigrant children or children from immigrant families in the United States who are exposed to their home language (L1) (e.g., Cantonese, Spanish, Japanese) since birth and later learn English (L2) in a school setting. Despite increasing literature on the important role parents have in children’s emotion language development, there are relatively fewer studies that examine parents’ socialization of emotions in bilingual bicultural children in the home environment
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
