“I See Why They Play”: Chinese immigrant parents and their beliefs about young children's play

Abstract

Parents’ beliefs have an important influence on their children's play and learning experiences in the home and at school. Given the dramatic increase in the number of Chinese immigrant families and children living in the United States (the population has grown more than six-fold since 1980, reaching 2.3 million in 2019), it is particularly important to gain a better understanding of these immigrant parents’ beliefs. Their beliefs about their children's education most likely vary greatly based on numerous factors including their cultural backgrounds, and these beliefs have been shown to be correlated with children's social and developmental outcomes. The present study aim was twofold: first, to examine play beliefs among this rapidly growing group by validating an existing parent report measure of play beliefs and comparing parents’ beliefs to children's interactive peer play and social skills in Head Start classrooms; second, to provide more nuanced information via qualitative data analysis about how Chinese immigrant parents make meaning of their children's play in the context of early learning opportunities. Families of 213 preschool children enrolled in Head Start programs located in a large, northeastern city participated in this study. Findings extend the validity of the Parent Play Beliefs Scale (PPBS; Fogle & Mendez, 2006) for use with Chinese immigrants in the US. Qualitative data suggest that Chinese immigrant parents hold positive beliefs about play, while also displaying some concerns about preschool curriculum in the United States, which likely derive from their own learning experiences when they were in China. The current study underscores the importance of incorporating immigrant parents’ voices in assessments of children's behavior to better reflect cultural nuance and variability, parenting strategies, and/or beliefs that may differ from mainstream US culture.