Korean American Parental Control: Acceptance or Rejection?

Abstract

The purpose of this cross‐sectional descriptive study was to examine relations between parental acceptance‐rejection and behavioral control among 106 Korean American families in the Midwest. Independent self‐report data were gathered from adolescents, mothers, and fathers, and analyzed with descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, analyses of covariance, and Pearson correlations. Both Korean American adolescents and their parents (mothers and fathers) reported the parents as warm and loving, as well as moderate to firm in their behavioral control. Nonetheless, within these ranges, results indicated that both adolescents' and mothers' reports of maternal behavioral control were positively correlated with less overall acceptance. Correlational results for fathers, however, showed that the more behaviorally controlling they reported themselves to be (within the moderate to firm range), the warmer and more affectionate they reported themselves to be—but also the more hostile and aggressive they reported themselves to be. This apparent contradiction seems to be explainable in the context of Korean American adaptation to mainstream American cultural ideology.