Chinese American Children Research Articles

Reading Global Literature with Chinese American Children: Connections, Disconnections, and Misconnections

Reading Global Literature with Chinese American Children: Connections, Disconnections, and Misconnections

Relations between self-regulation and behavioral adjustment in Chinese American immigrant children during early elementary school years.

The present study examined associations between sociocultural factors and self-regulation (parent-report, teacher-report, laboratory tasks), and prospective relations between self-regulation and behavioral adjustment (parent-, teacher-, child-report) in a socioeconomically diverse sample of Chinese American children in immigrant families (N = 258, Wave 1 age = 6-9 years, Wave 2 age = 9-11 years, 52% boys, 57% low-income) in a longitudinal study (2007-2011) during early elementary school years. Family income uniquely related to a self-regulation latent factor ( = .22), and parent-child Chinese orientation gaps were associated with parent-reported effortful control ( = .40). Self-regulation at W1 negatively predicted parent- and teacher-reported behavioral maladjustment ( = -.22 and -.48) at W2, controlling for cross-time stability of both constructs and covariates (child sex, parental education).

Longitudinal relations of emotion knowledge to psychosocial adjustment in European and Chinese American school‐age children

AbstractThe study is the first to examine the developmental trajectory of emotion knowledge as it relates to psychosocial adjustment in a cross‐cultural context. European American (EA, n = 68, 28 boys) and Chinese American (CA, n = 62, 31 boys) children and their mothers participated. Children's emotion knowledge was assessed, and their psychosocial adjustment was reported by mothers at three time points when children were 6.5, 7, and 8 years of age. Although EA children had greater emotion knowledge at Time 1, CA children's emotion knowledge grew faster over the following 1.5 years. In addition, emotion knowledge predicted fewer internalizing problems in CA children but predicted fewer externalizing problems in EA children. Thus, emotion knowledge was associated with psychosocial adjustment for both cultural groups, and particularly helpful for children to cope with issues to which they are most vulnerable in their respective cultural contexts. The findings shed critical light on the developmental trajectories of emotion understanding and psychosocial adjustment in specific cultural contexts.

Understanding the experiences and needs in autism education: A semi-structured interview among Chinese American parents of autistic children.

The diversity of the autistic population seeking professional services and education in the United States has increased. As the diagnosis of autism increases among the Chinese American immigrant population, there is also an increasing need to learn about this population and provide appropriate intervention and education for this group. However, current education and intervention provided for autistic individuals tend to be culturally blind. Gaps were found in our understanding of the cultural context and its relationship with the education mechanisms among Chinese American autistic families. The current study intends to investigate how Chinese American parents perceive the education materials and intervention strategies received by their autistic children as well as their experiences and needs in the education process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 10 Chinese American parents (one father and nine mothers) online. They all had children who had a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and received some intervention or education. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the results. The study suggested that most Chinese American parents were satisfied with the current education materials and intervention strategies provided to their autistic children. Due to cultural-related stigma, parents differ in their perceptions of children's autism diagnosis and characteristics as well as their expectations of children's culturally sensitive education. A theoretical model was created to provide culture-centered interpretation of the interconnected relationship between their pre- and post-immigration contexts and parenting attitudes. Culture plays a critical role in understanding Chinese American parents' experiences, needs, and expectations of culturally sensitive education for their autistic children. Interconnected relationships were found between contexts and parenting attitudes, which were largely influenced by cultural-related stigma. Suggestions and implications were provided for institutions and professionals working with Chinese American families and children. It is critical for them to learn about the experiences, needs, and attitudes of Chinese American parents to provide Chinese American autistic children with more appropriate and culturally sensitive education.

Longitudinal relations between self-regulatory skills and mathematics achievement in early elementary school children from Chinese American immigrant families

Drawing from two waves (∼1.5–2.5 years apart) of longitudinal data, the current study investigated the bidirectional associations between self-regulatory skills and mathematics achievement among a socioeconomically diverse sample of school-age Chinese American children from immigrant families (N = 258; 48.1% girls; ages 5.8–9.1 years; first to third grades at Wave 1). Children’s self-regulatory skills were assessed with task-based measures of attention focusing, inhibitory control, behavioral persistence, and comprehensive executive function as well as parent- and teacher-reported effortful control. Multiple regressions showed that behavioral persistence and parent-reported effortful control positively predicted math achievement over time. Math achievement positively predicted comprehensive executive function over time. These effects were found when controlling for child age, sex, generation status, family socioeconomic status, parents’ cultural orientations, and prior levels of math achievement or self-regulation. The prospective relation of math achievement predicting comprehensive executive function remained significant after a false discovery rate correction.

Drawings + Talk: Capturing the Multimodal Authoring of Emergent Bilinguals through Culturally Responsive Teaching

This article explores how young Chinese American children engaged in culturally responsive literacy practices and multimodal authoring practices during an online book club.

Weight Status Change in Chinese American Children over a Ten-Year Period: Retrospective Study of a Primary Care Pediatric Population.

Weight change from childhood to adolescence has been understudied in Asian Americans. Known studies lack disaggregation by Asian subgroups. This retrospective study assessed the weight status change in 1500 Chinese American children aged 5–11 years from an urban primary care health center between 2007 and 2017. Weight status was categorized using the 2000 CDC growth charts into “underweight/normal weight” and “overweight/obese.” The overweight/obesity prevalence in 2007 and 2017 were determined. McNemar’s test and logistic regression were performed. The prevalence of overweight/obesity decreased from 29.9% in 2007 to 18.6% in 2017. Children who were overweight/obese at 5–11 years had 10.3 increased odds of staying overweight/obese over time (95% CI = 7.6–14.0, p < 0.001) compared to their underweight/normal weight counterparts. Of the children who were overweight/obese in 2007, 45.7% remained overweight/obese ten years later. Childhood overweight/obesity strongly predicts adult overweight/obesity in Chinese Americans. Targeted education and intervention are warranted to prevent adult obesity.

Academic Socialization From an “Informed Distance”: Low-Income Chinese American Adolescents’ Perceptions of Their Immigrant Parents’ Educational Messages

Background/Context: Despite research that has rebutted the tiger parent stereotype, the perception that Asian immigrant parents enact overly strict and controlling educational practices continues to be widespread and entrenched. This stereotype is problematic because it constrains the understanding of Asian Americans to a one-dimensional group and engenders a false narrative of Asian American educational success as expected. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Using an intersectional lens, this study interrogates the stereotype of Asian immigrant parents as tiger parents. We examine how one subgroup of Asian American youth—lower income Chinese American adolescents (children of Chinese immigrants) spoke about their parents’ involvement in their schooling and educational expectations. Our aim is to center young people’s explanations to explore how they perceive parental educational socialization and whether it conforms to notions of tiger parenting. We posed the following three specific research questions: (1) How do these students speak about and understand the ways in which their parents monitor their schoolwork? (2) How do these students describe and understand their parents’ messaging of educational expectations? and (3) In what ways do these students depict parent–child communication in their families? Research Design: Participants were 32 ninth-grade low-income Chinese American children of immigrants. We conducted individual interviews focused on educational socialization in the home. We used a combination of inductive and theoretically driven thematic analysis and explored the extent to which students’ perspectives of their parents converged or diverged with the tiger parent stereotype. We adopted a working definition of tiger parenting based on categories related to parenting, including close monitoring of schoolwork, perceptions of high parent expectations for school performance and educational/career attainment, and parent-initiated communications regarding children’s academic lives and decisions. Findings/Results: Our analysis revealed that participants did not experience their parents’ educational involvement as conforming to the tiger parent stereotype. Instead, students were largely self-directed and described their parents as exercising basic monitoring of schoolwork, conveying generic and pragmatic educational and career expectations, and trusting their children overall to manage schoolwork and share key school-related information as needed. We introduce a concept that we call “informed distance” as more salient for understanding our participants’ experiences. Conclusions/Recommendations: Educators must interrupt the tiger parent and model minority stereotypes to make room for a fuller and more complex understanding of Asian American students’ experiences and ensure their educational needs are equitably addressed. Teachers and counselors can play an affirmative role in educational guidance for Chinese American students.

Acculturation, food-related and general parenting, and body weight in Chinese-American children

Parents' food-related and general parenting behaviors may vary according to cultural background, with consequences for child eating behavior and weight. A better understanding of food-related and general parenting behaviors adopted by Chinese-American parents, and the relationships of all of these behaviors with child weight, is essential to aid the development of culturally appropriate interventions to prevent obesity in Chinese-American children. We investigated cross-sectional relationships of acculturation with parental feeding behaviors assessed with the Child Feeding Questionnaire, Parent Feeding Styles Questionnaire and Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire, and general parenting behaviors assessed with the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, in a sample of Chinese-American parents of 5–12 year-old children (n = 233). Parental level of acculturation was assessed using the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation scale. We performed generalized linear regressions to explore associations of acculturation levels with parental feeding and general parenting subscales and also associations of these factors with child body mass index (BMI) z-score. Acculturation was associated with higher scores on Responsiveness in feeding, lower scores on subscales assessing controlling feeding behaviors (Restriction, Pressure to eat, Demandingness in feeding), lower scores on non-nutritive feeding behaviors (Emotional feeding, Instrumental feeding), and greater likelihood of an indulgent feeding style. With regard to general parenting, acculturation was associated with lower scores on subscales assessing authoritarian parenting. Parental Prompting/Encouragement to eat was associated with lower child BMI z-score, while authoritarian parenting subscales were associated with higher BMI z-score. An appreciation of the impact of cultural variation on food-related and general parenting may help to inform the development of culturally-sensitive obesity prevention interventions.

Chinese American children's temperamental shyness and responses to peer victimization as moderated by maternal praise.

This study examined the relations between Chinese American children's temperamental shyness and their assertive and submissive responses to peer victimization. The mediating role of children's anxious-withdrawn behavior in the association between their temperamental shyness and responses to peer victimization in school settings was assessed, as well as the moderating effect of observed maternal praise. Mothers of 153 Chinese American children (46.4% boys; Mage = 4.40 years, SDage = 0.79 years) reported on their children's temperamental shyness, and teachers rated children's display of anxious-withdrawn behavior and responses to peer victimization. Mothers' use of praise during their interactions with children in a free-play session was observed. Results showed that children's display of anxious-withdrawn behavior played a mediating role in the associations between their temperamental shyness and responses to peer victimization. Moreover, maternal praise moderated the relation between children's temperamental shyness and anxious-withdrawn behavior, such that more temperamentally shy children with mothers who used to praise more frequently displayed less anxious-withdrawn behavior, which, in turn, was associated with more assertiveness and less submissiveness in response to peer victimization. These findings highlight the importance of maternal praise in reducing children's display of anxious-withdrawn behavior, which in turn facilitates their capacity to cope with peer victimization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal relations among school context, school-based parent involvement, and academic achievement of Chinese American children in immigrant families

Immigrant families face multiple barriers to engaging with children's schools. Yet, school-based parent involvement has been associated with academic and behavioral benefits for children of immigrant families. Although past research has examined links between family contextual factors and parent involvement, less is known about the links between school contextual factors and parent involvement in immigrant families. Identifying socio-cultural barriers to parent involvement across home and school contexts can inform culturally competent family engagement interventions serving immigrant families. In a two-wave (1.5 years apart) longitudinal study of a community-based sample of Chinese American children (N = 210, beginning age = 5.8–9.1 years) attending over 80 schools in a metropolitan area, we assessed school-based parent involvement behaviors and parent involvement-related psychological processes (i.e., parent-teacher relationship quality, parents' endorsement of schools, teachers' perceptions of parents) using parent and teacher report. First, results indicated that significant positive associations were found between school-based parent involvement behaviors and parent involvement-related psychological processes (rs = 0.36–0.53). Next, multi-level modeling was conducted to test concurrent relations of Wave 1 school contextual factors to all four parent involvement constructs (controlling for family-level factors), as well as testing the prospective relations of parent involvement at Wave 1 to children's academic achievement at Wave 2. Student body diversity of schools was negatively associated with school-based parent involvement (rs = −0.18, −0.17), parent-rated parent-teacher relationship quality (r = −0.18), and parents' endorsement of schools (r = −0.36). The concentration of Asian students at schools and schoolwide achievement were negatively associated with teachers' perceptions of parents (rs = −0.18, −0.20). However, neither school contextual factors nor school-based parent involvement at Wave 1 uniquely predicted children's academic achievement at Wave 2. Implications of findings for understanding and addressing barriers to engaging Chinese American immigrant families in their children's schools are discussed.

Self-Regulatory Development in Children from Chinese Immigrant Families: Evidence for Commonality and Specificity.

A central theme of acculturative specificity is the heterogeneity of the immigrant experience. This study integrated this application of the Specificity Principle with intergenerational transmission models of self-regulation and identified both common and specific pathways in the self-regulatory development of Chinese American children in immigrant families (N = 169, Mage = 9.2 years). Consistent with intergenerational transmission models, results indicated associations between parents' and children's effortful control, with the mediation of these associations via authoritarian parenting. Parental education, family income, and children's bilingual proficiency were also uniquely associated with children's executive function and effortful control. Together, findings provide new directions for research with ethnic minority immigrant families, and underscore the utility of within-group approaches in advancing research on ethnic minority children's development.

A longitudinal study on bidirectional relations between executive functions and English word-level reading in Chinese American children in immigrant families

This two-wave (1.5 years apart) longitudinal study examined the bidirectional relations between measures of executive function (EF; working memory, attention focusing, inhibitory control, and a comprehensive EF measure) and two types of English word-level reading (pseudoword reading and word reading) among 258 school-aged children (52.6% boys, age = 5.8–9.1 years, in 1st to 3rd grades at Wave 1) from Chinese American immigrant families. Cross-lagged panel analyses were conducted to test whether the four EF measures and English word-level reading proficiency predicted one another controlling for prior levels of EF or reading, as well as demographic characteristics and children's English and Chinese language proficiency. We found a positive bidirectional association between the comprehensive EF measure and pseudoword reading. By contrast, although the comprehensive EF measure positively predicted word reading over time, word reading did not predict comprehensive EF. Additionally, both word reading and pseudoword reading positively predicted working memory over time. The results provided partial evidence that English word-level reading is bidirectionally related to EF among early elementary school-age dual language learners.

Across the Divides: Beyond School, Nation, and the 1965 Immigration Act in the History of Asian American Education

The importance of education for Asian Americans looking to fight race-based discrimination, create a sense of community, and reclaim and establish an identity is well documented. In 1884, Mary and Joseph Tape, Chinese immigrants living in San Francisco, sued the San Francisco Board of Education and the principal of the Spring Valley Primary School—Jennie Hurley--after Hurley denied their daughter, Mamie, admission because she was “Chinese” (though born in the United States). The Superior Court ruled in favor of the Tapes, but in 1885, the School Board appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of California where justices upheld the lower court's decision. Though Mamie would not be able to attend Spring Valley after the School Board successfully pushed for state-wide school segregation legislation, many “white-only” institutions began to admit Chinese American children after the Tape case.

Voyage through childhood into the adult world: an overview of Chinese American children and youth in cinema

ABSTRACT Literature from various social science and humanities disciplines has pointed to the fear, stress, threats, and hardship frequently experienced by children of immigrants. In coping with the stereotyped images such as ‘the model minority’ and ‘the perpetual foreigner’, the subject of Chinese American children and youth has drawn much scholarly attention, although with little systematic focus in the field of visual arts – including films. Accordingly, this article explores how cinema has depicted and represented the role and experience of Chinese children and youth in the context of transnational migration, by focusing on a range of migration-related film examples made by transnational Chinese filmmakers from the 1980s onwards. These films show that while some children carry the burden of the adult world, some adults also carry the burdens of childhood into later life. Furthermore, the films also present the development of immigrant Chinese children’ subjectivity, while dealing with hardship, confusion, demanding parents, and ever-changing and challenging environments.

Why do bilinguals code-switch when emotional? Insights from immigrant parent-child interactions.

Previous research has found that bilingual speakers' first (L1) and second languages (L2) are differentially associated with their emotional experiences. Moreover, bilinguals appear to code-switch (alternate between two or more languages in a single conversation) during emotional episodes. However, prior evidence has been limited to clinical case studies and self-report studies, leaving open the specificity of the link between code-switching (CS) and emotion and its underlying mechanisms. The present study examined the dynamic associations between CS and facial emotion behavior in a sample of 68 Chinese American parents and children during a dyadic emotion-inducing puzzle box task. Specifically, bilingual parents' language use (L1 Chinese or L2 English), CS behavior (L1→L2 or L2→L1 switches), and facial emotion behavior (positive and negative valence) were coded at each 5-s interval. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze whether facial emotion behavior predicted later CS and vice versa. We found that negative facial emotion predicted higher subsequent CS in both L1→L2 and L2→L1 directions, with stronger associations for the L2→L1 direction. On the other hand, positive facial emotion was associated with lower contemporaneous L2→L1 CS. CS did not predict later facial emotion behavior, suggesting language switching may not have an immediate effect on emotion. The present findings are consistent with the idea that emotional arousal, especially negative arousal, reduces cognitive control and may trigger spontaneous CS. Together, these findings provide insight into why bilingual speakers switch languages during emotional episodes and hold implications for clinical interventions serving bilingual individuals and families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Measuring overweight and obesity in Chinese American children using US, international and ethnic-specific growth charts.

The aim is to determine the disparity between the overweight and obesity prevalence of Chinese American school-aged children and adolescents as measured by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth reference and the prevalence as measured by international and ethnic-specific-growth references. This retrospective, cross-sectional study measured overweight and obesity prevalence among a paediatric population using the CDC, International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), World Health Organization (WHO) and an ethnic Chinese growth curve. A community health centre in New York City, USA. Chinese American children aged 6-17 years in 2017 (N 9160). The overweight prevalence was 24 % (CDC), 23 % (IOTF), 30 % (WHO) and 31 % (China). The obesity prevalence was 10 % (CDC), 5 % (IOTF), 10 % (WHO) and 10 % (China). When disaggregated by age and sex, the difference was the most prominent in girls; using the China reference compared with using the CDC reference almost doubles the overweight prevalence (school-aged: 31 v. 17 %, P < 0·001, adolescent: 27 v. 14 %, P < 0·001) and the obesity prevalence (school-aged: 11 v. 5 %, P < 0·001, adolescent: 7 v. 4 %, P < 0·001). Use of the CDC reference compared with the Chinese ethnic-specific reference results in lower overweight and obesity prevalence in Chinese American girls. Almost half of the girls who were overweight and half of the girls who were obese were not identified using the CDC reference. Using ethnic-specific references or ethnic-specific cut-points may help improve overweight identification for Chinese American children.

Developing a Socioculturally Nuanced Systems Model of Childhood Obesity in Manhattan's Chinese American Community via Group Model Building.

The purpose of this study was to develop a qualitative and socioculturally tailored systems model of childhood obesity in the Chinese American community in Manhattan's Chinatown. We utilized group model building (GMB) methodology as a form of participatory systems modeling. The study was conducted in Manhattan's Chinatown community. We recruited 16 Chinese American adults from the community. GMB workshops engendered a causal loop diagram (CLD), the visualization of a complex systems model illustrating the structures, feedbacks, and interdependencies among socioculturally specific pathways underlying childhood obesity, in Manhattan's Chinatown community. The analysis of CLD revealed that participants considered the following factors to influence childhood obesity: (1) traditional social norms affecting body image, how children are raised, parental pressure to study, and trust in health of traditional foods; (2) grandparents' responsibility for children; (3) limited time availability of parents at home; and (4) a significant amount of children's time spent indoors. GMB represents a novel method to understand the complexity of childhood obesity in culturally specific populations and contexts. The study identified sociocultural subsystems that may underlie the development and perpetuation of childhood obesity among Chinese American children. Insights from the study can be useful in the design of future empirical studies and interventions.

Good Chinese Girls and the Model Minority: Race, Education, and Community in Girl in Translation and Front Desk

The girl protagonists in Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation and Kelly Yang’s Front Desk embody and reinterpret the notion of guai (loosely translated as “good”) in their struggle to adapt to life in America. Guai is the most important concept governing childhood in Chinese societies. The word, often used to praise children, denotes obedience, docility, the acceptance of authority and conformity to accepted norms of behaviour. This essay explores how familial, racial and institutional forces impinge on and reshape the protagonists’ understanding of what it means to be a “good Chinese girl” to push beyond analyses of Asian American texts for young people as perpetuating or challenging the idea of the model minority. Given the significance of guai in the lives of Chinese American children, it is necessary to analyse how specific Asian cultural logics are adapted to the American context. Discussions about Asian American identities must not only explicate the “American-ness” of characters’ choices but also consider the ways in which “Chineseness” shapes, constitutes and diversifies the “Asian” in what it means to be an Asian American.

Parent-Child Conflict Profiles in Chinese American Immigrant Families: Links to Sociocultural Factors and School-Age Children's Psychological Adjustment.

Research suggests that parent-child conflict is a salient family process in Asian immigrant families and often a stressful experience for Asian American youth due to value discrepancies between Asian and Western cultures. The present study examined ratings of parent-child conflict across conflict topics from parents' and children's perspectives in a sample of Chinese American immigrant families with school-age children (N=239; age=7.5-11years). Latent profile analyses identified three parent-rated conflict profiles and four child-rated conflict profiles. Parent and child conflict profiles were unrelated to each other and differentially related to family sociocultural factors and children's psychological adjustment. Parents' moderate conflict profile scored highest on parent-rated child behavior problems and had the highest household density and lower parent Chinese orientation. Children's moderate-specific and high conflict profiles scored higher on child-reported behavior problems than the low conflict profile. These results highlight the need to assess family conflict from both parents' and children's perspectives and target parent-child conflict communication as a pathway to prevent or reduce behavioral problems in Chinese American children of immigrant families.