Chinese Parents Research Articles

Embodied by state borders: citizenship negotiations of children in Chinese–foreign families in the People’s Republic of China

ABSTRACT The citizenship of Chinese–foreign children who have been brought up in China is an area of increasing political relevance because of their growing numbers and public visibility, as well as the high status accorded to children in the political agenda of the Communist Party, and wider debates on Chinese citizenship, identity and belonging. In this article we examine how decisions about children’s citizenship are made across national and generational divides in different family contexts in China, namely in Chinese–Vietnamese, Chinese–Russian, Chinese-Ukrainian, and Chinese–Cameroonian families. We tease out contestations between foreign and Chinese parents and grandparents and discuss how gender, socioeconomic, and racial dimensions affect children's citizenship negotiations in these multigenerational households. We argue that the bodies of the Chinese-foreign children occupy a prominent place in the territorialising practices of Chinese citizenship that are shaped by gendered, racial, and socioeconomic inequalities.

Parental unconditional acceptance: An antidote to parental conditional regard

AbstractStudies around the world revealed that children's performance is a significant source of parents’ self‐worth. This phenomenon is particularly salient among Chinese parents because of the emphasis on interdependent self‐construal in a face culture. With child‐based worth, many parents feel compelled to use conditional regard to minimize children's failure and maximize success. Yet, parental conditional regard is notorious for its undermining effects on children's well‐being. This study aimed to investigate the antecedents and consequences of parental unconditional acceptance to children, an antidote to parental conditional regard. We conducted a priming experiment with 145 parents randomly assigned to child‐based worth or unconditional self‐acceptance conditions. Results showed that child‐based worth was an inhibitive factor, whereas unconditional self‐acceptance was a facilitative factor to parents’ provision of unconditional acceptance to children. Parents primed with unconditional self‐acceptance had more intention to provide unconditional acceptance to their children, and in turn had more authoritative responses to their children's undesirable behavior. Our findings have practical implications for parent education.

Family Socioeconomic Status and Parental Involvement in Chinese Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Parental involvement benefits children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in multiple developmental areas. We conducted the present study to examine the role of parenting stress and ASD symptom severity in the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and parental involvement. A total of 165 Chinese parents of children with ASD participated in this study. Mediation analyses indicated that family SES was positively related to parental involvement; parenting stress partially mediated the relationship between family SES and parental involvement. The analyses also found that ASD symptom severity moderated the influence of parenting stress on parental involvement. Specifically, the decreased parenting stress improved parental involvement when ASD symptom severity was low. The findings enhanced our understanding of the mechanism underlying the relationship between family SES and parental involvement among parents facing considerable child-rearing challenges. Implications for devising evidenced-based interventions to promote parental involvement for low SES children with ASD are discussed.

The moderating effect of intergenerational relationships on the association between Internet engagement and mental well-being

Objective This study examined the moderating effect of intergenerational relationships on the association between Internet engagement and older Chinese adults’ mental well-being and whether this relationship and the moderating role of intergenerational relationships differs by age. Methods We collected survey data from 1,162 participants aged 60 and older. Using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) to measure life satisfaction, the Chinese version of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale to evaluate loneliness, and the Intergenerational Relationship Quality Scale for Aging Chinese Parents (IRQS-AP) to assess intergenerational relationship quality. Two-stage least squares regression with interaction terms was used to examine the moderating effect of intergenerational relationships on the association between Internet engagement and mental well-being in different age groups. Results Higher levels of Internet engagement were significantly associated with better life satisfaction and lower loneliness in older adults, particularly for the young-old. Furthermore, the positive association between Internet engagement and mental well-being was stronger for older adults with conflicted or detached intergenerational relationships. Conclusions Encouraging and training older adults to use the Internet to shrink the digital divide, developing a sound Internet infrastructure, providing low-cost Internet services, particularly for the young-old with conflicted or detached intergenerational relationships, and the old-old.

In Pursuit of Children’s Education Abroad: China’s Middle-Class Families and Parental Flexibility in Transient Migration to Thailand

Abstract This article explores education-led migration among Chinese families who pursue international education for their children in Thailand. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, with data collected from 220 Chinese respondents to a survey and by means of 12 semi-structured interviews. The Chinese families emigrating from China to Chiang Mai in Thailand are representatives of the largely urbanized, well-educated middle-class families that today practice a circulatory transnational migration for the purpose of obtaining an education for their children. The findings show that compared with the conventional pathway of upper middle-class Chinese families emigrating to Western developed countries, middle-class Chinese families in Chiang Mai have adopted transient migratory practices for enhancing their children’s international education. The article discusses the childcare arrangements, division of parental responsibilities, income-earning activities, and desire for a good personal lifestyle among Chinese parents with children undergoing education in Chang Mai.

Chinese Families and Their Encounter with the Secular: An Ethnographic Study of Chinese Parents and Their Children in Edinburgh

Abstract The Chinese, both in China and in an international migration setting, are commonly regarded as the world’s most secular population. However, the relationship between Chinese people and Chinese Popular Religion is nuanced and survey data, more often than not, do not account for the plethora of religious activities Chinese people engage in despite simultaneously self-identifying as secular. This paper examines the supposed secularity of Chinese immigrant families living in Edinburgh. It asserts that although self-identifying as secular, these families engage in undeniable religious activity and possess religious beliefs. Crucially, there is a marked difference between the beliefs pertaining to secularity of the parents and their children, with the former being adamant in their secularity and the latter being more willing to acknowledge the complicated relationship between religion and the secular.

COVID-19 Racism and Chinese American Families' Mental Health: A Comparison between 2020 and 2021.

This study compared rates of multiple forms of COVID-19 racism-related discrimination experiences, fear/worries, and their associations with mental health indices among Chinese American parents and youth between 2020 and 2021. Chinese American parents of 4- to 18-year-old children and a subsample of their 10- to 18-year-old adolescents completed surveys in 2020 and 2021. A high percentage of Chinese American parents and their children continued to experience or witness anti-Chinese/Asian racism both online and in person in 2021. Parents and youth experienced less vicarious discrimination in person but more direct discrimination (both online and in person) and reported poorer mental health in 2021 than in 2020. Associations with mental health were stronger in 2021 than in 2020 for parents' and/or youth's vicarious discrimination experiences, perceptions of Sinophobia, and government-related worries, but weaker only for parents' direct discrimination experiences. The spillover effect from parents' vicarious discrimination experiences and Sinophobia perceptions to all youth mental health indices were stronger in 2021 than in 2020. Chinese American families experienced high rates of racial discrimination across multiple dimensions, and the detrimental impacts on their mental health were still salient in the second year of the pandemic. Vicarious and collective racism may have even stronger negative impacts on mental health and well-being later in the pandemic. Decreasing health disparities for Chinese Americans and other communities of color requires extensive, long-term national efforts to eliminate structural aspects of racism.

Parents’ Perception of Using Tangible Reward Systems at Compulsory Schools in China

With the establishment of the two-child and three-child policies in China, parents pay more attention to kids' education. Many countries support using tangible reward systems in educational institutions, and this situation is prevalent in Chinese schools, especially for young-age students. In this experiment, the author collected perceptions about using tangible reward systems in compulsory schools from Chinese parents who have at least one child currently studying in a compulsory school in China. The author summarized parents' thoughts about the expected advantages and disadvantages of using tangible rewards from other studies. A majority of parents supported using tangible reward systems at school. They somewhat or strongly agree with those advantages, such as improving children's self-esteem, collective sense of honor, and independent learning ability. Most of them did not think this kind of system could bring a significantly negative impact on children, such as undermining students' intrinsic motivation. However, a large number of parents agreed that tangible rewards could make students more working for external rewards. In conclusion, most participants still believe in the benefits of tangible reward systems and will also feel happy when their children obtain those rewards from school.

Assessing Parenting Self-Efficacy of Preschoolers’ Parents During The COVID-19 Pandemic in China

During the COVID-19 epidemic, 3-6 aged children became extremely vulnerable, and the situation of their parents remained to be explored. As prior studies have confirmed the positive correlation between parenting self-efficacy and early child development, this paper is aimed at establishing the psychometric properties of parenting self-efficacy (PSE) during-covid parenting and ascertaining the core factors that impact PSE in the Chinese educational environment. The study sample consisted of parents from central China who have children aged 3-6. The sense of self-efficacy was measured by the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale adjusted for the Chinese parenting context. The outcomes showed that the average scores maintain at a reasonably good level while the skill/knowledge domain was lower than the perceived valuing/comfort domain. Demographic variables regarding children’s characters, parents’ features and social support statistically influence the results. Practical intervention and outlook for further research are proposed to settle new challenges for parents of Chinese preschoolers.

Being Cared for and Growing Up Slowly: Parenting Slows Human Life History

SYNOPSIS Objective. For most animals, extrinsic mortality risks drive a fast life history (LH) strategy in which animals disregard risks and accelerate reproduction. Instead of perpetuating mortality driving fast LH, humans have reduced almost all mortality risks in living environments, resulting in a significant slowing of LH. Additionally, humans exhibit invested parenting which entails teaching their young survival or mortality reduction skills. Could parenting provide an additional pathway to the development and slowing of human LH? Design. Data reported here come from interviews and questionnaires administered to a community sample of 286 rural Chinese parents and their children when the children were on average 7, 8, and 11 years old. Results. Parental acceptance statistically mediates and moderates the longitudinal association between environmental adversities and children’s LH. Conclusions. Parenting breaks the species-general contingency between mortality conditions and fast offspring LH strategies and provides an additional pathway to the development and slowing of human LH.

Comparative Analysis of the Effect of Online Education and Game Education on Students’ Study

In the context of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, offline learning is undoubtedly limited, so online education is becoming increasingly significant. The authors collected data related to online teaching and educational games and compared their advantages and disadvantages from the perspectives of learning engagement and popularity. It was found that online lectures and educational games scored high on the dimensions of students' learning motivation, understanding engagement, and enthusiasm to participate, especially online educational games, which perform well in stimulating students' interest in learning, enhancing their sense of belonging to the group, and creating a better learning atmosphere. However, users' popularity of online classes and online educational games varies significantly. In contrast to the vast number of users of online classes, educational games are not universally accepted as a way of education in China. It is analysed that the main reason is that Chinese parents and teachers are biased against learning through games. It is challenging to connect learning with games, especially in China. Therefore, it is recommended that the mixed teaching mode of traditional teaching as the primary and game education as the auxiliary can be piloted before large-scale promotion.

First-Year Orientation ed. by Lauren Gibaldi (review)

Reviewed by: First-Year Orientation ed. by Lauren Gibaldi Sarah Sahn Gibaldi, Lauren, ed. First-Year Orientation; ed. by Lauren Gibaldi and Eric Smith. Candlewick, 2023 [336p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781536224498 $19.99 Paper ed. ISBN 9781536232431 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 9-12 College is chance at reinvention for incoming students, and the protagonists in this charming short story collection are all ready to jump in feet-first on orientation day at Rolland College in New Jersey. Their paths to new identities aren't without obstacles, though: Jilly wants distance from her overprotective Chinese immigrant parents and nerdy high school persona in Gloria Chao's poignant story "Oyster," but her parents keep showing up at every orientation event. Meanwhile, in Olivia A. Cole's "Holding Hibiscus," Mella is hoping to get over her best friend Kendall's prom night rejection, but everywhere she looks, she finds Kendall's favorite things. Hira, the ghost hunter protagonist of Farah Naz Rishi's "Ghost Hunting for the Intrepid First Year," wants to retire and be a normal college kid, but there's the matter of the ghost that haunts the romance section in the library. The stories explore the push and pull of moving into a new, more independent life stage with humor and compassion, and they portray a wide range of experiences and identities, from band nerds to varsity athletes, international students to locals, and students from across the spectrum of race, class, socioeconomic backgrounds, and sexual and gender identities. There's an effortlessness to the representation, with fully fleshed-out characters grappling with their sense of self that isn't defined by identity politics. As in Clayton's short story collections Blackout (BCCB 6/21) and Whiteout (BCCB 12/22), the setting here creates a sense of cohesion in the collection that makes this volume feel more like an experimental novel, telling the same day from different points of view, as characters attend the same events, make cameos in each other's stories, and navigate a campus that's grown familiar by the last story. By turns realist and surrealist, funny and tender, these stories have something for any teen starting to think about college and will leave them with the reassurance that there's plenty of magic ahead. [End Page 258] Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Her Chinese name means beautiful: culture, care and naming practices

PurposeNaming practices reflect culture, language and identity considerations. This study aims to explore Chinese American naming choices, revealing nuanced and complex linguistic, cultural and pragmatic considerations for teachers of literacy.Design/methodology/approachThe authors interviewed Chinese parents who are now living with their school-aged children in the USA on the naming choices of their students. By using content analysis, this study found patterns and themes from the interview data.FindingsThe findings of this study suggest Chinese parents named their US school-aged children by taking into consideration of both Mandarin and English linguistic features, traditional and pop culture and the transnational identity of their children.Originality/valueThe findings of this study can help teachers and teacher educators better understand the naming traditions of Chinese American families and connect these traditions to literacy instruction in the classroom. This study proposes practical suggestions suitable for both monolingual and multilingual students to explore all children’s names and help build inclusive, culturally sustaining classrooms.

Intergenerational financial support for homeownership and co-residence in Chinese cities

Drawing on questionnaire data from six cities in China, this study explores the relationship between intergenerational financial support from parents in adult children's housing purchases and key life course facts. The regression results indicate an inverted ‘U’-shaped relationship between the age of young adults and the occurrence of financial support from their parents in housing purchases. Intergenerational co-residence, popular in China, is significantly and positively associated with financial support from parents for housing purchases. This suggests that many Chinese parents seek to achieve further intergenerational reciprocity through co-residence after giving financial support to their adult children. Interestingly, the regression results on samples without loans show that intergenerational co-residence is not significantly related to occurrences of parental financial support in housing purchases. This indicates that more affluent families purchasing housing without loans may not need to engage in intergenerational reciprocity through intergenerational co-residence. This paper provides new empirical evidence of intergeneration wealth transfers on homeownership in the context of China. It enriches our understanding of the relationship between intergenerational financial support for homeownership and the phenomenon of co-residence.

My Philosophy of Education—The Success of Education Stems From Persistence and Reflection

It is well-known that education plays an extreme important role in all people’s life. However, different educational ideas usually make different results on people. On education, on the same problem, noting that it is probably natural for people to have their own opinion. Some people with lots of knowledge think that people having got good education can make them have more choices or have larger stages to perform in the future. While most Chinese parents think that “good education can help make children live a better life in the future or find a better job with a high salary”. But some great people have the deeper insight on education. They often urge young people to study hard for their countries or national revitalization. Over 10 years ago, I read that American former-president, Obama (2009) ever made a speech to all the students in the US called “Why to Learn”. In his speech, he said to all the children in the US and told them that “you write your destiny, you make your future. So never give up yourself, because when you give up yourself, you will really give up your country”. In his speech, education means ready for the future of the country and all that people learn is for their national future purpose. While in my mind, “Good education is often to make people enjoy themselves in teaching practice, not suffering lots of pain from it. Lots of teaching practice proved, in reality, that young children getting good education is to keep their life in a right situation in their proper periods when they grow up, young people having to get education is also necessary for all of their life or work, not only for their future. The famous educator, Tao Xingzhi thought that education is to learn in practice. Another American famous educator, who was called Dewey also mentioned “Three Centers-Children’s Center, Activity Center and Experience Center”. Seeing the above, my finding that Dewey and Tao Xingzhi had the surprising similar educational thoughts called “Learning in practice”. In my opinion, I think “life is education, education is everywhere”. I believe that success of education comes from “Persistence + Reflection”. I also think all the teaching practice that we need to do is to keep on teaching, thinking over and over and adjustment. This paper mainly will aim to talk about the above my views on my school education and classroom teaching, including my understanding on school education and classroom teaching. I hope it will be able to give some helpful suggestions to the newcomers who are interested in language teaching and language research. That will be very meaningful to all that will read it.

Parental Perception of the Importance of Friendship and Other Educational Outcomes in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in China.

This study examined parental perception of the importance of friendship and five other educational outcomes from 101 Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorders between the ages of 3 and 12 years. Results showed Chinese parents considered friendship less important than social skills, emotional development, and physical skills and motor development. Unlike the results from previous studies, Chinese parents ranked friendship as the second least important outcome. Children's age rather than educational setting impacted parental perceptions. The findings suggested cultural contexts may have influenced parental perceptions of the importance of different educational outcomes, and future research on the influence of cultural contexts is warranted.

Learning the Rules: Chinese Immigrant Parents’ Involvement During Their Children’s Transition to Kindergarten

Learning the Rules: Chinese Immigrant Parents’ Involvement During Their Children’s Transition to Kindergarten

Developing and validating a multidimensional Chinese Parental Psychological Control Scale.

This study validated a Chinese Parental Psychological Control Scale (CPPCS) among secondary school students in mainland China. The item pool consisting of 65 items was constructed based on consultation with existing measures and focus group interviews of 19 Chinese adolescents. After content validation conducted by 14 experts, a total of 40 items were retained and subject to further factorial validation based on a sample of 963 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 13.39 ± 0.72; 52.23% females). Using the two random-split half samples, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses retained 30 items that loaded on three factors, including "relational induction" (twelve items), "harsh psychological control" (twelve items), and "social comparison shame" (six items). The three-factor structure was invariant across gender (male versus female) and grades (grade 7 versus grade 8) among the whole sample. Cronbach's αs of the three dimensions in maternal and paternal subscales ranged between 0.89 and 0.92, suggesting adequate internal consistency. The three dimensions were significantly correlated with each other, supporting the scale's convergent validity. The concurrent validity of the CPPCS was supported by the positive correlations between subscales and parental rejection, and the negative correlations between subscales and parental warmth. In addition, while the "harsh psychological control" and "social comparison shame" negatively predicted adolescents' well-being, "relational induction" positively predicted adolescents' well-being. The findings suggest that the CPPCS is a promising instrument for measuring multidimensional psychological control among Chinese parents and for investigating and comparing individual dimensions' effect on adolescents' development.

The development and validation of a questionnaire on parental involvement in the transition from kindergarten to primary school for children with developmental disabilities in China

BackgroundAt present, there is a lack of valid and reliable instruments that can measure parental involvement in the transition from kindergarten to primary school of children with developmental disabilities (DD) in China. AimThis study seeks to develop and validate the questionnaire on Parental Involvement in Transition from Kindergarten to Primary School (PITKPS) for children with DD in China. MethodsA total of 241 parents of children with DD participated in Study 1, and another 247 parents participated in Study 2. In study 1, we used item analysis and exploratory factor analysis to screen items and explore the factor structure of the PITKPS questionnaire. In study 2, three types of validity were examined: construct validity; convergent and discriminative validity; and criterion-related validity. Internal consistency was used to measure reliability. ResultsThe final version of the PITKPS questionnaire comprised 37 items that examined six factors. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the use of the six-factor model, and the results indicated that the questionnaire had good reliability and validity. ConclusionsThe PITKPS questionnaire can be used as a valid tool to assess the involvement of Chinese parents in the transition from kindergarten to primary school of children with DD.

Examining multilevel influences on parental HPV vaccine hesitancy among multiethnic communities in Los Angeles: a qualitative analysis

BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine hesitancy is a growing concern in the United States, yet understudied among racial/ethnic minority parents. We conducted qualitative research to understand parental HPV vaccine hesitancy and inform community-specific, multilevel approaches to improve HPV vaccination among diverse populations in Los Angeles.MethodsWe recruited American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Hispanic/Latino/a (HL) and Chinese parents of unvaccinated children (9–17 years) from low-HPV vaccine uptake regions in Los Angeles for virtual focus groups (FGs). FGs were conducted in English (2), Mandarin (1), and Spanish (1) between June-August 2021. One English FG was with AI/AN-identifying parents. FGs prompted discussions about vaccine knowledge, sources of information/hesitancy, logistical barriers and interpersonal, healthcare and community interactions regarding HPV vaccination. Guided by the social-ecological model, we identified multilevel emergent themes related to HPV vaccination.ResultsParents (n = 20) in all FGs reported exposure to HPV vaccine information from the internet and other sources, including in-language media (Mandarin) and health care providers (Spanish). All FGs expressed confusion around the vaccine and had encountered HPV vaccine misinformation. FGs experienced challenges navigating relationships with children, providers, and friends/family for HPV vaccine decision-making. At the community-level, historical events contributed to mistrust (e.g., forced community displacement [AI/AN]). At the societal-level, transportation, and work schedules (Spanish, AI/AN) were barriers to vaccination. Medical mistrust contributed to HPV vaccine hesitancy across the analysis levels.ConclusionOur findings highlight the importance of multilevel influences on parental HPV vaccine hesitancy and decision-making and the need for community-specific messaging to combat medical mistrust and other barriers to HPV vaccination among racial/ethnic minority communities.