The parenting of immigrant Chinese and European American mothers: Relations between parenting styles, socialization goals, and parental practices

Clarification of the cultural meaning of parenting for immigrant Chinese was determined, focusing on parenting style as well as socialization goals and practices. Although the cultural relevance of an alternative parenting style, training, has been demonstrated for Chinese parents, the broader-level cultural values or socialization goals and parental practices that may be related to training have not been examined. Immigrant Chinese (n = 95) and European American (n = 52) mothers of children in the first through third grades completed measures of Baumrind's parenting styles and Chao's training items, in addition to measures of socialization goals and practices (parental involvement in school). This study found that Chinese mothers endorsed the training, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles, while also endorsing socialization goals for filial piety and structural parental involvement practices in comparison with European American mothers. However, additional analyses for examining ethnic group differences in the associations between training and the other parenting scales, these associations were similar for immigrant Chinese and European American mothers.