Scholars have recently been paying greater attention to cultural and cross‐cultural research. However, studies have primarily been on between‐group comparisons, using White North American samples as a baseline. This approach results in misleading conclusions that overemphasize intergroup and underemphasize intragroup differences. We focus on Chinese families because they account for one‐fifth of the world's population, yet the understanding of Chinese families is limited. Our broad objective is a call to action, emphasizing the importance of moving beyond global and superficial assessments of Chinese parenting. On the basis of Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model, we critically explore the intra‐ and intergroup intricacies of Chinese parenting to illustrate how the study of culture and Chinese parenting has developed over the years. We provide in‐depth context for the various Chinese societies (i.e., China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) and recent social transformations that emphasize the importance of considering the exo‐ and macrosystems.
ObjectiveThis research explores fathers' construction of fathering to expand knowledge on the behavioral, cognitive, and affective domains of father involvement, focusing on middle childhood in ethnic minority families.BackgroundFathers' contributions to children's development and socialization have received increasing attention since the 1970s. Although exploration of ethnic minority fathers has increased, the literature on ethnic and minority fathers is limited because insight into fathers living outside North America continues to be understudied.MethodThis study employed a qualitative methodology from a social constructivist perspective and a bioecological model to contextualize fathering in Afro‐Jamaican families. Phenomenological thematic analysis (PTA) was used, focusing on 24 semistructured interviews from five biological and 19 biological and social Afro‐Jamaican fathers.ResultsUsing Palkovitz's (1997) conceptualization of fathering, including behavioral, affective, and cognitive domains, phenomenological thematic analysis was extended to include the spiritual domain. Furthermore, fathers reported being engaged with their biological and social children in similar ways.ConclusionThese findings highlight the need for researchers to explore both the universal and culturalized aspects of fathering in cultural contexts.ImplicationsFathers should be supported through social policies and program intervention to encourage fathers to be involved in children's lives in multiple ways.
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