Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attitudes in Chinese American Families: Interplay of Socioeconomic Status and Acculturation

Abstract

This longitudinal study examined the influence of parents’ educational attitudes on adolescents’ educational attitudes and identified antecedents (i.e., parent education, family income, and parent acculturation), consequences (i.e., academic achievement and engagement), and a potential moderator (i.e., adolescent acculturation) of the transmission process. The sample was 444 Chinese American mothers, fathers, and adolescents (12–15 at W1). Using path analysis, this study found significant two-way interactions among parent education, income, and acculturation in predicting parents’ concurrent positive educational attitudes, which, in turn, predicted adolescents’ attitudes at W2. The latter link was further moderated by W1 and W2 adolescent acculturation for mother-adolescent and father-adolescent dyads. Adolescents’ positive educational attitudes at W2, in turn, were positively associated with their concurrent academic achievement and engagement.

Parental Acculturation and Children’s Bilingual Abilities: A Study With Chinese American and Mexican American Preschool DLLs

“…In line with previous research, we hypothesized that there will be varying levels of acculturation among the families (Oades-Sese and Li, 2011;Shen et al, 2016). Additionally, we hypothesize that on average DLL children will have low oral language abilities in both English and HL, similar to past studies (Hammer et al, 2014).…”

“…Cultural orientation may differ depending on a variety of factors including social class, reasons for immigration, how long the parent has been in the host country, how much support there is in the neighborhood and surrounding communities, and access to resources (Zhang, 2010). Past research has shown a wide range of acculturation levels for immigrant families (e.g., Oades-Sese and Li, 2011;Shen et al, 2016). Although there is variation in acculturation levels, studies with Chinese immigrant families in the United States have found that the majority of parents held on to their HL and culture because HL was the only communication tool for parents who had limited English proficiency (Zhang, 2010).…”

Time-varying associations of parent–adolescent cultural conflict and youth adjustment among Chinese American families.

“…The average of the father's and mother's highest education level was taken to indicate parental education level. Parental educational level was included as a covariate given its relation to adolescent depressive symptoms (Costello, Swendsen, Rose, & Dierker, 2008) and academic performance (Shen, Kim, & Wang, 2016). Adolescent gender and nativity were also included as covariates.…”

The Specificity Principle in Acculturation Science

“…Reciprocally, more acculturated parents are likely more accustomed to the mainstream educational system, which may benefit their children; separate from paternal education and family income, more acculturated Chinese American fathers have adolescents who get better grades (Kim, Wang, Chen, Shen, & Hou, 2015). Educational attitudes are more closely tied to educational achievement among more acculturated Asian American mothers (Shen, Kim, & Wang, 2016). More acculturated Latina American mothers read more (Raikes et al, 2006), provide a more cognitively stimulating home environment (M.…”