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, M_age = 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.     

Socioeconomic status, parental investments, and the cognitive and behavioral outcomes of low-income children from immigrant and native households

The current study examines the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on preschool children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes and if these relations are mediated by the quality of children's home environment and moderated by family nativity status. Data come from 1459 low-income families (n = 257 and 1202 immigrant and native families, respectively). Results indicated that among both immigrant and native households, maternal education, as compared to household income or welfare receipt, was the strongest predictor of a composite of SES. Path analyses estimated direct and indirect effects of SES and revealed greater similarity than difference in the processes by which SES influences immigrant and native children's preschool outcomes. Language/literacy stimulation and maternal supportiveness mediated the relations of SES to children's cognitive outcomes among both immigrant and native families. In contrast, parenting stress mediated the effects of SES on children's aggressive behavior among native, but not immigrant, households.     

Maternal Attribution and Chinese Immigrant Children’s Social Skills: The Mediating Role of Authoritative Parenting Practices

SYNOPSIS

Objective . This study explores the contributions of Chinese immigrant mothers’ parenting cognitions and parenting practices to their children’s social skills. Design . We used a cross-sectional design to examine the mediating role of authoritative parenting in associations between Chinese immigrant mothers’ parenting attributions and their children’s social skills. Chinese immigrant mothers (N = 208, M _age = 37.36 years) reported their attributions regarding successes and failures in their daily caregiving experiences, authoritative parenting practices, and demographic information. Their preschool children’s (M _age = 4.51 years, 46.2% females) social skills in school were rated by their teachers. Results . Maternal attributions of successful events to uncontrollable causes and unsuccessful events to controllable causes were associated with more authoritative parenting. In turn, more authoritative parenting was associated with more competent social skills in children. In contrast, maternal attributions of successful events to controllable causes and unsuccessful events to uncontrollable causes were associated with less authoritative parenting, which in turn was associated with poorer social skills in children. Conclusions . Promoting Chinese immigrant mothers’ attributions that preserve positive efficacy during daily parenting tasks may enhance their engagement in warm, autonomy-promoting and regulatory parenting, which in turn may facilitate their children’s social skills.     

New immigrant parents’ experiences in a parent education programme

The immigrant population in Hong Kong is steadily increasing every year. This immigrant population largely comprises families, most of whom have pre-school and school-age children. However, limited information is known on the practices that immigrant parents adopt when they become involved in their children’s schooling. In the present study, the researcher implemented a Quality Education Fund project called ‘Building a caring community: Family support and empowerment.’ The project aimed to promote parent education and to build a caring community by implementing a group parent education program (GPEP) for low-income and new immigrant parents. The parent leaders conducted an outreach parent education program in which the low-income, new immigrant parents (target parents) had their children enrolled in two kindergartens. The parent leaders imparted parenting knowledge, shared positive parenting strategies, and exchanged their own experiences with target parents. The present research aims to study how new immigrant parents evaluate their experiences and the effectiveness of the GPEP. Results suggest that providing opportunities for mutual support and emotional healing correlates with improved parenting attitudes and practices.     

半规制化养育与儿童的文化反叛--三个中产家庭的童年民族志

研究采用教育民族志的方法,研究了X家族三个中产家庭的养育实践和童年经验。研究发现:精英中产家庭的养育方式是民主宣称下的牺牲式陪伴;普通中产家庭采取的是随性宠溺下的情感依附养育;边缘中产家庭努力为孩子创造最好的物质条件和学习环境,但没有时间进行教育陪伴,是一种愧疚驱动下的补偿式教育。殊途同归的是,三个中产家庭在物质支撑和教育投入方面都做出了最大努力,为孩子构筑了一个外部安全环境,期待孩子未来有个“安稳人生”但不一定要“出类拔萃”;父母在管控的同时基于良好亲子关系和孩子心理健康的考虑,给予孩子一定的自由娱乐空间。然而,新生代儿童对成人构筑的安全空间并不满意,他们通过玩具领地、英雄游戏、暗黑文学、火星文字等建构了一个秘密王国,表现出了儿童的能动性、创造性和叛逆性。总的来说,中产家庭采用的是“半规制化”的养育方式,其养育实践和童年经验较为依赖市场提供的科学、文化、娱乐商品,呈现出囫囵吞枣般的文化杂食特征。要走出教育焦虑,中产父母需要认识到科学知识和常规性教育的有限性,更多地参与到社会生活中去寻求支持。但更为关键的是,在常规性教育之外,成人要了解、接纳和参与孩子的冒险生活,提供具有挑战性危机性使命性特征的、可以召唤儿童主体性浮现的“非规制化教育”或者说“世俗外教育”。     

历时文本中宗教词汇翻译比较——以《汤姆叔叔的小屋》三个汉译本为例

《汤姆叔叔的小屋》中的宗教情结是小说的显著特征。以小说不同时期的三个汉译本为例,采用描述性与解释性相结合的方法,对比分析小说中宗教词汇的翻译。结果表明:宗教词汇的理解与解释深受译者特定的历史阶段和自我视域的影响,是译者发挥主观能动性从而和原作者以原作为中心的动态阐释过程。     

Making ‘space’: young people put at a disadvantage re-engaging with learning

Young people who disengage or disconnect from school are often demonised within the media and the wider public imagination, from a largely individualized and pathological positioning. Policy explanations and responses are often unhelpful in their focus on a range of ‘deficit’ attributes – poverty, poor parenting, dysfunctional families, low familial achievement, aspiration and motivation, and other ‘at risk’ categories. This paper offers a different explanatory framework that foregrounds the experiences of some young people who had disengaged from school and resumed learning under a very different set of conditions to the ones that had exiled them from schools in the first place. Using a socio-spatial framework, the paper explores the notion of ‘relational space’ as it was appropriated and reclaimed by these young people, in explaining how they saw themselves as constructing viable and sustainable learning identities for themselves.     

中国移民的文化适应研究综述

近十几年来,对中国移民群体文化适应的研究在数量上呈现出明显增长的趋势。已有的与中国移民文化适应有关的研究涉及到与亲子关系和教养方式、身份认同与满意感、身心健康水平、价值观念等因素与文化适应的关系,也对文化适应与这些因素相互作用的心理机制进行了探讨。今后的研究应进一步从中国文化历史和价值观的大背景下分析中国移民文化适应的特点,将这一研究主题推向深入。     

Formal versus informal prekindergarten care and school readiness for children in immigrant families: A synthesis review

The U.S. is witnessing two major trends in its rising cohorts of young children preparing to start school: an increase in the utilization of formal (e.g., center-based) childcare options in the year before starting kindergarten and an increase in the share of these young children who come from immigrant families. Given that many children from immigrant families in the U.S. start school at a disadvantage relative to native-born children, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners have inquired into which prekindergarten alternatives might be most effective at boosting school readiness for this group of children. This review covers the effects of formal versus informal prekindergarten alternatives in the year before entering school on a commonly-explored set of child-level academic and socioemotional indictors of school readiness for children in immigrant families in the U.S. In contrast to remaining in informal care, children in immigrant families showed fairly consistent, positive academic and socioemotional effects of attending formal prekindergarten in the year before kindergarten for children in immigrant families. Compared to native-born children in formal care, children from immigrant families in formal care showed some positive, but not as consistent, evidence of closing gaps between these two groups across school readiness indicators. Finally, there are several, noteworthy common limitations in this body of literature, which can be used to shape future research agendas and policy dialogue.     

Family stress, parenting styles, and behavioral adjustment in preschool-age adopted Chinese girls

This study seeks to extend previous research on family stress, parenting, and child adjustment to families with adopted Chinese children. In doing so, we also seek to strengthen inferences regarding the experiential underpinnings of previously obtained relationships among these variables by determining if they also occur in families where parents and children are not biologically related. Participants were families of 133 preschool-age adopted Chinese girls (M_age = 5.2 years, SD = 0.7; M_{age at adoption} = 12.8 months, SD = 4.1). Data on family stress, parenting styles, and children's behavioral adjustment were collected from the adoptive mothers with the Social Problem Questionnaire (SPQ), Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ), and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) respectively. Results showed that adoptive mothers reported relatively mild family stress, frequent authoritative parenting, and few behavior problems in their children. Nonetheless, family stress, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles positively correlated with children's behavioral problems. Finally, authoritarian parenting mediated the effect of non-child-related family stress (NCR-stress) on the adopted Chinese girls’ CBCL internalizing and overall problems, even after controlling for corresponding CBCL scores from 2 years earlier. Our results showed that the overall pattern of relationships found in non-adoptive families is also seen in families with adopted Chinese children.     

Mothers' parenting cognitions in cultures of origin, acculturating cultures, and cultures of destination

Japanese and South American immigrant mothers' parenting cognitions (attributions and self-perceptions) were compared with mothers from their country of origin (Japan and Argentina, respectively) and European American mothers in the United States. Participants were 231 mothers of 20-month-old children. Generally, South American immigrant mothers' parenting cognitions more closely resembled those of mothers in the United States, whereas Japanese immigrant mothers' cognitions tended to be similar to those of Japanese mothers or intermediate between Japanese and U.S. mothers. This study provides insight into the nature of parenting cognitions generally and those of immigrant mothers specifically and therefore the parenting climate in which immigrant children are reared.     

批判性思维与英语写作教学

本文以一则运用批判性思维进行描写的英语写作作业为例,探讨中国英语写作教学中运用批判性思维的情况。研究方法既有对学生作文进行文本分析和描述研究,也有对学生作文得分的量化研究,也邀请了其他教师对学生作文评分。批判性思维的认知技能基本体现在逻辑思维,辩证思维,创新思维这3种思维能力上。本研究显示,学生作文基本做到逻辑清楚,而英语写作教学中运用批判性思维的薄弱环节是创新思维能力和辩证思维能力。培养批判性思维可分解为情感策略,元认知策略——宏观技能和认知策略——微观技能3大类。结合相应的问题,从认知——微观技能给出培养批判性思维的具体策略范例,从而在写作训练和批判性思维的培养之间建立紧密联系。     

描写、解释和应用——关于当代语言学研究的一些思考

科学研究不外乎描写、解释、应用三类.描写性研究是解释性研究的基础,应用性研究涉及我们研究语言的终极目的,汉语的描写性研究和应用性研究都还有许多课题要做.本文以"汉语焦点的类别和等级"、"信息处理用的汉语框架语义分析系统"为例说明汉语描写研究应该做得精细、精确和精密,汉语应用研究要做很多开拓性工作.     

Extending Research on the Consequences of Parenting Style for Chinese Americans and European Americans

This study examined the effects of parent-adolescent relationships on school performance to provide a clearer understanding of why authoritative parenting does not have as beneficial effects for Asian Americans as it does for European Americans. Over 500 adolescents of Chinese- (148 first and 176 second generation) and European-descent (208 primarily third generation or more) families from seven different high schools completed measures of (1) parenting style, (2) parent-adolescent closeness (cohesion subscale from the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Environment Scales II and relationship satisfaction), and (3) school performance. Positive effects of both authoritative parenting and relationship closeness on school performance were found for European Americans and, to some extent, second-generation Chinese, but not first-generation Chinese. These effects were also stronger for European Americans than first-generation Chinese. Through examination of the mediating role of parent-adolescent relationships, this study also found that among European American families, the beneficial effects of authoritative parenting are explained through relationship closeness.     

Tackling the remaining attainment gap between students with and without immigrant background: an investigation into the equivalence of SES constructs

In England, students with immigrant background exhibit lower educational attainment than those without immigrant background. Family socioeconomic status (SES) helps explain differences in educational attainment, but a gap remains that differs in size for students with different immigrant backgrounds. While the explanatory repertoire for the remaining gap is broad, it has been neglected to comprehensively investigate whether family SES constructs are equivalent across students with different immigrant backgrounds. Using data from the first wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) for England (n = 4,315), the paper applies exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) to evaluate measurement invariance of family background constructs across students without and with immigrant background, specifically Pakistani/Bangladeshi immigrant background. Results suggest differences in the structure of family SES indicators across groups and in their association with educational attainment. Complementary variables are suggested to enhance family SES indicators. Findings are relevant to researchers investigating educational inequalities related to immigrant background.     

Relations of social‐emotional functioning and kindergarten academic achievement in children of immigrants

Nearly one in four students residing in the United States is from an immigrant family and these children's school readiness is related to their parent's nativity and other sociodemographic characteristics. Social‐emotional skills are an important conduit for academic development, yet these relations have not been explored for children from immigrant families. This study utilized the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011, a nationally representative sample of 13,400 students in the United States, to compare the social‐emotional development of kindergarten students from immigrant and nonimmigrant families, and to determine the relations of social‐emotional functioning to kindergarten achievement. Results indicate elevated social‐emotional functioning among children from immigrant families, particularly those who emigrated immigrated from Mexico, compared with children of U.S.‐born parents. Parent nativity predicted reading achievement, but not mathematics performance, even when controlling for sociodemographic factors and social‐emotional skills. This study suggests an immigrant advantage in early social‐emotional development. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

东西方文化冲突在母女之间的反映——论谭恩美小说《喜福会》中的母女关系

美国华裔作家谭恩美在其小说《喜福会》中选择母女关系作为故事的重要线索,表现母女之间存在的矛盾。文章分析这种矛盾产生的由来、其深层根源和解决的过程,以揭示华裔家庭面临的困扰,暗示出母女间的理解和沟通是解决这些困扰的一种途径。