Skip to main content
Log in

Father, Mother and Me: Parental Value Orientations and Child Self-identity in Asian American Immigrants

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Sex Roles Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Relations between Asian American parental value orientations and children’s self-identity in the domains of achievement and relationship were examined. Sixty-nine Asian American youths (15 males) of East Asian origin (51 Chinese, 18 Koreans) interviewed their parents (30 fathers) for their life stories as first-generation Asian Americans. They also told their life stories as second-generation Asian Americans. Fathers and mothers upheld Confucian values, which were associated with children’s autonomous sense of self in achievement domain and relational sense of self in relationship domain. Furthermore, fathers and mothers had differential influences on children’s self-identity, and sons and daughters responded differently to parental value socializations. Findings are discussed with respect to parent–child relationships and continuity of ethnic values in contemporary Asian American families.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arends-Toth, J., & van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2006). Issues in the conceptualization and assessment of acculturation. In M. H. Bornstein, & L. R. Cote (Eds.), Acculturation and parent–child relationships: Measurement and development (pp. 33–62). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birman, D. (2006). Measurement of the “acculturation gap” in immigrant families and implications for parent-child relationships. In M. H. Bornstein, & L. R. Cote (Eds.), Acculturation and parent–child relationships: Measurement and development (pp. 113–134). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (2002). Making stories: Law, literature, life. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buriel, R., & DeMent, T. (1997). Immigration and sociocultural change in Mexican, Chinese, and Vietnamese American families. In A. Booth, A. C. Crouter, & N. Landale (Eds.), Immigrant and the family: Research and policy on U.S. immigration pp. 165–200. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao, R. K. (1995). Chinese and European American cultural models of the self reflected in mother’s childrearing beliefs. Ethos (Berkeley, Calif.), 23, 328–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chao, R. K. (2000). Cultural explanation for the role of parenting in the school success of Asian American children. In R. Taylor, & M. Wang (Eds.), Resilience across contexts: Family, work, culture, and community (pp. 333–363). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao, R. K., & Tseng, V. (2002). Parenting of Asians. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Vol. 4, Social conditions and applied parenting (pp. 59–93, 2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheah, C. S. L., & Park, S. (2006). South Korean mothers’ beliefs regarding aggression and social withdrawal in preschoolers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21, 61–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiu, M. L., Feldman, S. S., & Rosenthal, D. A. (1992). The influence of immigration on parental behavior and adolescent distress in Chinese families residing in two Western nations. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2, 205–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dion, K. K., & Dion, K. L. (2001). Gender and cultural adaptation in immigrant families. The Journal of Social Issues, 57, 511–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrant, K., & Reese, E. (2000). Maternal style and children’s participation in reminiscing: Stepping stones in children’s autobiographical memory development. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1, 193–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R., & Buckner, J. P. (2003). Constructing gender and identity through autobiographical narratives. In R. Fivush, & C. Haden (Eds.), Autobiographical memory and the construction of a narrative self: Developmental and cultural perspectives (pp. 149–168). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R., Brotman, M. A., Buckner, J. P., & Goodman, S. H. (2000). Gender differences in parent-child emotion narratives. Sex Roles, 42, 233–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gloria, A. M., & Ho, T. A. (2003). Environmental, social, psychological experiences of Asian American undergraduates: Examining issues of academic persistence. Journal of Counseling and Development, 81, 93–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, D., & Edelstein, W. (1992). Self-understanding development in cross-cultural perspective. In T. M. Brinthaupt, & R. P. Lipka (Eds.), The self: Definitional and methodological issues (pp. 291–322). New York: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S. (1999). The construction of the self: A developmental perspective. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, C. E., Thompson, B. J., & Williams, E. N. (1997). A guide to conducting consensual qualitative research. The Counseling Psychologist, 25, 517–572.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holsti, O. (1968). Content analysis. In G. Lindzey, & E. Aronson (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (pp. 596–692, 2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homer, P. (1993). Transmission of human values: A cross-cultural investigation of generational and reciprocal influence effects. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 119, 343–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kagitcibasi, C. (2003). Autonomy, embeddedness and adaptability in immigration contexts. Human Development, 46, 145–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kagitcibasi, C. (2005). Autonomy and relatedness in cultural context: Implications for self and family. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 403–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, U., & Park, Y. (2006). Indigenous psychological analysis of academic achievement in Korea: The influence of self-efficacy, parents and culture. International Journal of Psychology, 41, 287–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, B. S. K., Atkinson, D. R., & Yang, P. H. (1999). The Asian values scale: Development, factor analysis, validation, and reliability. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46, 342–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, B. K., Li, L. C., & Ng, G. F. (2005). The Asian American value scale—Multidimensional: Development, reliability and validity. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 11, 187–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwak, K. (2003). Adolescents and their parents: A review of intergenerational family relations for immigrant and non-immigrant families. Human Development, 46, 115–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, C. L., & Zane, N. W. S. (1998). Handbook of Asian American psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. M., Yoon, E., & Liu-Tom, H. T. (2006). Structure and measurement of acculturation/ enculturation for Asian Americans using the ARSMA-II. Measurement & Evaluation in Counseling & Development, 39, 42–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leong, F. T. L., Inman, A. G., Ebreo, A., Yang, L. H., Kinoshita, L., & Fu, M. (2007) (Eds.), Handbook of Asian American psychology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

  • Li, J. (2001). Chinese conceptualization of learning. Ethos (Berkeley, Calif.), 29, 111–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, J. (2005). Mind or virtue: Western and Chinese beliefs about learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 190–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, J. (2006). Self in learning: Chinese adolescents’ goals and sense of agency. Child Development, 77, 482–501.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, C. Y. C., & Fu, V. R. (1990). A comparison of child-rearing practices among Chinese, immigrant Chinese and Caucasian American parents. Child Development, 61, 429–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLean, K. C. (2005). Late adolescent identity development: Narrative meaning making and memory telling. Developmental Psychology, 41, 683–691.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Phinney, J. S., Ong, A., & Madden, T. (2000). Cultural values and intergenerational value discrepancies in immigrant and non-immigrant families. Child Development, 71, 528–539.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pye, L. W. (2000). “Asian values”: From dynamos to dominoes? In L. E. Harrison, & S. P. Huntington (Eds.), Culture matters: How values shape human progress pp. 244–255. NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (1991). Essentials of behavioral research: Methods and data analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, G. (1989). An analysis of JAP-baiting humor on the college campus. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 2, 329–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sue, S., & Okazaki, S. (1990). Asian-American educational achievements: A phenomenon in search of an explanation. The American Psychologist, 45, 913–920.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tang, T. N., & Dion, K. L. (1999). Gender and acculturation in relation to traditionalism: Perceptions of self and parents among Chinese students. Sex Roles, 41, 17–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tseng, V., Chao, R. K., & Padmawidjaja, I. A. (2007). Asian Americans’ educational experiences. In F. T. L. Leong, A. G. Inman, A. Ebreo, L. H. Yang, L. Kinoshita, & M. Fu (Eds.), Handbook of Asian American psychology (pp. 105–124, 2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tu, W. (1985). Confucian thought: Selfhood as creative transformation. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q. (2004). The emergence of cultural self-constructs: Autobiographical memory and self-description in European American and Chinese children. Developmental Psychology, 40, 3–15.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q. (2006). Culture and the development of self-knowledge. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 182–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q., & Leichtman, M. D. (2000). Same beginnings, different stories: A comparison of American and Chinese children’s narratives. Child Development, 71, 1329–1346. doi:10.1111/1467–8624.00231.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q., & Li, J. (2003). Chinese children’s self-concept in the domains of learning and social relations. Psychology in the Schools, 40, 85–101. doi:10.1002/pits.10071.

  • Wang, Q., Koh, J. B. K., Liang, A. Y., Li, J. Y., & Lindsey, S. (in press). Self-narrative and the construction of identity in Asian American young adults. International Journal of Psychology Research.

  • Yee, B. W. K., DeBaryshe, B. D., Yuen, S., Kim, S. Y., & McCubbin, H. I. (2007). Asian American and Pacific Islander families: Resiliency and life-span socialization in a cultural context. In F. T. L. Leong, A. G. Inman, A. Ebreo, L. H. Yang, L. Kinoshita, & M. Fu (Eds.), Handbook of Asian American psychology (pp. 69–86, 2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ying, Y., Coombs, M., & Lee, P. A. (1999). Family intergenerational relationship of Asian American adolescents. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 5, 350–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. Lee C. Lee, whose help, guidance, and inspiration made the study possible. We thank Michelle Kim, Abie Li, Yexin Jessica Li, Amber Liang, Sean Lindsey, and Yin Tong for their assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qi Wang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Koh, J.B.K., Shao, Y. & Wang, Q. Father, Mother and Me: Parental Value Orientations and Child Self-identity in Asian American Immigrants. Sex Roles 60, 600–610 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9550-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9550-z

Keywords

Navigation