"Tiger mom, cat dad" : a study of Chinese parenting style in a Shenzhen kindergarten

Abstract

Much of the research in Chinese parenting style has focused on comparative studies between Chinese parents and counterparts from other backgrounds, such as immigrant Chinese and Western parents. Few have studied the appropriateness of employing this Western conceptualization of parenting style to describe Chinese parents, and fewer have noted the within-family differences between mothers and fathers. This thesis examined the Chinese parenting style in early years by conducting two empirical studies in a Shenzhen kindergarten. Study One was quantitative in nature, designed to find the differences between maternal and paternal parenting style, to cluster the major types and combinations of parenting profiles, and to find the association between parenting style and children’s early developmental outcomes. A sample of 86 children and their parents was involved, the parenting style was examined using parents’ self-report, and children’s developmental outcomes were measured with Bracken Basic Concept Scale-Revised and Preschool and Primary Chinese Literacy Scale. The results indicated that these parents scored relatively high in authoritativeness, and that mothers and fathers varied significantly in authoritarian parenting style. The major clusters of parenting style were easygoing parenting, followed by tiger parenting and supportive parenting and the major combinations of maternal and paternal parenting style were easygoing-easygoing and tiger-tiger parenting. Significant relationship between parenting style and children’s developmental outcomes were not found in the quantitative study. Study Two was a multiple case study to further examine the appropriateness of adopting the parenting measurements from western contexts utilized in Study One. Home visit and individual interviews were conducted in four families composed of two high achieving children and two low achieving children. Observations of family member interactions as well as semi-structured interview indicated that some parents’ self-perceived parenting style was different from that implied by the questionnaire, and that children’s academic achievement was more affected by parental involvement and practices than parenting styles. Implications, limitations and future research directions on this topic are discussed.