Chinese Immigrant Parents’ Perspectives on Psychological Well-Being, Acculturative Stress, and Support: Implications for Multicultural Consultation

ABSTRACT

This study investigated Chinese immigrant parents’ perspectives on Chinese immigrant children’s psychological well-being, acculturative stress, and sources of support. We conducted focus groups with 22 Chinese immigrant parents of school-aged children (16 mothers and 6 fathers); obtained participants’ sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds and acculturation levels through a self-developed questionnaire and the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale; and coded and analyzed the verbatim transcripts of the focus groups through deductive and inductive procedures. Results yielded 8 definitions of psychological well-being, 2 acculturative and 6 general themes of stresses, and 3 themes of support. A comparison of the results with previous research findings reveals convergent views regarding essence in psychological well-being, acculturative stresses, sources of support, and wanted interventions at home and school among Chinese immigrant parents, adolescents, and mental health providers. The common and different perspectives between parents and children on these issues provide a helpful reference for multicultural consultation.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all participants for their support, thank Dr. Bonnie K. Nastasi for initiating the Promoting Psychological Wellbeing Globally Project, thank Dr. Jianghe Niu for her assistance in the coding process and Ms. Rachel Ruah for her assistance in the cross validation, and thank Julia Martin, Margaret Beneville, Jake Rong, and Jane Cai for their assistance in the manuscript preparation.

Funding

The authors thank the Northeastern University Bouvé College of Health Sciences’ Kenerson Faculty Scholarship and the Commonwealth Research Center of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, for partial funding of this project.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the Northeastern University Bouvé College of Health Sciences’ Kenerson Faculty Scholarship and the Commonwealth Research Center of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, for partial funding of this project.

Notes on contributors

Chieh Li

Chieh Li, EdD, is an associate professor and director of clinical training at Northeastern University’s School Psychology Program. She received her EdD from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and is a licensed psychologist and nationally certified school psychologist. Dr. Li has extensive experience with multicultural populations both in research and practice of school psychology.

Huijun Li

Huijun Li, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, College of Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities at Florida A&M University. Dr. Li is a nationally certified school psychologist. She received her PhD in School Psychology from the University of Arizona in 2003.

Note: The authors report that, to the best of their knowledge, neither they nor their affiliated institutions have financial or personal relationships or affiliations that could influence or bias the opinions, decisions, or work presented in this article.