Chinese American parents' understanding of their child's bicultural experiences

This study examined Chinese American parents' understanding of their child's bicultural experience as well as the child's ethnic identity and experience of biculturalism. In addition the parent-child relationship was also an important factor that was explored. Semi-structured, qualitative individual interviews were conducted with a participant sample that included ten parent-child dyads. Parent participants were all mothers with an average age of forty-six and child participants were six boys and four girls with an average age of eleven. All participants were from the greater Los Angeles area. It was originally postulated that Chinese American parents would have a lack of understanding or awareness in their children's bicultural experiences. Also, it was theorized that the Chinese American children and their parents would have relatively little communication with each other in their relationship and that Chinese American children would experience bicultural experiences negatively.; The results indicated that 60% of parents did understand or had heard of the term biculturalism. In addition, they were able to explain biculturalism through narratives of their children's experiences. However, they never applied the concept of biculturalism to those narratives. Also, parents and children reported no difficulties in being bicultural. Parents reported that their children were "lucky" in being exposed to both cultures and they hoped they would take on the positive traits of both cultures. In addition, child participants reported switching between being more American at school and more Chinese at home but reported this to have no problems. Other themes that arose included the difficulties of the language barrier, identity, and emphasis of education.; The findings clearly illustrated the need to delve deeper into the understanding of how biculturalism influences Chinese American families and others alike. This study raised the necessity for further research in this area in working with communities that experience negotiating between two cultures.