Order Parenting Styles Between Caucasian And Asian Cultures Based On Gender

Running head: PARENTING STYLES

Comparison of Caucasian and Asian Parenting Cultures

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

PARENTING STYLES 2

Comparison of Caucasian and Asian Parenting Cultures

The process of parenting is fundamental to the growth of a child. It is the role of a parent

or guardian to guide the young ones as they pass through their formative stages of life. Parenting

styles differ across cultures, and the differences in styles of parenting have a direct effect on the

outcome of the child. According to Gelb and Leibowitz (2013), the different styles of parenting

include authoritative parenting, permissive and authoritarian parenting. Authoritative parenting is

an approach to parenting which is characterized by a parent despite setting limits and rules; they

take into account the perspective of the child and other factors. Such parents often engage in

communication with their children in an open manner to allow for debates and discussions on

ideas and the parent is the ultimate decision maker. Authoritarian parenting is an approach where

there are high standards set and strict rules and communication is little and often no room for

negotiation on rules set. Such parents often insist that a child must follow the directives of the

parent without their opinion or option being accounted for. Permissive parenting is a style of

parenting that has plenty communication and nurturing. However, this style lacks control and

discipline. In most cases, the parent is often passive, and the child is left to make most of their

decisions by themselves without the opinion of their parents. This style lacks control and

discipline of children.

In the American society, there is a culture of embracing self-expression, self-

sufficiency, and uniqueness in character. Most Caucasian parents strive for their children to be

able to achieve a sense of autonomy so that they can be able to gain independence and

assertiveness that will build up and help them at later stages of life to make better choices. In an

Asian setting, they often emphasize the need for independence, solidarity within groups and

being humble as a person. Autonomy is one of the least important aspects of this culture while

PARENTING STYLES 3

good behavior, achievement as a group and obedience are given high regard. The differences in

the cultures can lead to Asian teenagers being faced with challenges such as adaptation to

American cultures as they attempt to live up to the values of their cultures and those impacted by

their parents (Forehand and Kotchick, 2016).

The environment of a child has capabilities to shape different aspects such as their

personality, self-perception, and lifestyle with the parents being the most influential people in a

child’s life mostly until they are teenagers before they develop a sense of independence. How

parents show love, punish and exert other forces on their children affects their well-being

psychologically and has a resulting impact on their growth. The style used has different

outcomes for a child and how they relate to their parents as well as themselves. Different styles

have different outcomes, and often, different styles are associated with different cultures.

The primary cultural difference between Caucasian and Asian American cultures,

according to Greenfield (2014), is the concepts of interdependence and independence. This is

seen wherein the Caucasian American culture, there is an emphasis on embracing self-

expression, developing a sense of independence, self-sufficiency, and ability to express oneself.

In the Asian American culture and society, the emphasis is put on the need for interdependence,

solidarity in groups, personal humility, and social hierarchy. These differences often cause

conflict for teenagers as they grow older and seek to break off from the control of their parents.

These differences have been reported to lead to issues such as lack of cohesion between

teenagers and their parents and eventually, there is a resulting negative effect on their

psychological well-being. Often, this is seen in Asian American cultures due to the demands of

the culture.

PARENTING STYLES 4

Caucasian American parents have more focus on how a child can be able to create a

sense of independence, be expressive of self and assertive especially at an early age. In this

culture, children are given choices daily so that they can learn early how to be assertive and

independent. Their ability of the children to have an influence on their lives allows them to

develop a sense of self which makes them feel in control of their lives. Caucasian American

parents instead of reminding their children experiences form their past that can bring about

feelings of shame or lower their self-esteem, they focus on affirmative and entertaining

memories which help in the protection of their self-esteem (Forehand and Kotchick, 2016).

Asian American parents view personal autonomy differently; it is highly ignored. They

teach their children to develop a sense of connectedness with their families and to have and

maintain an interdependent view of self. For harmony to be preserved within the family unit, the

children are expected to develop a sense of self-restraint and attunement. These parents also

focus on reminding their children of transgressions from the past which have invoked social

norms, culture, and morals. This has an effect of obedience in future. However, it is clouded by

the children developing a sense of feeling ashamed about their actions and lowered self-esteem.

The child is then prohibited from free expression.

The family unit is highly regarded in Asian American cultures according to Asakaw and

Csikszentmihalyi (2014). The ability to adhere to authority acts as a force for reinforcement of

the child within the family. They are expected to be obedient, respectful to authority always and

uphold good moral character. Independence is associated with being a member of the family who

contributes as opposed to being a self-sufficient individual. The traditions have been in play for

long period of time leading to difficulty in making changes to them. For example, according to

PARENTING STYLES 5

Cheah et al. (2013), Chinese immigrant mothers stated that they feel a strong bond between them

and their children and the strength of the culture makes it difficult to break.

Asian American parents are often strict with them imposing academic and career

achievements on their children, an aspect that which seems nearly impossible and too far-

fetched. Also, children are often excluded from the decision-making process, a phenomenon

which has led to the occurrence of forced marriages between couples for a goal such as family

unity, wealth and other similar reasons since they are not allowed to make their own decisions.

The culture has the concepts of harmony and independence deeply rooted within them it leads to

the parents feeling the excessive need for taking control of their children’s lives. They have

beliefs such as children having to make sacrifices for their personal desires so that the entire

family can benefit. In the event there is a conflict between the desires of a child and the family

unit, then the desires of the child are suppressed so that the ‘greater’ good can be achieved for

the family (Gelb & Leibowitz, (2013).

Also, Asian American cultures have a tendency of demanding obedience without question,

control over children and being strict with children. Asian American parents are classified as

authoritarian parents due to their style of parenting. They tend to be authoritative over different

circles of their children’s lives such as in the selection of what to wear, what extracurricular

activities to indulge in at school, and in most cases, the area of study. It is common for Asian

American students to take up courses based on the decisions made by their parents. They are

stereotyped to be better than other cultures in educational realms and assumptions are made that

they are better than their counterparts on their academic journey. Additionally, the parents of

most Asian American children do not recognize the effort put in by the children in terms of

academic achievements. Also, the punishments are often severe.

PARENTING STYLES 6

Caucasian American parents are often considered as authoritative parents because they

often give their children room for negotiations and presentation of their opinions to be heard. The

children in this culture are given less punitive measures, but they are given pep talks to help them

understand and act as a guiding principle to tackling certain phenomenon. Children in this

culture are often given guidance on how to prepare for academic achievements instead of being

pushed to garner some points (Chen et al., 2014). They focus on the abilities of the child and

their strengths instead of them focusing on their weak areas and punishing them.

PARENTING STYLES 7

References

Asakaw, K., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). The quality of experience of Asian American

adolescents in activities related to future goals. In Applications of Flow in Human

Development and Education (pp. 339-358). Springer Netherlands.

Cheah, C. S., Leung, C. Y., & Zhou, N. (2013). Understanding “tiger parenting” through the

perceptions of Chinese immigrant mothers: Can Chinese and US parenting

coexist?. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 4(1), 30.

Chen, S. H., Hua, M., Zhou, Q., Tao, A., Lee, E. H., Ly, J., & Main, A. (2014). Parent-child

cultural orientations and child adjustment in Chinese American immigrant

families. Developmental psychology, 50(1), 189.

Forehand, R., &Kotchick, B. A. (2016). Cultural Diversity: A Wake-Up Call for Parent

Training–Republished Article. Behavior therapy, 47(6), 981-992.

Gelb, C., & Leibowitz, E. (2013). Developmental Psychology at Vanderbilt.

Greenfield, P. M. (2014). Cross-cultural roots of minority child development. Psychology Press.

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."

Order Parenting Styles between Caucasian and Asian Cultures based on gender

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

Ian McGregor

Shannon Williams