Parental Stress and Chinese Immigrant Preschoolers' Adjustment Problems: The Mediating Roles of Parenting Practices

Abstract

The present study examined two types of stress perceived by Chinese American mothers, general/contextual stress and parenting stress, and their unique associations with children's socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment problems. We also examined the mediating roles of two parenting practices, maternal psychologically controlling parenting and maternal warmth, in the relations between the two types of stress and child adjustment problems. Participants included 207 first-generation Chinese American mothers (Mage = 37.78; SDage = 4.36), and their 3- to 6-year-old children (Mage = 4.50; SDage = 0.90; 52% boys). Chinese immigrant mothers reported their perceived general/contextual stress, parenting stress, psychologically controlling parenting, and warmth, and teachers reported children's social, emotional, and behavioral problems in the school setting. The results revealed that higher levels of general/contextual stress and parenting stress each uniquely predicted higher maternal psychologically controlling parenting, which in turn, negatively predicted children's socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment problems. However, the mediating role of maternal warmth in the relation between the two types of stress and child adjustment problems was not found. Our findings informed the underlying mechanisms of the relation between stress perceived by parents and child outcomes.