Southeast Asian Adolescents’ Perceptions of Immigrant Parenting Practices

• Published in: Hmong studies journal Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 1 - 20
• Main Authors: Zha Blong Xiong, Daniel Detzner
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hmong Studies Journal 01-12-2005
• Subjects: hmong; parenting education
• ISSN: 1091-1774

In their countries of origin, immigrant youth are unlikely to question the age-old child-rearing practices of their elders; however, the parenting of adolescents in an adopted country can become a major source of family conflict. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Southeast Asian adolescents growing up in the United States perceive their parents’ practices in six areas of parenting responsibility identified by the National Extension Parent Education Model: caring for self, understanding, guiding, nurturing, motivating, and advocating. Four focus groups were conducted with 37 Southeast Asian (Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese) adolescent boys and girls between the ages of 14 to 19 years to ascertain how they perceived parenting behaviors. An analytic induction procedure was used to analyze transcripts from in-depth focus group discussions. Results indicate wide divergence between the idealized practices of the model, the parents’ actual practices, and adolescents’ perceptions of parenting practices. The study has important implications for the growing number of immigrant families from diverse cultures who are parenting adolescents in unfamiliar cultural contexts and for the educators, human service providers, and others who work with them.