Craig H. Hart

This mixed methods study is the first to investigate how nonschool peer networks are structured and facilitated in Asian American immigrant families. Using data from 212 Chinese American and 169 Korean American mothers of preschool-aged children, quantitative analyses revealed patterns in peer network characteristics across groups. Chinese families facilitated peer connections through extracurricular activities and neighborhood-based contacts more often than Korean families, whereas Korean families relied on church- and kin-based networks more frequently than Chinese families. Longitudinal multigroup regression analyses further showed that specific parent-facilitated peer network features, such as peer age composition and children's roles as hosts, predicted children's sociability in school 6 months later. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses identified six themes reflecting mothers' motivations and barriers in facilitating early peer contacts. Mothers in both groups emphasized the importance of peer interactions for children's social skill development and family closeness; while Chinese mothers highlighted children's happiness and enjoyment more often than Korean mothers, Korean mothers emphasized moral development and appropriate social conduct more frequently than Chinese mothers. By integrating longitudinal quantitative analyses with qualitative insights and comparing two major Asian American subgroups, this study extended developmental theories of socialization into nonschool peer contexts and underscored the importance of culturally responsive family- and community-based efforts to support immigrant children's social development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Cultural and historical contexts shape parenting practices, yet little is known about their variability in China pior to recent societal changes. This study uses historical data collected from 471 mothers and their preschool children in urban China before the early 21st century to examine parenting patterns and their co-occurring links to child behavior. We confirmed a multidimensional structure of parenting in this sample. Further, using latent profile analysis (LPA) with the mother–child dyad as the unit of analysis, we identified five profiles based on 11 mother-rated parenting dimensions and six teacher-rated child behaviors: (1) Balanced-Competent, (2) Traditional-Competent, (3) Controlling-Maladaptive, (4) Disengaged-Maladaptive, and (5) Inconsistent-Maladaptive. Complementing past, relatively uniform conceptualizations of historical Chinese socialization practices, these profiles represent culturally specific combinations of parenting and child adjustment. By applying a person-centered approach to historical data, this study provides a culturally grounded snapshot of Chinese parenting and child functioning around the turn of the century, offering a baseline for future comparison studies.

Children's temperamental surgency is associated with later child behavioral problems. However, the underlying mechanisms linking child surgency and child aggression, such as negative parental control, are relatively understudied. Moreover, the potential protective effect of a close parent‐child relationship on these associations remains untested, particularly among non‐White families. Participants included 259 Chinese American preschoolers (M_age = 4.5 years, SD = .9 years, 50% girls) and their mothers (M_age = 37.9 years, SD = 4.7 years), the present study examined the moderating effects of parent‐child relationship quality on the association between mother‐rated child surgency and teacher‐rated child aggression as mediated by maternal psychological control. Overall, results showed that child surgency was linked positively to maternal psychological control, which, in turn, led to higher levels of child aggression six months later, but only when the parent‐child relationship quality was less optimal. These findings indicate that psychological control is one underlying mechanism linking child temperament and child maladjustment, and that parent‐child relationship quality is an important protective factor. Findings also expand an existing theoretical framework by explicating how these variables are applicable to an Asian American population, suggesting the critical buffering role that parent‐child relationship quality plays. The study findings inform efforts to mitigate the potential negative effect of psychological control in reducing childhood aggression.

Objective: This study examined the transactional associations among maternal warmth, child temperamental inhibitory control, child externalizing behaviors, and maternal American acculturation in Korean immigrant families with young children across three time points, each 6 months apart. Method: Korean immigrant mothers (M-age = 35.93 years, SD = 3.68) and their preschool-aged children (M-age = 4.30 years, SD = 0.98) in the U.S. participated (n = 199 at Wave 1, n = 138 at Wave 2, and n = 105 at Wave 3). Mothers reported on their family demographics, maternal warmth, maternal American acculturation, and children's temperamental inhibitory control. Teachers reported on children's externalizing problems. Results: Moderate to strong stabilities within each construct across time and within-time covariations among the constructs were revealed. Transactional relations between parent and child were not found. However, Wave 1 maternal American acculturation significantly influenced their level of Wave 2 maternal warmth. Wave 2 maternal warmth predicted increases in Wave 3 child temperamental inhibitory control. Maternal warmth at Wave 2 statistically mediated the association between Wave 1 maternal acculturation and Wave 3 child inhibitory control. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of examining the complex mechanisms driving the associations among child, parenting, and cultural factors in promoting positive child characteristics and parenting practices. Public Significance Statement Children's development is influenced by complex interactions involving various socialization processes. Our findings suggest that children's temperamental characteristics are susceptible to parenting influence during early childhood and that maternal acculturation directly influences parenting in immigrant families.

This study compared parenting across four non‐Western cultures to test cross‐cultural commonality and specificity principles in three aspects: measurement properties, parenting normativeness, and their associations with child outcomes. Both mothers and fathers (N = 1509 dyads) with preschool‐aged children (M = 5.00 years; 48% girls) from urban areas of four countries (Malaysia, N = 372; China, N = 441; Turkey, N = 402; and Japan, N = 294) reported on four parenting constructs (authoritative, authoritarian, group harmony socialization, and intrusive control) and their sub‐dimensions using modified culturally relevant measures. Teachers reported on children's internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors. The commonality principle was supported by two sets of findings: (1) full measurement invariance was established for most parenting constructs and sub‐dimensions, except that intrusive control only reached partial scalar invariance, and (2) no variations were found in associations between parenting and any child outcomes across cultures or parent gender at the construct level for all four parenting constructs and at the sub‐dimensional level for authoritarian and intrusive control sub‐dimensions. The specificity principle was supported by the other two sets of findings: (1) cross‐cultural differences in parenting normativeness did not follow the pattern of economic development but yielded culture‐specific patterns, and (2) at the sub‐dimensional level, the authoritative parenting and group harmony socialization sub‐dimensions were differently associated with child outcomes across cultures and/or parent gender. The findings suggested that examining specific dimensions rather than broad parenting constructs is necessary to reflect cultural specificities and nuances. Our study provided a culturally‐invariant instrument and a three‐step guide for future parenting research to examine cross‐cultural commonalities/specificities.Research Highlights: This is the first study to use an instrument with measurement invariance across multiple non‐Western cultures to examine the commonality and specificity principles in parenting. Measurement invariance was achieved across cultures for authoritative and authoritarian parenting, group harmony socialization, intrusive control, and their sub‐dimensions, supporting the commonality principle. Cross‐cultural differences in parenting normativeness did not follow the pattern of economic development but yielded culture‐specific patterns, supporting the specificity principle. Both commonalities and specificities were manifested in associations between parenting and child outcomes across cultures.

Maternal and paternal parenting styles and marital interactions linked to childhood aggressive behavior as described in Western psychological literature were measured in an ethnic Russian sample of 207 families of nursery-school-age children. Results corroborated and extended findings from Western samples. Maternal and paternal coercion, lack of responsiveness, and psychological control (for mothers only) were significantly correlated with children's overt aggression with peers. Less responsiveness (for mothers and fathers) and maternal coercion positively correlated with relational aggression. Some of these associations differed for boys versus girls. Marital conflict was also linked to more overt and relational aggression for boys. When entered into the same statistical model, more marital conflict (for boys only), more maternal coercion, and less paternal responsiveness were found to be the most important contributors to overt and relational aggression in younger Russian children.

The purpose of this chapter is to explicate a conceptual model that illustrates how extrafamilial (e.g., sources of stress and support), personal (e.g., inherent psychological child and parent resources), and familial (e.g., parenting, family interactions) processes work together to affect social/communicative peer group outcomes in young children. It is traditionally assumed that proximal factors (e.g., parenting, sibling/family interactions) have the greatest influence on child outcomes. In this review the authors discuss how these proximal factors work in combination with a host of personal and extrafamilial variables in ways that are linked to child social/communicative competence with peers. In addition to explaining possible mechanisms responsible for linkages within and between model components, the authors recommend directions for future research in areas of the framework that have weak empirical support.