12:45-2:00pm
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Runme Shaw 203, HKU Main Campus

Speaker: Jennifer Chen
Chair: Nirmala Rao

This seminar will draw on interviews of 12 Chinese immigrant mothers in the USA with children aged two to six. The mothers’ parenting practices reflected the concept of jiaoyang, i.e. educating and rearing. The approach to parenting adopted by most mothers also reflected the psychological interdependence interaction pattern of the family model with a childrearing orientation focusing on parental control, emotional closeness and child autonomy. In addition to discussing the results of this qualitative study, the seminar will highlight those of a separate, quantitative study on the effects of the parenting practices of Chinese mothers in the U.S. and China on the behavioral adjustment of their children.

Jennifer Chen is a Fulbright Visiting Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at HKU. An Associate Professor of Early Childhood and Family Studies at Kean University in the USA, she is also the President of the New Jersey Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. Dr. Chen earned her Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University.