A Comparative Study of the Relations Between Parenting and Deviance and Parenting and Academic Achievement Among Chinese and European American Youth from Taiwan and the United States

Abstract

The current investigation studied the relations between parenting and deviance and parenting and academic achievement among Chinese and European American youth from Taiwan (n = 906) and the United States (n = 627). More specifically, it examined the relationships between established parenting dimensions, namely closeness, communication, and peer approval/autonomy granting, and adolescent deviance and academic achievement in two countries with very different cultures. Based on scale scores, findings indicate that European American youth perceived parents as having higher levels of closeness, communication, and peer approval than their Chinese counterparts. European American youth also had higher mean levels of deviance as well as academic achievement. Based on regression analyses, maternal closeness in the Taiwanese sample had only modestly significant positive effects on academic achievement. Contrary to expectations, paternal closeness did not show any significant relationship with academic achievement in the Taiwanese sample, and neither maternal nor paternal closeness showed a significant relationship with academic achievement in the US sample. Findings also indicated that parental closeness in both samples and peer approval in the US sample were strong predictors of deviance, while maternal communication in the Taiwanese sample was also significantly associated with deviance. Additionally, results indicated that parental peer approval in the US sample was the iii strongest predictor of academic achievement. Maternal and paternal peer approval in the Taiwanese sample were unrelated to deviance; however, in the US sample, maternal and paternal peer approval both had significant negative relationships with deviance. Finally, regression coefficients were compared using z-tests; these assessed whether relationships between parenting and deviance and academic achievement were similar or different in the Taiwanese versus US samples. The evidence indicated great similarities in effects between groups. Significant differences were found for both maternal and paternal peer approval on academic achievement, for maternal communication on deviance, and for maternal and paternal peer approval on deviance. Based on z-tests, maternal and paternal peer approval on academic achievement was also significantly different between groups, and lastly, the relationship between maternal communication and deviance was also significantly different between groups.