European American and Chinese Parents' Responses to Children's Success and Failure: Implications for Children's Responses

Florrie Fei-Yin Ng, Eva M. Pomerantz, Shui fong Lam

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The authors examined cultural differences in parents' responses to their children's performance. In Study 1 (N = 421), Chinese 5th graders reported that their parents de-emphasized their academic success and emphasized their academic failure, whereas their American counterparts reported that their parents did the opposite. This partially accounted for Chinese (vs. American) children responding less positively to success and more negatively to failure. In Study 2 (N = 128), Chinese and American mothers' responses to their 4th and 5th graders' performance were observed in the laboratory. The cultural differences in children's reports of parents' responses documented in Study 1 were replicated; mothers' responses were also associated with children's subsequent performance. In addition, Chinese mothers were more involved than were American mothers, but their affect was similar. Taken together, the results suggest that parents' responses to children's performance may be a channel for cultural transmission and perpetuation of responses to performance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1239-1255
Number of pages17
JournalDevelopmental psychology
Volume43
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2007

Keywords

  • achievement
  • culture
  • emotion
  • parenting
  • praise

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Demography
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

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