Asian Parenting - from Authoritarian to Monster

Picking up from previous entries, US Developmental Psychologist Baumrind found Authoritative Parenting the most suiting parenting style while Frost stated that Helicopter Parenting and Attachment Parenting, etc. are the new trends in US parenting. However, in other studies, in Asia, Authoritative Parenting may not be suitable.

Psychologists Chao R. and Tseng V. in their research found that Asia parents are relatively more diverse in parenting style, but Authoritarian parenting seems more successful to their children. This can be explained by both social and economical factors.

In social context, Asian children are more interdependent to their parents as the social-culture is rooted from the parents. Respect and the notion of "Filial piety (孝, xiào in Chinese)" is often put as the most important value for Asians, which make their family structure more fixed and roles of each family member more defined. As a result, the parents tend to have more control or power of control over their children, which builds up the authoritarian parental system.

The word 孝 comes from the picture of elderly holding hands of the boy, in other words the combination of the old and the young, symbolizes the unseperated relationship of the two.

From the economical view, the economic status in Asian countries contributes to the parents faith in "hoping their sons to become a dragon" (望子成龍), which in other words, long for their children to succeed in life as their optimal goal as parents. Such can be evidenced in the popularity and high dependent on cram schools (even from preschool age, this will be discussed in upcoming entries) and better success in schools in terms of results. Chao commented that Authoritarian parenting is the key to their success.

American Author White named such mothers "education-oriented mothers" (教育mama) for their overly assertive role in monitoring their children's education. This eventually shapes the existence of Monster Parents, and they have been criticized for being “selfish to be induced into giving up their freedoms for motherhood”, suggested Leonard Schoppa, a professor who has spent time studying education and social stress in Japan.

In the next few entries, I will discuss on the development and influence of the notion Monster Parents in Korea and Hong Kong in further details.  Stay tuned.

Reference:

Chao R. 2001. Extending research on the consequences of parenting style for Chinese Americans and European Americans. Child Development 72: 1832-1843.

Chao R. 1994. "Beyond parental control; authoritarian parenting style: Understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training." Child Development 45: 1111-1119.

Schoppa, L. J. (2006). Race for the exits: The unraveling of Japan's system of social protection.Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Tsuneyoshi, R. (2004). The new Japanese educational reforms and the achievement "crisis" debate. Educational Policy, 18, 364?394.

White, M. I. (2002). Perfectly Japanese: Making families in an era of upheaval. Berkeley: University of California Press.