Parent-Child Connect: A Culturally Responsive Parent Training for Asian American Parents at School

• Published in: Psychology in the schools 2021-08, Vol.58 (8), p.1624-1641
• Main Authors: Wang, Cixin, Liu, Jia Li, Havewala, Mazneen, Zhu, Qianyu, Do, Kieu Anh, Shao, Xiaoping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affective Behavior; Asian American Students; Asian Americans; Attendance; Autonomy; Behavior Problems; Bullying; Childrearing practices; Children; Communication; Counseling Services; Cultural sensitivity; Culturally Relevant Education; Educational Environment; Efficacy; Empathy; Ethnic groups; Feasibility; Focus groups; Help Seeking; Hostility; Internalization; Intervention; Mental health services; Minority groups; Parent Attitudes; Parent Child Relationship; Parent Education; Parent training; Parent-child relations; Parenthood education; Parenting Skills; Parenting style; Parents & parenting; Peer relationships; Peers; Personal Autonomy; Program Effectiveness; Program Implementation; Satisfaction; School Psychologists; Suicide; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Training; Victimization; Youth
• ISSN: 0033-3085; 1520-6807
• DOI: 10.1002/pits.22520

Compared to their school peers, Asian American youth report more internalizing symptoms, peer victimization, and higher rates of suicide, yet they underutilize mental health services at school. This study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of a culturally responsive parent training program called Parent-Child Connect for Asian American parents at school. Forty-eight Asian American parents (M[subscript age] = 42.98; SD[subscript age] = 5.54, 79.2% female) participated in the parent training program. Parents reported significant increases in positive parenting (parental warmth, Cohen's d = 0.33; reasoning, d = 0.42; and autonomy granting, d = 0.54), and decreases in negative parenting (verbal hostility, d = 0.52; directiveness, d = 0.33; and shaming behavior, d = 0.38) after the intervention. They also reported significant increases in their sense of competence (d = 0.53) and satisfaction in communicating with their children (d = 0.43). Good attendance and high satisfaction from parents suggested high feasibility of the intervention. Fifteen parents attended two focus group interviews 6 weeks after the training. Parents reported improved empathy, parent--child communication, and self-efficacy, and provided suggestions for future iterations of the training. We discuss how school psychologists can provide parent training and support ethnic minority families at school. Impact Statement: To support Asian American youth and parents, we implemented Parent-Child Connect, a culturally responsive parent training program with Asian American parents at school. Results suggest that it is a feasible and effective parenting intervention for Asian American parents in the school setting.