Asian Immigrant Parent Involvement and Their Children's Socio-Emotional and Academic Outcomes in Early Childhood: A Comparison with U.S.-Born Asian and U.S.-Born White Parents

Background and Purpose: While research has consistently shown the importance of parental involvement for children's educational success, our understanding of involvement patterns across diverse cultural and immigrant groups remains limited. The perception of Asians as a monolithic group obscures the distinct impact of parental involvement among Asian immigrant families compared to their U.S.-born counterparts. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there are differences in school-based involvement and home-school communication between Asian immigrant parents versus U.S.-born Asian parents and U.S.-born White parents. The study also investigates whether the putative associations between school-based involvement and home-school communication and children’s social-emotional and academic outcomes in early schooling differ between children of Asian immigrant parents and their reference groups. Thus, this study aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how culture and immigration status influence parental involvement and their implications for children’s educational experiences.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) using the spring parent interview responses and teacher assessments. The study sample included children of Asian immigrant parents (n=811), children of U.S.-born Asian parents (n=123), and children of U.S.-born White parents (n=5,823) who were observed from kindergarten through second grade. We used logistic regression models to examine whether there are differences in school-based involvement and home-school communication between Asian immigrant parents versus U.S.-born Asian parents and U.S.-born White parents. Then, we used fixed effects regression models to investigate whether school-based involvement and home-school communication are associated with teacher reports of self-control, interpersonal skills, external problem behaviors, internal problem behaviors, and reading and math scores among children in kindergarten through second grade.

Results: The findings revealed that Asian immigrant parents were less likely than both U.S.-born Asian parents and U.S.-born White parents to participate in school-based activities, i.e., attend back-to-school night and volunteer at school. Asian immigrant parents also demonstrated lower home-school communication, i.e., attend informal meetings, return calls/emails, and initiate contact with the teacher. In the fixed effects regressions, the models revealed that school-based involvement was associated with greater self-control, better interpersonal skills, fewer external and internal problem behaviors, as well as higher reading and math scores in the overall sample. However, interaction testing revealed that school-based involvement was associated with less self-control, worse interpersonal skills, more external and internal problem behaviors, and yet higher reading and math scores for children of Asian immigrant parents than children of U.S.-born White parents. Additionally, fixed effects regressions revealed that home-school communication was associated with better interpersonal skills, more external and internal problem behaviors, and higher reading scores in the overall sample. Interestingly, interaction testing revealed that home-school communication was associated with higher reading scores for children of Asian immigrant parents and fewer external problem behaviors for children of U.S.-born Asian parents both relative to children of U.S.-born White parents.

Conclusions and Implications:

Asian immigrant parental involvement is generally linked to negative social-emotional outcomes, but positive academic outcomes. These findings challenge assumptions that greater parental involvement universally benefits children across all racial/ethnic and nativity groups.