Parenting Skills and Child Behavior Outcomes in Chinese Immigrant Families: Findings from a Culturally Enriched Group-Based Intervention

Background and Purpose:

Immigrant parents often encounter elevated stress and diminished social support after relocating, which can challenge their parenting practices and exacerbate behavioral difficulties in their children. Many parents turn to familiar, culturally rooted disciplinary strategies, such as physical discipline, especially when confronting children’s behavioral concerns. However, few interventions have been tailored to address parenting within immigrant communities, particularly in ways that recognize cultural values such as beliefs in physical discipline. This study evaluated an 8-week, group-based parenting intervention specifically designed for Chinese immigrant parents. Grounded in culturally responsive and strength-based approaches, the intervention aimed to improve parenting skills and reduce child behavior problems.

Methods:

Using a convenience sampling approach, Chinese immigrant parents in New York City who were concerned about their children’s behavior were recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. Pre- and post-test data were collected from both groups, resulting in a final analytic sample of 135 parents. Key parenting outcomes included positive parenting skills (e.g., self-efficacy measured using the Parenting Sense of Competency Scale, and parental warmth assessed with the Block’s Child Rearing Practices Report) and harsh parenting practices (e.g., psychological aggression, physical assault, and neglect measured using the Parent–Child Conflict Tactics Scales). Children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were assessed using the Child Behavior Problems Index. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models were conducted to examine intervention effects on parenting skills and child behavior outcomes, controlling for baseline measures, demographic characteristics, and site fixed effects. Mediation analyses further investigate whether improvements in parenting contributed to reductions in children’s behavior problems.

Results:

The results show that parents who participated in the intervention demonstrated significantly stronger parenting skills compared to those in the control group. Specifically, effect sizes were 0.21 for self-efficacy and 0.40 for parental warmth. Harsh parenting practices declined, with effect sizes ranging from -0.22 to -0.60 across the three domains of psychological aggression, physical assault, and neglect. Notably, children of parents in the intervention group exhibited fewer externalizing behavior problems (effect size = -0.12). Mediation analyses indicated that approximately 12% to 16% of the reduction in children’s externalizing behavior problems could be attributed to enhanced parenting skills.

Conclusions and Implications:

Findings highlight the promise of culturally enriched, group-based interventions in supporting immigrant parents and promoting positive child development. Developed and implemented by clinical social workers with longstanding community engagement, the model offers a low-cost and scalable alternative to individualized or family-based therapy. Its group format not only fosters peer learning and mutual support but also facilitates broader dissemination through structured facilitator training. These findings highlight the importance of embedding cultural understanding within parenting interventions to better support immigrant families and promote children’s healthy development. Social workers and practitioners are encouraged to adopt culturally grounded approaches that build on families’ strengths while addressing behavioral health disparities among immigrant children.