Title A Person-centered Approach to Studying the Linkages among Parent-

Child Differences in Cultural Orientation, Supportive Parenting, and

Adolescent Depressive Symptoms in Chinese American Families.
Journal Journal of Youth Adolescence
Volume & Page Vol. 37, p. 36-49
Year 2008
Author Scott R. Weaver & Su Yeong Kim
Reviewer FEMI FEBRIANTY (NIM P18020230)
Date July 14, 2019

Research purposes The main objective of this study was to gain a better understanding
of the orientation of Chinese culture, immigrant parents and their
children can interact to produce an increase in symptoms of
depression among adolescents through a less supportive care
environment.
Research subject The subjects of this study were 451 American Chinese families in
Northern California participating in current research. Adolescents
(53.8% women) had an average age of 13 years (SD = 0.73) in the
first wave and 17.05 years (SD = 0.80) in the second
wave. Adolescent children are mainly (75%) born in US. Most
parents (87% of fathers, 90% of mothers) are foreign births. The
average age at immigration was 30.45 years (SD = 10.03) for fathers
and 28.30 years (SD = 8.80) for mothers. The length of time in the
US was 17.46 years (SD = 9.73) for fathers and 15.74 years (SD =
8.36) for mothers. The majority of both fathers (63.1%) and mothers
(68.4%) reported reaching higher school or higher education
level. The average annual family income range is $ 30,001- $
45,000, although the income distribution is shown to have
considerable variability, with 13% reporting less than $ 15,000 and
6.2% reporting more than $ 105,000. Most adolescents (85%) live
with both parents, with 10.7% living with only their mothers, 1.2%
living with only their father, and the remaining teenagers living in
other family structure configurations.
Research methods The method used in this study is the questionnaire method. This
questionnaire is given to adolescents and parents of Chinese
descent.
Operational Definition of The dependent variable in this study is Adolescents' cultural
Dependent Variables orientation (teenage cultural orientation).
 Tsai and Chentsova (Weaver & Kim, 2008) state that the
differential mode and level of acculturation can lead to differences
in parents and children in a culture of orientation, which is
interpreted as the extent to which individuals are influenced and
actively involved in certain cultural traditions, norms and practices.
 Portes (Weaver & Kim, 2008) explain that immigrant parents and
their children both experience the power of assimilation, children
 are often assimilated at a faster rate than their parents, this right is
called dissonant acculturation.
Ways & Measuring Tools The methods and tools used to measure the dependent variable are:

for IndependentVariables The method used to measure the dependent variable is to recruit for
indicators of Chinese-American adolescents. The study was divided
into two waves, the first wave in 2002 and the second wave of 2006.
 The tool used in this study is a questionnaire. The questionnaire used
consists of two versions, namely the English version and the
Chinese language version.
Operational Variables The independent variable in this study is person centered
Independent Definition approach.
 A people-centered approach has been considered capable of
profit researching teenagers and families (Bergman
2001; Mandara 2003). The main aspect of the people-centered
approach is the emphasis on understanding the individual as a
whole, not on individual characteristics or variables
themselves. The strength of a people-centered approach is its ability
to accommodate non-linearities and interactions that cannot be
easily represented in a model variable center (Bergman, 2001).
Therapy Steps The steps used in this research process are:
1. In 2002 recruitment was carried out in seven secondary schools in
the major metropolitan areas of northern California with assistance
from school administrators (chosen based on criteria).
2. Request approval from the family regarding the research.
3. Participants were given a questionnaire package to be collected two
to three weeks after the letter by the research staff was received by
the participants.
4. Doing advanced studies in 2006.
5. Distributing two versions of the questionnaire to participants,
namely questionnaires in Chinese and English.
Research result Overall, the results of this study provide some support for the idea
that generation dissonance is related to parental support and the
level of togetherness of symptomatology depression. In general,
having parents with a bicultural profile seems most beneficial if the
same teenager has a bicultural profile. The thing that needs to be
considered in this study is not a bicultural mother or father, but a
combination of one biculturally parents and teenagers. This
configuration may be optimal, because it involves a minimum
distance between parents and children in both Chinese and
American cultures while still in a family environment that has
aspects of Chinese cultural and traditional values and is equally
valued by parents and children.
Strength of Research The strength of this research is that the tools used in the study in the
form of questionnaires are quite easy to use by the research subjects
so that the data collection is not needed for a long time as in the
qualitative method.
Research Weaknesses The weakness of this study is the vulnerability of the time the
research used on wave 1 to wave 2 is quite far, which is 4 years
so that subjects who can participate in the wave 2 are only 80%.