Parental Involvement of Southeastern Asian Female Immigrants and Its Relationship to Their Children's School Life Adjustments

The purpose of the current research was to investigate the relationship of parental involvement of female immigrants from Southeastern Asian countries to the school life adjustments of their children. Samples were collected from six counties: Taipei, Tao-Yuan, Tai-Chung, Yun-Lin, Ping-Tong, and Pen-Hu. Local children, who were in the same classroom as the immigrant parents' children, were of the same gender, and had fathers with similar educational backgrounds, were selected as the control group. Altogether, 395 immigrant families and 509 local comparative families participated. Data were analyzed through factor analysis, chi-square test, and ANOVA. Results were as follows: 1. No ethnic differences in learning attitudes, curriculum and environment perceptions, and student-teacher relationships were noted. However, the immigrant children tend to have less positive perceptions regarding peer relationships than the local (control) group. 2. Other than school activity participation, the immigrant mothers participated less on various levels of parental involvement. For both ethnic groups, involvement of mothers in family discipline was positively related to the learning attitudes of children and school environment perception. However, the relationship between children's peer network and mothers' family discipline was shown in the local (control) group, but not in the immigrant group. Nevertheless, the higher the family enrichment was, the more favorable the children's relationship with their teachers for both ethnic groups.