Abstract
Studies concerning parenting styles and adolescent academic achievement have been largely investigated with Western families. Limited parenting research has addressed Asians originating from Hong Kong and Canton. The current study examined Chinese adolescents’ academic achievement in relation to parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian and permissive) in this specific ethnic group. The study also examined the differences between parenting styles of Chinese mothers and fathers. The study sample included 30 adolescents between the ages of 13 to 17 years and their parents of Chinese descent in Sacramento, California. Questionnaires, and demographic survey, in both English and Chinese were administered to assess parenting styles and adolescent grade point average (GPA). It was hypothesized that authoritative parenting would be positively related to GPA and authoritarian parenting would be inversely related to GPA. However, results did not support the hypothesis and there was no significant association between parenting styles and school performance of Chinese adolescents. It was also hypothesized that there would be significant differences between mothers and fathers in authoritative and permissive parenting. Paired t-tests revealed no significant differences between mothers and fathers on the three parenting scales scores. However, results indicated that both parents’ authoritative and permissive scores were positively correlated.