A Qualitative Exploration of Southeast Asian Mien Parents' and Elders' Attitudes on Childhood and Development
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Authors
Hsu-Storaker, Lily
Issue Date
1999
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This study explored the attitudes of Southeast Asian Mien elders living in the United States toward children and childhood experiences. Crosscultural research in developmental child psychology has pointed to the importance of understanding parental attitudes, beliefs, and values for understanding social interaction between parent and child. The current study adopted a postmodern social constructionist stance that values social research that seeks to represent the voices and empower the people studied. There is a recognition in social constructionist research that the researcher can interfere with reporting and describing the meaning and experience of the participant. Controlling for researcher subjectivity was achieved through phenomenological methodology which demands that the researcher examine their assumptions and biases. Because the influence of the researcher is unavoidable, social constructionist research emphasizes the shared experience of the interviews. The method of analysis used was a modified phenomenological method of analysis. The modified version took into account the social contexts of the participants' lives and the impact they had on the participants' attitudes and expectations toward children. Some of the prominent themes included: protection, love, discipline, teaching, chores, and responsibilities. Again, because researcher subjectivity was seen as unavoidable, the results of the data analysis were seen as possible explanations rather than as "truths."