Tiger Parenting
Definitions
It's important to find a good definition of Tiger Parenting because it's not just about being strict; it also includes attributes of supportive parenting styles.
- Rebecca English [http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/family/article/2016/05/26/tiger-free-range-parents-what-research-says-about-pros-and-cons-popular-parenting] has an excellent easy-to-read SBS guide to the pros and cons of different parenting styles. This will give you a context for where tiger parenting fits in.
- A similar article can be found at Melbourne Child Psychology's website [https://www.melbournechildpsychology.com.au/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-parenting-style-for-your-child/]. in particular it highlights some positive applications of parenting styles that focus on obedience.
- The Morning Show [https://au.tv.yahoo.com/the-morning-show/video/watch/32237124/the-downsides-and-dangers-of-tiger-parenting/#page1] took a very biased negative attitude even to the positive aspects of tiger parenting (parents working hard with their children in a supportive way). this is a stereotypical Western attitude to parenting, where parents are not seen as responsible for academic achievement and students are sent to their rooms to work on their own, or extra (intellectual? emotional?) support is "bought" from a tutor. Might this account for the differences in academic achievement?
- Amy Chua [http://amychua.com/] is the woman whose book popularised the term "Tiger Parenting". Here she points out that her book was meant to be a semi-satirical life-story (with caricatures and exaggeration) not a parenting guide. Tiger parenting is not just being harsh and strict and stopping a child from having fun!
- Jonathon Tree from the Australian Chinese Youth Association [http://www.acya.org.au/2015/11/tiger-mum/] has written a defence of Chonese parenting, explaining how it fits into Australian schools.
- The American Psychology Association [http://www.apadivisions.org/division-7/publications/newsletters/developmental/2013/07/tiger-parenting.aspx] has a detailed definition of Tiger Parenting which includes an analysis of the cultural factors that make Asian-american Tiger Parenting different from Anglo-American Tiger Parenting.
- The Tiger Mum: Stereotypes of chinese parenting in the United States [http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/opus/issues/2013/spring/wang] clearly deliniates the gap between the stereotype and reality of Chinese parenting styles: "The concept of the tiger mom as Americans perceive it represents an attempt to use American cultural beliefs of parenting as a baseline from which to make sense of Chinese parenting. "
Does Tiger Parenting lead to success?
- The 'Tiger Mother' factor: Curriculum, schooling and mentoring of Asian students in an Australian context [http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1524&context=sspapers] agrees that tiger parenting does increase academic achievement, but places this within a context where education (and educational sucess) is highly valued within a wider community: "didactic educational capital is reflected in the ways that Asian parents utilize their networks and seek information to help them guide educational decision making with their children". Read the abstract and conclusion first as it's got lots of jargon!
- Cory Liu [http://counterpoint.uchicago.edu/tigermom.html], Lulu Chua-Rubenfeld [http://harvardmagazine.com/2015/07/the-tiger-daughter-intact] and Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld [http://nypost.com/2011/01/18/why-i-love-my-strict-chinese-mom/] all thank their parents for their Tiger parenting. Note: this is anecdotal evidence, not social science research, but it does raise important points about the criticisms of tiger parenting.
- Tiger mums vs. western style mothers [http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/may/asian-european-moms-052014.html] finds Western and Chinese parenting styles equally valid.
- The Real Reason why Asian kids excel at school suggests it's all about valuing education and having good role models nad books in the home.
Criticisms of Tiger parenting
- Study: Tiger Parenting tough on Kids [http://www.livescience.com/18023-tiger-parenting-tough-kids.html] correlates Tiger parenting with increased depression and anxiety in high achieving teens.
- Hybrid Parenting (not an authoritative site!) [http://hybridparenting.org/is-tiger-parenting-an-eastern-parenting-style/] focuses on "shaming" as a major aspect or tiger parenting? Is this correct?
Articles you can access through your state library log-in:
- Ideals and realities in Chinese immigrant parenting: Tiger mother versus others [http://library.sl.nsw.gov.au/search~S2?/tJournal+of+family+studies+%28Online%29/tjournal+of+family+studies+online/-3%2C-1%2C0%2CB/exact&FF=tjournal+of+family+studies+online&1%2C2%2C] [Abstract at: http://dro.deakin.edu.au/view/DU:30072299] examines the cultural ideals that provide the context for Tiger Parenting.
- Tiger Mother: Popular and Psychological Scientific Perspectives on Asian Culture and Parenting [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/ajop.12043/full] correlates tiger parenting with increased depression and anxiety in high-achieving teens.
- Understanding Tiger Parenting through the perceptions of Chinese immigrant mothers [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3729394/] takes a more realistic view of what actually happens in a Tiger parenting home - where Eastern and Western values and parenting styles are mixed. A study at UCLA Berkley [http://news.berkeley.edu/2013/06/18/chinese-parenting/] has similar findings.
Your OWN Primary Data
This article from the Wall Street Journal [http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754] is not reliable because it doesn't cite the sources/studies. However it does give some excellent ideas for likert-sdtyle questions you could use in your surveys (if surveying parents!)
https://www.merga.net.au/documents/RP2015-72.pdf
How the Asian mother is changing (Is this just in Western societies or does it reflect changes in China or Korea?)
Smartphones and Kids
https://changespsychology.com.au/resources/page/5/
https://changespsychology.com.au/resources/page/5/