Date

4-2022

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

Courtney Evans-Thompson

Keywords

Chinese Immigrant Parents, American-born Adolescents, Christians, Communication, Emotional Connection, Culture

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand and describe the lived experiences of communication that lead to emotional connection issues between Chinese immigrant parents and their American-born adolescent children, particularly in families attending Chinese American Christian churches in Massachusetts. The theory guiding this study was social constructivism, which posits that family members may interpret and experience the same interactions differently from one another. The research questions of the study include: (1) How do first-generation Chinese American Christian parents and second-generation Chinese American Christian adolescent children experience their interaction with each other? (2) How do American-born Chinese Christian adolescents perceive the difficulties in communicating with their foreign-born Chinese American Christian parents? (3) How do Chinese immigrant parents communicate with their American-born adolescents about religious beliefs/faith in their Christian families? (4) How do first-generation immigrant Chinese American Christian parents and second-generation Chinese American Christian adolescents describe their emotional connectedness with each other? The data collection for this qualitative study consisted of semi-structured, open-ended interviews conducted with individuals and documents. Data analysis strategies utilized Moustakas’ (1994) approach to transcendental phenomenology. Emerging themes were developed by extracting meanings of participants’ experiences and describing the essence of Chinese immigrant parents and their American-born adolescent children.

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