The emotional development of young children has received a great deal of attention due to its fundamental role in their social development and academic achievement in the future. Many studies have indicated that parental emotional socialization practices are intimately related to their children’s emotional development. While a small number of studies have reported differences among the emotion-related practices of parents from diverse cultural backgrounds, little attention has been paid to immigrant parents’ beliefs about children’s emotions and the role of acculturation patterns on these beliefs. According to the theoretical concept of cultural community, immigrant parents are likely to change their parenting practices as they are placed in a new cultural context. This exploratory study measured the acculturation patterns (assimilation, integration, marginalization and separation) of Chinese parents living in San Diego and described their beliefs about their children’s emotion. Also, the study further examined the relationship between demographic variables such as parent age, educational level, number of children and Chinese parents’ beliefs about emotions, and examined the relationship between acculturation patterns of Chinese parents and their beliefs about children’s emotions.
