Using Polynomial Regression and Response Surface Analysis to Assess Whether Discrepancies between Chinese Canadian Youths’ Perceived and Ideal Parental Monitoring Predict Adjustment

Immigrant parents and children live within two sets of cultural norms. In Chinese Canadian families, children’s views of ideal parenting may be heavily influenced by Canadian norms whereas parents’ actual parenting may be heavily influenced by Chinese norms. As a result, normative discrepancies between what youth desire and what they perceive in terms of parenting may be exacerbated for youth with immigrant backgrounds, and may negatively affect their adjustment.

In a sample of 96 youth (mean 11.90 years) from Chinese Canadian families, we investigated whether discrepancies and congruence between youths’ perceived and ideal level of maternal and paternal monitoring are linked to their adjustment (self-esteem and depressive symptoms).

Addressing growing criticisms of the use of difference scores (e.g., Edwards, 2002), we employed polynomial regression and response surface analysis to test linear and quadratic relations between parenting ideals and perceptions and adjustment. These more powerful analyses simultaneously test congruence and discrepancy effects, enabling the investigation of more complex research questions.

Results showed that discrepancies between perceived and ideal monitoring significantly predicted lower self-esteem and more depressive symptoms only for fathers’ parenting and not for mother’s parenting. Discrepancy in which fathers monitored less than adolescents wanted and discrepancy in which fathers monitored more than adolescents wanted were both linked to poorer adjustment. Congruence between perceived and ideal monitoring did not significantly predict youth outcomes. Thus, discrepancy may be more detrimental to adjustment than congruence is beneficial. Implications regarding the impact of fathers’ monitoring in Chinese immigrant families will be discussed.