Tiger Mom parenting doesn't work. We know it all alone. Su Yeong Kim, an associate professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas, has published a study of parenting profiles of Chinese Americans and adolescent developmental outcomes. Her finding - "Compared with the supportive parenting profile, a tiger parenting profile was associated with lower GPA and educational attainment, as well as less of a sense of family obligation; it was also associated with more academic pressure, more depressive symptoms, and a greater sense of alienation."

Via slate.com from unknown source

So this is a study on 300 Asian families compare to Amy Chua's sample size of 1. Sorry, despite Chua's portrait of relentless strive for excellence, the study finds this actually result in lower academic achievement. Study also finds "Tiger" parenting is not typical among Chinese as in her stereotypical portrait either.

Perhaps less surprising is the kids show more depressive symptom. I'm looking forward for Chua's children to write their own book to tell their side of story!

2013.05.14 comments