Background
For me personally, what I wanted from this post was some form of fulfillment of my own identity of being an Asian-American born from immigrant parents. The large amount of people that I have met during my time at California State University, Los Angeles are also in the same status as myself.
As I thought to myself, one idea began to stick into my mind when thinking about Asian-American culture, tiger parenting.
I personally have a positive relationship with my parents, but I did face forms of tiger parenting growing up and felt that there were some negative effects that I find myself having. During my time in school and college, I felt forms of inadequacy, high expectations placed upon me, and an almost irrational fear of failure. These negative aspects felt like something that was a direct result of tiger parenting, and I wanted some input from my fellow Asian-Americans who were raised by these tiger parents and how it has impacted them.
Facts and Statistics
These facts are on both the demographics of Cal State LA and about tiger parenting in general.
- The amount of students identified as Asian in Cal State LA as of Fall 2018 is 3,598 students, which makes up of about 13% of the student body.
- Tiger parenting is defined by Amy Chua in her book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother", as the pushing from parents to their children to succeed academically or extracurricularly through high demands and strict enforcement.
- One study by Su Yeong Kim of the American Psychological Association found and diagnosed children of tiger parents to have lower socio-emotional health when compared to children of more "hands off" parents.
- Another study by Su Yeong Kim found that children of tiger parents associate their high performances with large amounts of high distress, causing a form of "paradox" during their upbringing. This has led to some having negative effects on their upbringing.
Personal Experience
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| Me and my parents during my high school graduation |
As mentioned before, my parents have shown tendencies that match under the definition of tiger parenting and how it has negatively impacted me. I feel that there will be punishment for my failures as a student even to this day. Even when I do succeed academically, I can sometimes feel as what I am doing is not enough to satisfy my parents and even feel shame when I think that I do not meet their standards. I wanted to bring this idea into more eyes with this project to show that while there are positive effects of tiger parenting, there are very negative effects as well. Due to the significant amount of Asian-American students here on Cal State LA's campus, they can realize that they were a part of tiger parents, and can analyze themselves to see if their mental state is okay.
Why This Issue is Important
Due to the large amount of Asian-Americans here at Cal State LA, I wanted them to realize that their worth should not be based only on their academic achievement and embrace failure. People should be able to realize that they are affected by these aspects of tiger parenting, and should be able to address it when moving into their own independence.
Community Concerns
I asked some fellow Asian-American students who would claim as being raised by tiger parents the question: "How do you feel tiger parenting has impacted you?"
"To be honest, it is kind of insane when I think about it. I mean, whenever tests pull up, I feel like that I have to do good to ensure that I can succeed. The whole stereotype of Asian parents associating anything lower than an A as a bad grade is a reality for me, since growing up they always told me that I could do better whenever I got anything lower, and it still carries with me to college. It has created a decent work ethic for me, but I sometimes have that lingering thought when attending school."
- Julian S.
"I love my parents and I know that they love me back, but without a doubt it has affected me. Especially during my first year in college when I failed my first class, I was sick to the core. I felt like I could never go home to my parents or let them know about my failures or that I was struggling due to how it was during high school. I did manage to tell them eventually, but that fear did hold me back from doing so."
- Jeff C.
"I hate the idea of tiger parenting and feel like that it is kind of bulls*** (Can I curse on this? -laughs-). I am a large advocate for mental health and I know that this contributed directly to damaging some of my own. I hate the idea of punishing failure, I hate the strictness and punishments for not performing. As soon as I moved for college, it felt liberating to be free from my parents and had to make peace with myself for my upbringing. This should not be an issue for people, especially since it is so much more different in the real world than from under a tiger parent's upbringing."
- Christina J.
Conclusion
What I wanted to show overall with this project is that tiger parenting can lead to some personality traits in Asian-Americans that are negative. While these people can thrive academically and even financially, they would have strong negative associations with their parents, which could be mended if they were to recognize that they were impacted by tiger parenting. I do not want to condemn tiger parenting, as there is still forms of love behind it, but I do want to bring into light negative effects of it and being able to move on from them.
Works Cited
“Cal State LA Quick Facts (Fall 2018).” Cal State LA.
Chua, Amy. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.
Kim, and Su Yeong. “What Is ‘Tiger’ Parenting? How Does It Affect Children?” Https://Www.apadivisions.org, www.apadivisions.org/division-7/publications/newsletters/developmental/2013/07/tiger-parenting.
Kim, Su Yeong, et al. “Does ‘Tiger Parenting’ Exist? Parenting Profiles of Chinese Americans and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes.” Asian American Journal of Psychology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Mar. 2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3641860/.
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