Academic success among East Asian students is well known and almost stereotypical. Yet the attention to emotional well-being continues to be minimal. The discrepancy between academic success and social/emotional difficulties appears to be a problem among East Asian adolescents. This qualitative grounded theory study examines how the cultural influences in parenting practices of East Asian parents impact the different aspects of emotional intelligence in older adolescents. Twenty older adolescents (ages 16—19) and their mothers, from Chinese and Korean heritage, living in the Southern Bay area in California participated in the study. The main form of data collection was through formal, in-depth and open-ended interviews and administration of standardized emotional intelligence questionnaires. The findings suggest that East Asian beliefs in hierarchy in family order, ‘saving face’, hard work/education, respect for elders and sibling relations have an impact on parent/child interaction. In addition, acculturation and globalization contributed to the change in cultural norms. The repeating themes related to parenting practices were correlated with very low, low, medium and high emotional intelligence levels. Distinct attitudinal and perceptual differences between adolescents with very low and high EQ were found.
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