Parents’ Perceptions of Education and Culture as a Context of Parental Stress: A Study of Parents of Preschool Children in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study examines how cultural context mediates the association between parents’ perceptions of education and parental stress under the ABC-X model. The analysis was based on a sample of 6454 parents of preschool children in Hong Kong. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis detected two major dimensions of parents’ perceptions of children’s education. Ordinary least squares regression models with interaction terms were used to analyze the identified dimensions’ associations with parental stress. The study found preschool parents with an assertive perception of children’s cognitive skills, discipline, coercion, and competition were more stressed than parents with a responsive perception of children’s non-cognitive skills, self-management, autonomy, and cooperation in education. Parents paradoxically caught between these two types of perceptions were the most stressed. Native residents and earlier immigrant parents also had a higher level of stress than recent immigrants.