Social Class Differences in Perceived Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Self-Evaluation among Korean-American Children

Abstract

Drawing on a sample of sixteen middle class and nine working class Korean-American families, this study confirms two hypotheses: children in middle class Korean-American families perceive their mothers as being, overall, significantly less rejecting than do children in working class fami lies; and children in middle class Korean-American families show more positive feelings of self-esteem and self-adequacy than do children in working class Korean-American families. Parental acceptance-rejection and children's self-evaluation are measured by the Parental Acceptance-Rejec tion Questionnaire and by the Personality Assessment Questionnaire. Re sults of this study are consistent with the universalist postulates of parental acceptance-rejection theory.