UC Riverside

This dissertation examined how Chinese American children's everyday family experiences contributed to their self-regulated learning during the early school years. A total of 154 immigrant Chinese parents participated in this study and completed nine sets of multi-point rating questionnaires on a secured website. A series of analysis of covariance and hierarchical regressions were performed. Results provided the first empirical evidence that children's participation in family rituals and routines had significant positively influences on children's self-regulated learning strategies, over and above the influences of parental expectations of children's school attainment and executive functions. Children's competence in self-regulated learning strategies, in turn, was positive related to their academic achievement. Results also indicated that parental self-efficacy in helping children succeed in school positively influenced Chinese American children's opportunities to participate in family rituals and routines. Nevertheless, unexpected results demonstrated that Chinese American first and fourth graders did not differ significantly on self-regulated learning strategies and participation in family rituals and routines. One possible explanation is that Chinese American children may have already developed self-regulated learning strategies, and started to participate in family rituals and routines before they enter first grade. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the implications and limitations of this research.