Academic socialization by low-income immigrant mothers from Mainland China was investigated in two studies. Immigrant Chinese mothers of first graders (n = 52; Mage = 38.69) in the United States (Study 1) and kindergartners (n = 86; Mage = 36.81) in Hong Kong (Study 2) tell stories that emphasized achieving the best grade through effort more than did African American (n = 39; Mage = 31.44) and native Hong Kong (n = 76; Mage = 36.64) mothers, respectively. The emphasis on achievement was associated with mothers' heightened discussion on discrimination (Study 1) and beliefs that education promotes upward mobility (Study 2), as well as children's expectations that a story protagonist would receive maternal criticism for being nonpersistent in learning (Study 2). © 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

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education China immigrant lowest income group physiology human Asian continental ancestry group Mother-Child Relations coping behavior Maternal Behavior Adaptation, Psychological socialization ethnology African American achievement United States Humans migrant psychology male Emigrants and Immigrants preschool child female Child, Preschool major clinical study mother adult Prejudice Hong Kong expectation academic success African Americans mother child relation Learning Child