Abstract
The family systems theory and systemic framework of resilience suggest that immigrant mothers and children may show heterogeneous profiles of dyadic adaptation outcomes shaped by distinct adaptation resources. Thus, our study aimed to identify different adaptation patterns among 200 mother–child pairs of immigrants from Mainland China to Hong Kong. A dyadic latent profile analysis classified the immigrant mothers and children into four subgroups based on their well-being scores. As expected, the largest subgroup, labeled the adapted mothers and children subgroup (37%, Subgroup 1), reported high well-being in both the mothers and their children. Additionally, nearly 12% of mothers reported higher well-being whereas their children reported poorer well-being; this group was labeled the adapted mothers and maladapted children subgroup (Subgroup 2). In the third subgroup, labeled the maladapted mother and adapted children subgroup (34%, Subgroup 3), mothers reported poorer well-being but children reported higher well-being. Lastly, a subgroup including mothers and children with poorer adaptation (17%, Subgroup 4) was labeled the maladapted mothers and children subgroup. We also identified distinct configured patterns of contextual resources for each subgroup. Our findings highlight the importance of investigating the heterogeneous patterns of these immigrant mothers and children as well as the need to develop dyadic intervention programs to enhance positive adaptation.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to privacy policy but are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.
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Funding
The work described in this article was substantially sponsored by Project 31800952 supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Project CityU 11671116 supported by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, P. R. China. The sponsors had no further role in study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication. This study was substantially supported by the Shenzhen Research Institute, City University of Hong Kong.
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All authors contributed significantly intellectually to the current manuscript and have agreed to the content and form of the manuscript. NXY and DYQ conceptualized the study. DYQ conducted the fieldwork, collected data, designed the analysis plan, performed the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript. BWC assisted in data analysis, result interpretation, and manuscript refinement. IKL actively designed the data collection plan and collected data. CDK actively participated in result interpretation and manuscript refinement. NXY designed the study, developed the conceptual framework, generated hypotheses, interpreted findings, and guided manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Qu, D., Chen, B., Liu, I.Kf. et al. Variations in Adaptation Profiles Among Chinese Immigrant Mothers and Their Children: A Dyadic Latent Profile Analysis. J Happiness Stud 24, 1397–1418 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00648-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00648-0