Research on Asian American parenting has largely focused on describing parenting behaviors, with less attention to how parents themselves conceptualize and make meaning of those behaviors. This study centers parents’ narratives to examine the cultural values, developmental goals, and contextual influences that shape parenting. As part of a broader mixed-methods study, the present analysis applies computational text methods to identify latent structure in parents’ discourse and explore variation across family characteristics. Interview transcripts from Asian American parents of children ages 3–17 years (N = 27) were analyzed using complementary unsupervised text-mining approaches. Parent speech was represented as a term-document matrix and examined using singular value decomposition followed by k-means clustering. This analysis identified three discourse clusters, including a distinct cluster organized around heritage language, cultural identity, religion, and school-related experiences. A structural topic model incorporating child age, parent gender, child sex, and Asian regional background as covariates recovered a highly similar heritage-context topic. In contrast, the remaining topics were characterized largely by generic conversational language rather than clearly differentiated substantive content. The convergence of both methods on a heritage-context dimension suggests that cultural transmission and identity-related concerns represent a robust organizing feature of Asian American parents’ discourse. These findings complement qualitative analyses by highlighting the central role of heritage and cultural context in how Asian American parents understand and describe parenting.

Observational and self-report methods are routinely used to measure social behaviors and interactions between parents and children. Self-reports are often easier to facilitate as they are cheaper and faster to complete while observational methods are more costly and take longer run time but in return, demonstrate more robust results. Therefore, more efficient observational measures are needed. The purpose of this study is to illustrate a novel method of observational coding, using brief audio recordings of parent answers to vignette questions. In this intervention study, parents of children from ages 3-8 were prompted to complete a survey that included self report questions and audio-recorded responses to three vignettes, which were recorded and transcribed. These audio recordings were then coded and analyzed using a standardized codebook. To evaluate the observational method, codes focused on the parents' abilities to give clear directions, encouragement, label a negative behavior, scold or lecture, collaborate, and communicate with a positive tone using a scale of 0 (does not appear) to 3 (very characteristic). The study’s measures and processes, along with distinct examples of vignettes and codes, are discussed to highlight the method.

Accurately assessing language development of bilingual children is essential, to tell the differences between normal bilingual growth and a true language disorder. To ensure we don’t mistake a natural learning process for a deeper struggle, precise testing methods are needed. Language Sample Analysis (LSA) evaluates language, through narrative production. Within LSA, narrative macrostructure refers to the content of a story that focuses on core elements such as setting, characters, a main problem and the resolution. The purpose of this study is to consider how the natural way macrostructure skills and knowledge from a child’s home language (Spanish) carry over and support their school language (English). Cross-linguistic transfer of narrative macrostructure might impact language assessment in Spanish-English bilingual children. This study analyzes the Spanish narrative macrostructure of approximately 50 kindergarten children using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN) protocol. These scores will be compared with existing English narrative data, collected using the same instrument (MAIN) in a dynamic assessment format. Dynamic assessment aims to examine learning potential by measuring change in children's performance after they are explicitly taught story elements in English. However, prior knowledge of story elements in Spanish has not yet been considered. It is hypothesized that children who are proficient in structuring stories in Spanish will do well in English, as their existing Spanish skills can speed up how quickly they learn English. These findings aim to reveal the “hidden” linguistic strengths of bilingual children. Results are pending.

Children with incarcerated parents experience elevated risks across emotional, behavioral, academic, and social domains, including greater social-emotional and behavioral concerns (e.g., anxiety and depression) and academic difficulties. These outcomes are shaped not only by incarceration but also broader contextual stressors (e.g., poverty, caregiver instability, and family disruption) and systems of oppression, such as systemic racism. However, family relationships may serve as important protective factors that support resilience and positive child adjustment. Despite extensive research on child outcomes associated with parental incarceration, less is known about how incarcerated parents perceive and describe their own children and parent-child relationship. The present study addresses this gap by using the Five-Minute Speech Sample (FMSS), a brief narrative assessment in which parents talk uninterrupted for five minutes about their child and their relationships with them. FMSS narratives from the Enhanced Visits Study will be coded using the Family Affective Attitude Rating Scales (FAARS) to evaluate Positive Relational Schemas (PRS) and Negative Relational Schemas (NRS), which reflect underlying attitudes, beliefs, and emotional representations parents have towards their children. Descriptive analyses will characterize parental relational schemas within this population and exploratory correlational analyses will examine the associations between PRS and NRS scores and available measures of child behavioral functioning. Findings from this study will enhance understanding of how incarcerated parents perceive their children and may inform interventions aimed at strengthening parent-child relationships and promoting positive developmental outcomes among children affected by parental incarceration.