Chinese International Scholars’ Balancing Academia and Parenting in the U.S.

Abstract

The population of Chinese international students and scholars (CIS) in the U.S. is on the rise. Acculturative stress and strategies have been investigated with undergraduate students who came to the U.S. as international students. However, not much is known about scholars who came to the U.S. for advanced educational or career opportunities (Sharma, 2019). Our understanding is especially limited about those who are also raising their young children in the U.S. Guided by the bioecological framework (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and the stress-coping-adaptation model (Berry, 2006), this study investigates acculturation processes with a series of three interviews with each participant across time (Seidman, 2006). CIS from diverse academic programs in a higher education institution in the Midwest U.S. shared the challenges and coping strategies as they negotiated the acculturation process in academic programs and when they were becoming new parents, and especially in how they balance the two roles.