Ruth K. Chao

Ruth K. Chao is an American psychologist. Her research interests center around the parenting styles and socialization of East Asian immigrant families, especially Chinese families, in the United States and Canada. She is an associate professor in the Psychology Department and the principal investigator for the Multicultural Families and Adolescents Study (MFAS) research project at the University of California, Riverside. She is a board member of the Global Parenting Education Group, a nonprofit organization that focuses on parent education in China and other countries.

Education She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California, Irvine, a master's degree in counseling psychology from the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from University of California, Los Angeles. She demonstrated that, although the authoritarian style predicts poor school achievement in European American children, the parenting style predicts excellent school achievement in Chinese American children.

Publications (selection) Chao, R. K. (1994), Beyond Parental Control and Authoritarian Parenting Style: Understanding Chinese Parenting through the Cultural Notion of Training. Child Development, 65: 1111–1119. Chao, R.K. (1996), Chinese and European American Mothers' Beliefs about the Role of Parenting in Children's School Success. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 27: 403–423. Chao, R.K. (2000), The Parenting of Immigrant Chinese and European American Mothers: Relations Between Parenting Styles, Socialization Goals, and Parental Practices. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 21(2): 233–248. Chao, R. K. (2001), Extending Research on the Consequences of Parenting Style for Chinese Americans and European Americans. Child Development, 72: 1832–1843. Shen, Y., Kim, S., Wang, Y., and Chao, R.K. Language Brokering and Adjustment among Chinese and Korean American Adolescents: a Moderated Mediation Model of Perceived Maternal Sacrifice, Respect for the Mother, and Mother-Child Open Communication. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 5(2): 86–95.

Major works Chao has contributed to two books. Hill, N.E. and Chao, R.K. (2009). Families, Schools, and the Adolescent: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice. New York: Teachers College Press. Russell, S., Crockett, L.J., and Chao, R.K. (2010). Asian American Parenting and Parent-Adolescent Relationships. Springer Science & Business Media.