中華心理衛生協會

Purposes: The purpose of this qualitative study was to illuminate and interpret the meaning of 5 new Vietnamese immigrant mothers' learning experiences after emotional regulation in two families and cultural contexts and to find the implications of these experiences for their children's emotional education. Emotional regulation refers to that an individual is aware of own feelings, behaviors and others emotions through social interaction in a situated culture, then adjusts owns feelings or behaviors in order to communicate with others and to find self-appraisal. Methods: Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 5 new Vietnamese immigrant mothers with children in kindergarten. Thematic analysis was applied. Results: Five major themes emerged in the initial stage of their immigration: sadness and crying do not change anything, changing their own argument to meet cultural expectations is helpful, regulating emotion is filial, hiding their own feelings or changing their emotions preserves relationships, participating in school activities brings emotional support, and love for others and trying to do their best are important. In the second stage of their experience, the mothers came to recognize the challenges and their impact on their children's emotional education. Conclusions: The recommendation based on this analysis includes that educators should recognize the significance of new immigrant mothers' emotional experiences and the impact of these experiences on mothers' emotional education for their young children.