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Intergenerational Transmission of Tridimensional Cultural Orientations in Chinese American Families: The Role of Bicultural Socialization

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

It is important to understand the acculturation process of ethnic minority youth: To which cultures do they orient, and how do their cultural orientations develop? The present study tests a tridimensional acculturation model in Chinese American families and examines a potential mechanism through which parental cultural orientations may relate to adolescent cultural orientations. Participants were 350 Chinese American adolescents (M age  = 17.04, 58 % female) and their parents in Northern California. Results support the tridimensional acculturation model by demonstrating moderate associations among Chinese American orientation, Chinese orientation, and American orientation; our findings also point to a unique effect of parental Chinese American orientation on parental bicultural socialization beliefs. Most importantly, we identified an indirect pathway from parental to adolescents’ Chinese American orientation through adolescents’ internalization of parental bicultural socialization beliefs.

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Funding

Support for this research was provided through awards to Su Yeong Kim from (1) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 5R03HD051629-02 (2) Office of the Vice President for Research Grant/Special Research Grant from the University of Texas at Austin (3) Jacobs Foundation Young Investigator Grant (4) American Psychological Association Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, Promoting Psychological Research and Training on Health Disparities Issues at Ethnic Minority Serving Institutions Grant (5) American Psychological Foundation/Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, Ruth G. and Joseph D. Matarazzo Grant (6) California Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Extended Education Fund (7) American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Massachusetts Avenue Building Assets Fund, and (8) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 5R24HD042849-14 Grant awarded to the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Author Contributions

SYK created the design of the study, conceived of the study and drafted portions of the manuscript; YH performed the statistical analysis and drafted portions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 108 East Dean Keeton Street, Stop A2702, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Su Yeong Kim & Yang Hou

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Kim, S.Y., Hou, Y. Intergenerational Transmission of Tridimensional Cultural Orientations in Chinese American Families: The Role of Bicultural Socialization. J Youth Adolescence 45, 1452–1465 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0423-4

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