Family, Neighborhood, Acculturation and Chinese American Adolescents’ Perceived Racial-Ethnic Discrimination

• In Event: 1-129 - Factors that Influence the Experiences of Racial Discrimination: From Individual and Contextual Lenses

Integrative Statement

Racial discrimination is prevalent among Chinese American (CA) adolescent and negatively influences adolescents’ development (Benner et al., 2018). However, few studies examine the antecedents of such perceived discrimination among CA adolescents. Bioecological system theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) suggests the importance of considering contextual factors and individual characteristics as well as the interplay between different systems when examining adolescent outcomes. At the contextual level, prior research shows that neighborhood ethnic concentration and parent-perceived discrimination are positively related to more perceived discrimination among CA adolescents (Juang & Alvarez, 2011). At the individual level, prior research indicates that CA adolescents’ acculturation is related to less discrimination (Juang & Cookston, 2009). However, it is unclear whether individual characteristics interact with contexts or whether multiple contexts interact to impact CA adolescents’ perceptions of discrimination. Therefore, the current study examined how contextual factors (i.e., parent-perceived discrimination, neighborhood disadvantage, and ethnic concentration) and individual cultural characteristics (adolescents’ acculturation) independently and conjointly influence CA adolescents’ perceptions of discrimination.
Participants were 444 CA adolescents (54% female, Mage=13.04, SD=.73, 75% US-born). Acculturation was assessed with the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (Ryder et al. 2000). Adolescents responded to 20 items assessing their endorsement of statements reflecting US (M=3.72, SD=0.48) and Chinese (M=3.80, SD=0.55) cultural. Neighborhood structural characteristics were computed using the 2000 U.S. census data. Neighborhood disadvantage was created by averaging the standardized mean of each tract’s percentages of adults aged 25+ without a high school diploma, unemployed adults aged 16+, female-headed households, and families below the poverty level (Range=-1.15-3.62, SD=0.75). Chinese American concentration was measured as the percentage of Chinese Americans in each tract (M=33.29%, SD=17.88). Fathers (Mfather=2.02, SD=.48), mothers (Mmother=1.96, SD=.47), and youth (Myouth=1.72, SD=.50) responded to 10 items about the frequency of discrimination experiences (Kessler et al., 1999; Chronic Daily Discrimination Scale). Covariates included parents’ average educational level, gender, and age.
Hierarchical regression analyses (table 1) indicated that higher levels of neighborhood disadvantage were related to more adolescent-reported discrimination (B=0.10, SD=0.04, p=0.01); yet, greater orientation to US culture was associated with less adolescent-reported discrimination (B=-0.13, SD=0.06, p=0.03). The interaction between mother-perceived discrimination and youth orientation to Chinese culture was significant (B=0.24, SD=0.10, p=0.02). Simple slope analyses (figure 1) indicated that only when adolescents were high in orientation to Chinese culture, mother-perceived discrimination was associated with more youth discrimination (B=0.19, SD=0.08, p=0.02).
In sum, the study suggests that CA adolescents’ perceptions of discrimination are shaped by contextual and individual characteristics in complex ways. Results indicated that CA adolescents perceived more discrimination when they lived in more disadvantaged neighborhoods or were less oriented to US culture. Results also suggested that one’s own cultural characteristics and parent’s discrimination experiences interact to affect youth’s perceptions of discrimination. Mother-perceived discrimination was only transmitted to adolescents when adolescents were highly enculturated to Chinese culture. Mothers’ discrimination experiences may spark conversations about unfair treatment (Hughes et al., 2006); enculturated Chinese adolescents may be more receptive to their mothers’ messages, which increase adolescents’ recognition of racial-ethnic discrimination. Implications of these findings will be discussed.

Authors

• Wei Wei, The Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Shanting Chen, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dawn Paula Witherspoon, The Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Su Yeong Kim, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author