Poster #171 - Caregivers’ Ethnic-Racial Identity and Children’s Social Development: The Mediating Role of Family Ethnic Socialization

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Ethnic-racial identity (ERI) is a multifaceted developmental process reflecting beliefs and attitudes about one’s ethnic group membership (Phinney, 1992). Past research has documented the association between caregivers’ ERI and culture-related outcomes, such as the implicit and explicit efforts to introduce cultural beliefs and behaviors to family members (i.e., familial ethnic socialization; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2013). However, there remains insufficient research on caregivers’ ERI and children’s social functioning. We posit that caregiver ERI will promote positive social development via caregivers’ family ethnic socialization (FES) practices, such as overt FES through direct communication (e.g., teaching about cultural/ethnic values) and covert FES through inadvertent actions associated with ethnicity (e.g., decorating the house with ethnic items; Umaña-Taylor, 2001). Moreover, given that Latinx is one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010), it is critical to understand how cultural values arising from caregivers’ ERI may shape FES in Latinx families and inculcate children with cultural beliefs and practices that shape their social relationships and well-being. Therefore, this longitudinal study investigated hypothesized relations among caregivers’ ERI and child social acceptance through FES in Latinx families.

Participants were 129 Latina caregivers and children (48.1% female) drawn from an ongoing longitudinal study of child development. Caregivers’ ERI was evaluated at age 6 using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised version (MEIM-R; Ong & Phinney, 1997). Both overt and covert forms of FES were assessed at age 8 using Umaña-Taylor’s (2001) measure. Also at age 8, children rated their social acceptance using the Harter’s (1985) People in My Life Scale. A multiple mediation analysis evaluated prospective relations between caregiver ERI and child social acceptance via overt and covert FES while controlling for child gender and family socioeconomic status.

Findings indicated that ERI predicted higher overt FES, b = .461, p < .001, and higher covert FES, b = .572, p < .001. Overt FES predicted later child social acceptance, b = .025, p = .029, whereas covert FES was not a significant predictor of social acceptance, b = -.004, p = .635. Furthermore, the indirect path from total ERI to later social acceptance via overt FES was significant, b = .011, 95% CI = [.001, .025], but the indirect path via covert FES was not significant, b = -.002, 95% CI = [-.012, .007]. Approximately 9.28% of the variability in child social acceptance was accounted for by ERI and the indirect paths through overt and covert FES.

The results of this study support the essential role of Latina caregivers’ ERI in shaping children’s ethnic socialization and, by extension, the models and practices they may carry forward to influence their social acceptance. Importantly, overt cultural practices, in contrast to covert FES, may contribute more to the transmission of caregivers’ ERI to children’s social skills and acceptance. Overt FES practices, such as direct coaching and explicit instructions about cultural and ethnic beliefs, may support positive social development among Latinx children.

Authors

• Sandra A Rosales, University of California, Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Duyen T Trang, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristen L Rudd, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ana Kamille Marcelo, Clark University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tuppett M Yates, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author