3-114 - Family Dynamics and Adolescents’ Socioemotional Adjustment Across Cultural Contexts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The papers in this symposium provide new insights into how family dynamics and life experiences contribute to adolescents’ socioemotional adjustment across cultures.

The 1st and 2nd papers focus on the role of emotional expressivity within the family. In Paper 1, the role of parental warmth and behaviors in Chinese adolescents’ peer relationships were examined. The results indicate that while parents’ coercive and psychological control were predictive of increased anxiety with peers, maternal warmth was predictive of decreased anxiety. In Paper 2, the role of family emotional expressiveness in American and Chinese adolescents’ emotional experiences was examined. While positive family expressiveness predicted positive emotional functioning among American and Chinese adolescents, it was associated with dampened negative emotional experiences among American adolescents.

The 3rd and 4th papers examined the experiences of adolescents who have undergone the process of migration or immigration. Focusing on Chinese migrant children, Paper 3 indicates that migrant children’s perceptions of discrimination were associated with their behavioral problems, and such association was buffered by father-child attachment. Paper 4 examined the role of family ethnic-racial socialization practices among Latino American families. Results reveal that cultural socialization was associated with adolescents’ self-worth, and families that placed heightened emphasis on cultural socialization had adolescents benefiting more from the close relationships with their parents.

Taken together, the four papers highlight that adolescents’ socioemotional adjustment is closely related to their experiences within the family, and these experiences are often characterized by their unique life circumstances and cultural processes.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chairs

• Cecilia Cheung, University of California, Riverside

• Maria S Wong, Stevenson University

Individual Presentations

• Linking Familial Processes to Peer Issues: Effects of Parenting and Attachment on Social Status Insecurity - Presenting Author: Yunyi Long, DePaul University; Non-Presenting Author: Yan Li, DePaul University

• Implications of Family Expressiveness for Adolescents' Emotional Adjustment in the United States and China - Presenting Author: Yena Kyeong, University of California, Riverside; Non-Presenting Author: Cecilia Cheung, University of California, Riverside

• Attachment Security as Moderator of Perceived Discrimination on Behavioral Outcomes among Chinese Migrant Children - Presenting Author: Ruizhe Song, Fuller Theological Seminary; Non-Presenting Author: Joey Fung, Fuller Theological Seminary; Non-Presenting Author: Maria S Wong, Stevenson University; Non-Presenting Author: Ping Yao, Peking University

• Parental Ethnic-Racial Socialization Moderating Closeness and Conflict on Latino-American Adolescents' Emotional Functioning - Presenting Author: K. Anh Do, Asian American Studies Program, University of Maryland, College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Cixin Wang, Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education,University of Maryland; Non-Presenting Author: Tanya Nieri, University of California, Riverside; Non-Presenting Author: Jia Li Liu, University of Maryland, College Park