Relations among Parenting, Culture, and Prosocial Behaviors in U.S. Mexican youth: An Integrative Socialization Approach

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Although interest in studying prosocial behaviors among U.S. Latinx has increased, existing research in this population remains relatively sparse. Consistently, scholars have highlighted the role of parental socialization in fostering prosocial behaviors (Eisenberg et al., 2006). Scholars have also recommended integrating culture-specific mechanisms and more mainstream developmental mechanisms into developmental research, and to do so in a way that adequately captures both processes (e.g., Garcia Coll et al., 1996). One means of integrating these mechanisms is to consider that all types of socialization are informed by cultural values. Some mechanisms of socialization, however, have received more attention in some ethnocultural groups.
One avenue through which Latino/a parents and families may foster prosocial behaviors is via ethnic identity and familism values. Parental enculturative practices, such as discussing their ethnic heritage and exposing their children to cultural traditions and events, may help youth explore and internalize a more coherent and consolidated ethnic identity over time (Knight et al., 2016). This, in turn, may foster cultural values that are encouraged by U.S. Mexican families and include a consideration of the needs of others, which could motivate youth to engage in specific types of prosocial behaviors. In summary, the present study was designed to examine the longitudinal relations among parental socialization practices, – including acceptance or harsh parenting and ethnic socialization – ethnic identity, familism, and prosocial behaviors in a sample of U.S. Mexican youth.
Participants included 462 U.S. Mexican adolescents (M age at Wave 1 = 10.4 years old; 48.1% female), their mothers, and fathers at the 5th, 7th, 10th, and 12th grades. Results showed that maternal and paternal ethnic socialization predicted several forms of prosocial behaviors via ethnic identity and familism. Fathers’, but not mothers’, harsh parenting and acceptance had direct links to specific forms of prosocial behaviors. The present study suggests the need for culturally informed theories that examine the reciprocal relations between two distinct domains of cultural socialization.

Authors

• Cara Streit, University of New Mexico
  Presenting Author

• Gustavo Carlo, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• George P Knight, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebecca M. B. White, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sahitya Maiya, University of New Hampshire
  Non-Presenting Author