Psychological well-being and changes in context of biethnic acceptance across the transition to middle school

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Transition to middle school accompanied by multiple changes in daily settings has been associated with decrease in psychological well-being of adolescents (Gutman & Eccles, 2007). For biethnic children, changes particularly in their perceived context of biethnic acceptance may have significant implications for psychological well-being in middle school. Context of biethnic acceptance refers to the extent to which one’s biethnic background is accepted across family, peer, and school settings (Chung, Lee, & Gonzales-Backen, 2020). In the current study, we identified patterns of change in context of biethnic acceptance across the 3-year period spanning from elementary to middle school. We also examined whether and how each pattern predicted self-esteem, depression, and ethnic affirmation.
The sample consisted of 245 biethnic adolescents who participated in all three waves of the Panel Survey of Korean Multicultural Youth Adjustment. We used data from Wave 1 and Wave 3. Participants were in 5th and 6th grades at Wave 1. Their fathers were Korean natives and mothers were immigrants from China, Japan, Philippines, or Vietnam.
Context of biethnic acceptance was assessed by familial ethnic socialization, peer discrimination, and school multicultural climate, using latent profile analysis (LPA). The Korean version of Familial Ethnic Socialization Measure (Lee & Chung, 2019) was used to measure familial ethnic socialization. For peer discrimination, we used Global Discrimination subscale of the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Scale (Whitbeck, Hoyt, McMorris, Chen, & Stubben, 2001). For school multicultural climate, we used the Equal Status subscale of the School Multicultural Climate Scale (Ko, 2010). The ethnic affirmation/belonging subscale of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992) was used for biethnic affirmation. To measure depression, we used the Korean version of CES-D short form (Cho & Kim, 1993). Self-esteem was assessed by Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale.
LPA yielded two profiles of high and low biethnic acceptance in both Waves 1 and 3. Latent transition analyses identified two statuses and four patterns (Table 1). About 60% of the participants stayed in context of high biethnic acceptance at both waves (n=137, high-high). 20% remained in context of low biethnic acceptance (n = 50, low-low). Context of biethnic acceptance improved for 13.9% (n=34, low-high). 9.8% of the youths transitioned from context of high biethnic acceptance at Wave 1 to low biethnic acceptance at Wave 3 (n=24, high-low).
Multiple regression analyses (Table 2) showed that after controlling demographic characteristics and each dependent variable from Wave 1, high-low (vs. high-high) group was more likely to report lower self-esteem (b=-0.34, p<.01), higher depression (b=0.33, p<.01), and lower ethnic affirmation at Wave 3 (b=-0.32, p<.05). Post-hoc analyses showed that self-esteem (F=6.14, p=.002) and ethnic affirmation (F=7.2, p=.000) were significantly lower and depression was higher (F=5.34, p=.005) for high-low group than low-low group.
While the majority of participants remained in positive context across the transition to middle school, most at risk was those who perceived decrease in biethnic acceptance in their daily settings. Results highlight the importance of maintaining the context of high biethnic acceptance across the transition for positive psychological adjustment of biethnic youths in middle school.

Authors

• Grace Chung, Seoul National University
  Presenting Author

• Jiyeon Lee, National University of Singapore
  Non-Presenting Author