African-Immigrant Sibling Relationships: A Developmental Stage-Based Approach

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

The present research qualitatively examines African college students' concepts of inter-family dynamics and contextualizes sibling relationships' developmental processes into emerging adulthood. As an extension effort of our earlier work with focus groups, the data and unit of analysis for the present work centers on individual interviews with our original African-immigrant participants (N=14). All participants (eight females, six males) were of African descent with at least one sibling. For accuracy, all transcripts were transcribed and coded in groups of three researchers for accuracy and credibility. Grounded in the interpretive phenomenological approach (Smith & Shinebourne, 2012), In Vivo coding was applied to all of the transcribed data (Saldana, 2013). All codes were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). As a credibility measure during the analytic process, negative cases were identified actively refuting emergent themes (LeCompte & Goetz, 1982).

The findings from our thematic analysis revealed three levels of emergent themes, which naturally adhered to developmental processes during the lifespan (see Figure 1.). Our results revealed three primary emergent themes: differential gender experiences, cultural significance of age, and sibling parental roles. Together, these emergent themes not only define sibling parental roles during early development periods but permeate sibling relationships throughout emerging adulthood. Our data indicate that parents' gender socialization burdens sisters with more responsibility in preparation for lifelong domestic service while enforcing differential behavior standards for brothers. The African cultures of our participants shared age hierarchies in which authority flows unidirectionally up the age ladder and elders are beholden to the needs of younger family members. African age hierarchies and gender socialization work in concert to produce sibling parental roles based on the age and gender of children, with older siblings filling parental roles for younger siblings. Thematic results included three secondary themes: experiences of acculturation, cultural bonds, and sibling relationships changing over time. These secondary themes revealed differing rates of acculturation within a family are influenced by the age siblings first moved to the U.S., with earlier exposure facilitating greater acculturation. The need to retain African culture, often through language and music, competes with socioeconomic pressures to assimilate. Indeed, the primacy between acculturation and preserving culture bonds appears to fluctuate within individuals. Alternatives to age hierarchies and gender socialization imported through acculturation experiences challenge many of the initial norms establishing sibling parental roles. Older sibling's parental roles in the second stage foster more emotional intimacy and higher regard for maturing younger siblings, while still providing support. In the tertiary level of thematic results, influences of acculturation and cultural preservation manifest in three emergent themes: cultural distinctions, levels of familial intimacy, and inter-sibling conflicts. One's cultural distinctions from Western peers fluctuates based on cultural preservation. Familial intimacy is enhanced at this time through acculturated siblings' willingness to be more emotionally expressive; while concomitantly, inter-sibling conflicts emerge over challenges to patriarchal norms and the age-determined obligations of elders. Future qualitative inquiry is critical to better understanding African-immigrants’ lived experiences associated with acculturation and gender norms.

Authors

• Awab Shawkat, State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo)
  Presenting Author

• Neha Patil, State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Luiza Perez, State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elise Miller, State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emma Mandella, State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brittany Bearss, State University of New York at Geneseo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nicholas P. Palumbo, University of Rochester; State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ganie B DeHart, State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo)
  Non-Presenting Author