Poster #108 - Acculturative Development of South Asian-American Late Adolescent and Emerging Adult Second-Generation Immigrants

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Acculturation–adapting to and defining one’s identity regarding their ethnic and host-country cultures–is a primary challenge for immigrant youth, particularly second-generation immigrants (SGIs; born in a country their parent(s) immigrated to). Acculturative identity is critical to social-emotional, familial, cognitive, and cultural outcomes among SGIs (Szabó et al., 2020). However, previous acculturative identity research studied “Asian SGIs” as one pan-ethnic group. South Asian SGIs, specifically, remain unstudied, despite being one of the fastest growing minority immigrant populations in the United States (Nagaraj, 2018).

110 SGI, South Asian-American late adolescents and emerging adults, currently living in the United States, with at least one immigrant parent from a South Asian country (nmale =49, nfemale=61), ranging in age from 18 to 25 years old (M = 21.62) completed a demographic screener questionnaire to ensure inclusion criteria were met (Table 1). Participants then completed an adapted version of the 29-item East Asian Acculturation Scale (Barry, 2001). The survey comprised four subscales (Table 2): 1) assimilation—individual adopts dominant culture and rejects the heritage culture; biculturation—individual adopts the dominant culture and maintains the heritage culture; separation—individual rejects the dominant culture and maintains the heritage culture; and marginalization—individual rejects the dominant and heritage cultures.

A 2 (gender: male, female) x 4 (ethnic identity: assimilation, separation, biculturation, marginalization) ANOVA was run with repeated measures on the last variable, and age entered as a covariate. A significant main effect for ethnic identity, F(3, 321)=5.70, p<0.001, ηp2=0.05, revealed that participants were equally as likely to have an assimilated ethnic identity to a bicultural ethnic identity and equally as likely to have a separated ethnic identity to a marginalized ethnic identity. Participants were more likely to have either an assimilated or bicultural ethnic identity than they were to have either a separated or marginalized ethnic identity. This main effect was qualified by two higher-order interactions.

A significant interaction effect between ethnic identity and gender, F(3, 321)=3.68, p<0.05, ηp2 = 0.03, was probed with follow-up independent sample t-tests with Bonferroni adjustments for Type-I error. A significant difference in marginalization emerged; females were more likely than males to have a marginalized ethnic identity.

A significant interaction effect between ethnic identity and age, F(3, 321)=4.45, p<0.01, ηp2 = 0.04, was probed using linear regressions with age as the predictor and each ethnic identity as the criterion variable. Age significantly predicted bicultural ethnic identity; as age increased, the likelihood of having a bicultural ethnic identity decreased (R2=0.06, F(1, 108)=7.21, p<0.01). Similarly, as age increased, the likelihood of having a marginalized ethnic identity also increased significantly (R2=0.04, F(1,108)=3.86, p<0.05).

These findings add South Asian SGI representation to the literature. Further examination is warranted regarding how assimilated identity relates to South Asian SGI—independent and in comparison to other Asian SGIs—decisions, values, and cross-domain outcomes as members of American society and immigrant communities.

Authors

• Ankita Karna, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Sydney R Klein, University of Connecticut

• Alaina Brenick, University of Connecticut