Poster #73 - Examining the Different Effects of Acculturation and Enculturation on Parenting Behaviors in Immigrant Parents: A Meta-Analysis

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Immigrant parents navigate a cultural transition while trying to raise children under the bicultural influences of their host and ethnic cultures. Thus, investigating how cultural factors influence immigrant parenting behaviors may be crucial to better understanding immigrant children's development. Immigrants' cultural socialization is considered a bilinear process that changes over time through interactions with the host and ethnic cultures, via processes of acculturation (i.e., cultural socialization to host cultures) and enculturation (i.e., retention/cultural socialization to cultures of origin; Yoon et al., 2020). Studies investigating effects of cultural influences on immigrant parenting often use indictors of authoritative (e.g., responsiveness and firmness) and authoritarian parenting (e.g., physical coercion or punitive strategies) as parenting outcomes (e.g., Vu et al., 2019), which are differentially associated with child outcomes (Chen et al., 2014). The literature broadly suggests that more acculturated parents endorse higher levels of authoritative parenting and lower levels of authoritarian parenting than less accultured parents, and more enculturated parents endorse higher levels of authoritarian parenting than less encultured parents (e.g., Yoon et al., 2021); yet, studies yield mixed results regarding the association between parental enculturation and authoritative parenting (e.g., Umana-Taylor et al., 2010 vs. Park et al., 2010). The present meta-analysis aims to examine the associations between both acculturation and enculturation, and authoritative and authoritarian parenting among immigrant parents in the United States.

The present meta-analysis was pre-registered on PROSPERO. From PsycINFO and PubMed databases, 2,583 abstracts were identified for abstract screening, and 444 articles were included in full-text review. From 126 studies meeting inclusion criteria, we conducted preliminary analyses using data from 35 independent studies (N = 9,249) using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 3 (Borenstein et al., 2013). Full results will be ready for presentation at the 2023 SRCD Biennial Conference.

Meta-analyses demonstrated significant associations between parental acculturation and authoritative parenting, r = .10, 95% CI [.06, .15], p < .001, and authoritarian parenting, r = -.04, 95% CI [-.07, -.00], p = .043. Parental enculturation was also significantly associated with both authoritative parenting, r = .11, 95% CI [.06, .15], p < .001, and authoritarian parenting, r = .05, 95% CI [.02, .08], p < .001. Moderator analyses showed that the association between enculturation and authoritative parenting was higher in studies with fewer foreign-born children and in studies with a greater proportion of parents who finished at least high school. Additionally, the association between parental enculturation and authoritarian parenting was attenuated in studies for which the average length of parents’ stay in the U.S. was longer than in studies for which it was shorter.

Overall, our meta-analytic results highlight that cultural socialization processes are associated with parenting styles among immigrant parents, with some evidence that the strength of these associations vary based on immigration history and demographic characteristics. Interestingly, the positive association between parental enculturation and authoritative parenting contradicts the assimilative view that immigrant parenting practices are less desirable than mainstream parenting. Findings highlight the importance of considering parents’ cultural orientations and contextual factors when implementing parenting interventions.

Authors

• Yukihiro Kitagawa, University of Oregon
  Presenting Author

• Yuanyuan Yang, Stony Brook Unviersity

• Amy Hyoeun Lee, Hofstra University

• Kristin L Bernard, Stony Brook University