Self-Worth in Latinx Children: Examining Mothers’ Cultural Orientation and Familial Ethnic Socialization

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Parental expression of cultural orientation is linked to child socioemotional adjustment in Latinx families (Chung et al., 2019), but there remains insufficient evidence regarding mechanisms explaining this relation. Familial ethnic socialization (FES) entails the way(s) families socialize children about cultural values (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2013), and may mediate the effect of parents’ cultural affinity on child outcomes. Spencer’s (2006) Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) emphasizes the role of parents’ cultural beliefs and the cultural context in which the child is embedded as important influences on children’s subjective sense of self and the world. However, extant research has rarely examined parental cultural orientation and child self-worth, and this gap is particularly salient for Latinx children because their self-evaluation may be closely connected to their families and ethnic background (Kapke et al., 2017). Therefore, this study evaluated contributions of Latinx mothers’ heritage and mainstream cultural orientations to changes in children’s self-worth via overt and covert FES.

Participants were 129 Latinx mother-child dyads (48.1% female). At age 5, mothers’ cultural orientation towards Latinx heritage culture and American mainstream culture were evaluated using the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (Ryder et al., 2000), and family socioeconomic status was measured using the Hollingshead (1975) Four Factor Index of Social Status. At age 8, 115 dyads returned for follow-up and mothers reported FES practices using Umaña-Taylor’s (2001) revised Familial Ethnic Socialization, which includes subscales for both overt FES (e.g., direct teaching about ethnicity and culture) and covert FES (e.g., decorating homes with heritage objects). At ages 8 and 10, children indicated their self-worth on Harter’s (2012) revised Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 2012).

A path analysis using the lavaan package in RStudio (Rosseel, 2012) tested indirect relations from mothers’ heritage and mainstream cultural orientations to child self-worth via overt and covert FES practices, controlling for child gender and prior reports of self-worth. The model fit the data well, ꭓ2 = 9.68, p = .377, CFI = .997, TLI = .990, RMSEA = .024 (CI 90%= .001–.104), SRMR = .048. Unstandardized path coefficients for the direct and indirect effects indicated that mothers’ heritage cultural orientation was associated with higher levels of overt FES, b = .207, p < .001, and covert FES practices, b = .271, p < .001, but only overt FES practices predicted increased child self-worth, b = .026, p = .039, over and above prior self-worth, b = .163, p = .031. Furthermore, the indirect path from mothers’ heritage cultural orientation to later child self-worth via overt FES practices was significant, b = .005, SE = .003, p = .046.

The results of this study support PVEST tenets wherein family socialization processes are salient mechanisms by which parents’ heritage cultural messages may contribute to children’s self-evaluation. Direct communication about cultural beliefs and traditions may be especially beneficial to multicultural children as they embrace themselves in alignment with the heritage culture while also successfully navigating the mainstream culture. Further research is encouraged to clarify these links, especially with respect to Latinx fathers and/or child gender groups.

Authors

• Sandra Alexa Rosales, University of California - Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Duyen T. Trang, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tuppett M. Yates, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author