Parent socialization patterns and their associations with Asian American adolescents’ sociopolitical values and family cohesion

• In Event: Racial-ethnic socialization among Asian American families in the U.S.

Abstract

Introduction: Parents’ conversations about race and ethnicity with their children, i.e., racial-ethnic socialization (RES), can be protective in the face of discrimination and influence identity development and mental health (Juang et al., 2018). Among Asian Americans, fewer studies have examined the implications of RES for family relationships and sociopolitical development. Moreover, more research is needed that examines how combinations of messages relate to outcomes, as messages are not given in isolation (Atkin & Ahn, 2022). The present study seeks to understand how Asian American parental RES impacts their children's sociopolitical values and family cohesion.
Methods: Survey data was collected from 308 Asian American adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18. Four subscales from the Asian American Parental Racial-Ethnic Socialization Scale (Juang et al., 2016) were utilized: maintenance of heritage culture, becoming American, awareness of discrimination, and avoidance of outgroups. To assess family cohesion, the cohesion subscale of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales II (Olson et al., 1979) was used. Asian American sociopolitical values were measured by the Asian American Racial Identity Ideological Values Scale (Yoo et al., 2021). Latent profile analyses were conducted separately for youths’ reports of mothers’ and fathers’ socialization, and family cohesion and sociopolitical values were examined as distal outcomes.
Results: The mother RES profile had three classes. The integration socialization profile (59.7%, n = 184) was characterized by equal agreement by youth that their mothers engaged in maintenance of heritage culture socialization and becoming American socialization, in combination with the lowest reports of awareness of discrimination and avoidance of outgroups. The high separation profile (9.7%, n = 30) was characterized by the highest reports of maintenance of heritage culture, the lowest reports of becoming American, and the highest reports of awareness of discrimination and avoidance of outgroups. The moderate separation profile (30.5%, n = 94) was similar to the high separation profile, but with slightly lower scores on maintenance of heritage culture, slightly higher reports of becoming American and awareness of discrimination, and a relatively moderate score on avoidance of outgroups. For father’s RES, the model had two classes that resembled the mother integration profile (79.1%, n = 223), and the high separation profile (20.9%, n = 59).
For mothers’ RES, the integration profile had significantly higher mean scores than both the high and moderate separation profiles for mother-child cohesion and sociopolitical values. Moreover, the moderate separation profile had significantly higher mean scores on mother-child cohesion than the high separation profile. For fathers’ RES, mean scores for father-child cohesion in the integration profile were significantly higher than the high separation profile, but no differences were detected for youths’ sociopolitical values.
Conclusions: This study contributes knowledge about how different RES strategies affect the relationships between adolescents and their parents and the formation of Asian American sociopolitical values. Findings suggest that the combination of messages that youth receive from their mothers and fathers may be related to their relationship quality and their child’s sociopolitical values.

Authors

• Annabelle Atkin, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Lydia Harim Ahn, Arizona State University

• Jacqueline Yi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign