Acculturation trajectories of South Korean multicultural adolescents and their immigrant mothers and its association with adolescent adjustments

Abstract

This study identified the acculturation trajectories of multicultural adolescents in South Korea along with those of their migrant mothers using a latent class growth analysis and examined the relationship between latent trajectories of adolescents and their mothers and the adjustment of adolescents. Data from a nationally representative sample of Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (N = 1458, Girls = 50.62%, age range = 9.97–14.96) were used. Three latent acculturation trajectories of multicultural adolescents were identified, including integration, modest assimilation, and high assimilation, and four latent acculturation trajectories of migrant mothers were distinguished, including high assimilation, high separation, modest assimilation, and modest separation. The most favorable profiles were those of the integration of adolescents and high assimilation of migrant mothers. These findings suggested the importance of providing family-based prevention and intervention programs against the maladjustment of South Korean multicultural adolescents.