Cultural Orientation, Racial-Ethnic Socialization, and Youth Adjustment Outcomes: Test of a Path Model With Asian American Parents

Abstract

This study investigated how Asian American parents’ cultural orientation related to domains of racial-ethnic socialization (RES) and child internalizing and externalizing problems. The sample included 159 Asian American parents (Mage= 40.97 years; range = 25-33 years). Findings revealed that parent acculturation and enculturation levels were significantly associated with the child’s internalizing and externalizing problems through RES. These findings suggest that parents who were more acculturated to mainstream American culture were less likely to send messages about avoiding racial/ethnic groups, which in turn was associated with less child internalizing problems. Conversely, parents more enculturated to their culture of origin were more likely to send messages that included avoidance of outgroups, which was then linked to the child’s externalizing problems. The study provides important implications for how parents’ cultural orientations are reflected in their RES messages to their children, and the impact of these messages on child emotional and behavioral outcomes.