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Relations Between Parent–Child Acculturation Differences and Adjustment Within Immigrant Chinese Families

Catherine L. Costigan and Daphne´ P. Dokis
加拿大维多利亚大学留学生论文定制University of Victoria

The relations between parent and child acculturation and family and child adjustment were examined among 91immigrant Chinese families in Canada with early adolescents (average age of 12). Acculturation was assessed inpublic (e.g., language use) and private (e.g., values) domains separately in Chinese and Canadian cultures.Withone exception, interactions between parent and child acculturation in Canadian domains were unrelated toadjustment (conflict intensity, depressive feelings, and achievement motivation). Interactions in Chinese domainswere more clearly associated with adjustment. Specifically, mother – child interactions in Chinese publicdomains and father – child interactions in the Chinese private domain predicted adjustment. In all interactions,when parents were strongly orientated toward Chinese culture, lower levels of Chinese orientation amongchildren were associated with lower adjustment.
The quality of family relationships is a central contextin which development unfolds during childhoodand adolescence. In addition to considerableintraindividual changes, early adolescence is markedby significant alterations in parent – child relationships,such as a renegotiation of the boundariesaround adolescent independence and parental authority(Steinberg & Silk, 2002). This transition toadolescence may be especially challenging in immigrantfamilies. Following migration, individualsmust find a balance between retaining features oftheir ethnic culture and adopting features of the hostculture. Parents and children may work throughthese acculturative issues at different rates, whichmay result in acculturation differences between parentsand children (Kwak, 2003; Okagaki & Bojczyk, 2002).Dissimilar levels of acculturation between parentsand children may intensify the normative challengesof this developmental phase compared with familiesin which members are at similar levels of acculturation.Thus, the extent of differences in acculturationbetween parents and their children is an importantcontext in immigrant families for navigating theearly adolescent period.
When dissimilar levels of acculturation exist,children generally acculturate more quickly thantheir parents, with parents maintaining ethnic traditionsthat are at odds with children’s experiencesin the new culture (Kwak, 2003). For example, inNorth America, children in immigrant Chinesefamilies may be interested in fitting in with nonimmigrantpeers and influenced by the individualisticvalues of the host culture, whereas their parents maybe more oriented toward the https://www.51lunwen.org/canada/ethnic community andmore likely to retain traditional collectivist valuessuch as family embeddedness (Chao & Tseng, 2002).Importantly, however, large parent – child differences
in acculturation are not inevitable; not all immigrantparents continue to strongly endorse ethnic traditionsand not all immigrant youth rapidly adopt thetraditions of the host culture (e.g., Chun & Akutsu,2003). Thus, within-group variation is to be expectedin the extent to which parents and children showdissimilar levels of acculturation.The current study evaluates the relations betweenparent – child acculturation differences and adjustmentamong immigrant Chinese families living inBritish Columbia本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。