Effects of parent-child acculturation differences: Myth or reality in Mexican American families

1. Effects of parent-child acculturation differences: Myth or reality in Mexican American families Tanya Nieri, PhD and Matt Grindal, MA Department of Sociology University of California at Riverside Acknowledgements: Data were collected as part of the Parents and Youth Study, funded by NIH, S. Coltrane & R. Parke, PIs, University of CA at Riverside

2. Background • Acculturation: process of cultural change as a result of encounters with a new or mainstream culture • Acculturation associated with higher risk of delinquency • Effect often attributed to “acculturation gap” – parent-child differences in acculturation – that undermines family functioning • Some research supports this conclusion, but current research is limited • Acculturation differences not always measured • Direction of differences often assumed (child more American) • Nature and effects of other differences unexplored • Any difference taken to indicate a “gap” • Analyses do not reflect current theoretical understanding of acculturation as bidimensional

3. Research questions • Using a categorical approach to acculturation measurement, what are the nature and extent of parent-child acculturation differences? • How do the different patterns of parent-child acculturation relate to delinquent behavior?

4. Data • Parents and Youth Study – study of fathering effects in European American and Mexican American families in CA and AZ • 392 families: 1 Middle school child and both parents • Recruited through the schools, screened for eligbility, then randomly selected • 3 waves of interview surveys: 2004 (7th grade), 2005, 2006

5. Sample • 193 Mexican American youths and their parents • Youths • 52% female • Mean age: 13 years • 27% foreign born • 12% took survey in Spanish • Moms • Mean age: 37 years • 69% foreign born • 56% took survey in Spanish • Mean time in US: 17 years • Dads • Mean age: 38 years • 70% foreign born • 58% took Survey in Spanish • Mean time in US: 19 years

6. Measures • Acculturation • Mexican American Cultural Values Scale (Saenz & Knight, 2010) • Mexican Acculturation subscale • American Acculturation subscale • Values range from 1- 5 • 50 items • Total acculturation • Categorical version formed thru crosstabulation of two subscales • Mexican, American, Lo Bicultural, Hi Bicultural, Unidentified • Measured separately for youth, mom, and dad

7. Measures • Parent-child acculturation difference • Categorical version formed thru crosstabulation of youth acculturation and parent (mom or dad) acculturation • Parent-child match (reference group) • Child more American than parent • Parent more American than child • Neither parent nor child more American (excluded from analysis)

8. Measures • Delinquency • Last month substance use, fighting, stealing, physically harm someone • Dichotomous • 45% report some delinquency at baseline

9. Measures • Controls • Age • Gender (female reference group) • Socioeconomic status – mother’s education • Generation status – native-born parents vs. at least 1 foreign-born parent

10. Results: Acculturation Note: %s may total to more than 100 due to rounding.

11. Results: Acculturation differences Note: %s may total to more than 100 due to rounding.

12. Results: Delinquency

13. Results: Delinquency

14. Results: Delinquency • Results don’t change when • we account for partial matches (eliminate hi vs. lo bicultural) • we dichotomize match vs. any mismatch • we drop generation status • we control for potential mechanisms: family factors • Results relative to traditional linear version of parent-child acculturation difference • Mean is Parent more Am than child (i.e., negative difference) • Absolute value of mean difference is small (.5) • DAD: Effects (ns) in direction of protection for children more Am than par • MOM: Effects (significant at p<.10) in direction of protection for children more Am than par

15. Discussion • Patterns of acculturation and parent-child acculturation difference run counter to the “acculturation gap” narrative • No American-identified in sample • Not due to sampling; Biculturalism is the norm and increasingly so • Large numbers of biculturals – can/should distinguish between high and low bicultural • Patterns of acculturation and parent-child acculturation difference run counter to the “acculturation gap” narrative • Most common parent-child pattern: match • Not surprising given developmental stage; may change over time • Parent-child differences, where present, not only in one direction • Parent-child differences are small – not a “gap”

16. Discussion • No effects of parent-child differences in delinquency • Perhaps due to absence of American-identified in sample • No differences big enough or too few in the expected direction (Child more Am than parent) • Again, possibly developmental • Perhaps due to delinquency measure • Perhaps due to measuring acculturation in terms of values – mechanism of effect may be something other than cultural values • Exception: Children more American than moms have lower odds of delinquency: Significant effect but direction runs counter to expectation.

17. Conclusions • No definitive proof, but this is a call to attention! • Acculturation and parent-child acculturation differences are more complex than past research would suggest • Different operationalizations of acculturation=different pathways to delinquency (e.g., language and monitoring) • Need to consider operationalization when hypothesizing and modeling • Differences are not necessarily gaps – label is inaccurate and unnecessarily pathologizes family relationships • Differences are different – need further exploration • E.g., exceptional effect may signal whole different mechanism…access to/integration in American society