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Acculturation Gap
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Acculturation Gap
The following pages discuss four research studies that empirically investigate the links
between acculturation gap and negative effects on child outcomes. Acculturation gap refers to
the extent to which the individual acculturation levels differ between parents and adolescents.
The study of acculturation gap is important for developing an understanding of how
acculturation gap impacts psychological, emotional, and academic outcomes in adolescents. This
paper will discuss descriptions of the measurements used, how acculturation gap is
conceptualized, conclusions about its positive or negative affects, and the most significant
features of the methodologies used in each of the research papers. Lastly, the paper will examine
conclusions about methodological weaknesses and suggestions for future research.
Bámaca-Colbert and Gayles (2010)
What were they trying to find out? Bamaca-Colbert and Gayles (2010) were
investigating which procedure among four different analytic measures best explained the
interaction between cultural orientation dissonance, family functioning, and adolescent
adjustment in sample of mother-daughter pairs of Mexican descent.
Who did they study? Their sample included daughters in the 7th and 10th grades and their
mothers. There were 159 early-adolescent girls, 160 late-adolescent girls, and 319 mothers who
participated in the study.
How did they do the study? Bamaca-Colbert and Gayles (2010) used the Bidimentional
Acculturation Scale for Hispanics to determine mothers’ and daughters’ language-related cultural
orientation. They used The Cultural Values Scale to measure mothers’ and daughter’s cultural
orientation with respect to values. The frequency of conflict was assessed with a modified
version of the Parent-Adolescent Conflict Scale. Daughters’ perceptions of their mothers’
supportive parenting was assessed with the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. Daughters’
depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression
Scale. Daughters’ anxiety states were assessed with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for
Children-Trait Version. They used for analytic procedures (two variable-centered approaches
and two person-centered approaches) for examining the interplay between culture orientation
dissonance, family functioning, and adolescent adjustment regarding acculturation, enculturation,
and familism. The measures used were difference scores, interactions, matched/mismatched
groups, and latent profile analysis (LPA). The two person-centered approaches,
matched/mismatched groups and LPA, yielded low matched, mismatched, and high matched
levels corresponding to acculturation, enculturation, and familism and five profile groups
(Cultural Orientation Dissonance Dyads (P1), Low Acculturated Daughter Dyads (P2), Familism
Matched Dyads (P3), Low Enculturated Dyads (P4), and Cultural Orientation Matched Dyads
(p5)) respectively.
What did they find? The difference score analysis showed that higher levels of parent-
child conflict were related to higher levels of depressive symptoms, higher levels of maternal
supportive parenting were related to lower levels of depressive symptoms, and that higher levels
of conflict in daughters’ reports related to higher levels of anxiety. The Interactive Analytic
Procedure showed that higher levels of conflict were related to higher levels of depressive
symptoms, higher levels of maternal supportive parenting were related to lower levels of
depressive symptoms, and it exhibited a grade x familism interaction. Only 7th graders showed
that mother-daughter familism was related to depression. It also revealed that for daughters with
average familism, a one-unit increase in mothers; familism level was related to a larger effect of
daughter familism on depressive symptoms. Effects of daughter familism on depressive
symptoms were the greatest when mothers had high familism levels. Higher levels of conflict
and enculturation were linked to higher anxiety levels in this analytic procedure. The
matched/mismatched analytic procedure showed significant effects for maternal supportive
parenting and for the mothers’ report of conflict. A significant enculturation group x mothers’
report of conflict interaction was also revealed. The procedure indicated that links between
conflict and depressive symptoms were strongest for the mismatched enculturated group,
moderate in the matched high Enculturated group, and non-existent in the matched low
Enculturated group. There was a significant enculturation group x conflict interaction, and the
links between conflict and anxiety were only visible in the high matched enculturated group. The
LPA procedures’ significant results revealed that P1 had higher mean levels of depressive
symptoms than all the other groups, P2 had higher mean levels of depressive symptoms than did
P3, and that there was a significant cultural orientation by grade interaction. It also showed that
P1 had a higher mean level of depressive symptoms than those in all the other groups for the 7th
graders, daughters in P2 had higher mean depressive symptoms that those in P3 and P5, and 10th
graders in P1 had higher mean depressive symptoms than those in P3. Significant findings in this
procedure were a significant cultural orientation effect, P1 and P2 has higher mean levels of
anxiety than P3 and P5, and P4 had a higher mean level of anxiety than did P5.
What can they conclude from the study? The researchers concluded that results did
indeed change depending on the procedure used and that LPA was the best analytic procedure
used for explaining the interactions between cultural orientation, family functioning, and
clarifying how adolescent adjustment changed as a function of mother-daughter cultural
orientation dissonance and family functioning.
Costigan and Dokis (2006)
What were they trying to find out? Costigan and Dokis (2006) were investigating the
magnitude of parent-child acculturation differences among immigrant Chinese families in both
acculturation and enculturation domains in British Columbia (BC), Canada. They were also
wanted to add to the literature of past studies on acculturation gap by evaluating three aspects of
adjustment and using multidimentional and orthogonal assessment of accultuation.
Who did they study? They had 89 father, 91 mother, and 91 child participants. The
children ranged in ages from 9 to 15.
How did they do the study? The researchers identified public and private domains for
acculturation. They took independent self-reports of accultuation from mothers, fathers, and
children. They used the interaction analysis method between parents’ and children’s
acculturation reports in regression analyses. Canadian and Chinese behavioral practices (public
domains) of acculturation were assessed with a modified version of the Acculturation Rating
Scale for Mexican Americans-II. Private domains of acculturations were assessed with measures
of ethnic cultural values and host culture values of importance. Chinese values were assessed
with the Asian Value Scale. Canadian values were assessed by examining the parents’ views of
the appropriate amount of adolescent independence. Parent-child intensity of conflict was
measured with the Issues Checklist. Children’s depressive symptoms were measured with the
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Children’s achievement motication was
measured with the Value of Academic Success Scale.
What did they find? They found that higher conflict intensity was related with higher
feelings of depression and lower achievement motivation and higher feelings of depression was
related to lower achievement motivation. The following discussion contains significant findings
from their research. As children’s chinese language use increased intensity of conflict would
decrease but only when moms also had high Chinese language use. As children’s chinese
language use increased, feelings of depression decreased but only when moms also had high
chinese language use. As chilren’s chinese language use increased, depression would increase
but only when moms had low chinese language use. As children’s chinese language use
increased, achievement motivation increased but only when moms also had high chinese
language use. As children’s chinese media use increased, intensity of conflict would decrease but
only when moms also had high chinese media use. As children’s chinese media use increased,
achievement motivation would increase but only when dads also had high Chinese media use. As
children’s chinese values increased, intensity of conflict decreased but only when dads also had
high chinese values. As children’s chinese values increased, feelings of depression decreased but
only when dads had high chinese values as well. As children’s canadian media use increased,
achievement motivation increased but only when moms also had high canadian media use.
What can they conclude? They concluded that parents’ level of engagement in the
Chinese culture was predictive of adjustment levels, whereas parents’ level of engagement in
Cadian culture was not. They also concluded that egative outcomes can occur but not intense
enough to have detrimental affects on the children.
Kim and Park (2011)
What were they trying to find? Kim and Park (2011) are trying to find a significant
relationship between acculturation gap and distress. They wanted to see if mother-adolescent
acculturation discrepancies would be associated with adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing
symptoms and if parent-child communication would moderate the gap-distress relationship.
Who did they study? The researchers had 77 Korean-American mother-adolescent pairs
from the Midwest. The children were between 11 and 15 years of age.
How did they do the study? The researchers employed the difference score approach
and the interaction term approach to look at how acculturation gap leads to depressive internal
and external symptoms. Adolescent and mother self-reports were used to examine levels of
acculturation and enculturation. Parent-adolescent communication and internalizing and
externalizing symptoms were measured with the adolescent self-reports. Levels of acculturation
and enculturation in mothers and adolescents were measured with the Asian American
Multidimensional Acculturation Scale. Parent-Adolescent communication was assessed with the
Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale. It measured the youths’ perceptions of the
communication quality with their mother and father. The Youth-Self Report assessed
adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms.
What did they find? The researchers discovered that when parent enculturation was
high, youth externalizing symptoms would increase but only when youth enculturation was also
high. They also found that as enculturation gap increased, youth internalizing symptoms would
also increase but only when father-adolescent communication was low. They were also able to
see that adolescents’ perception of communication with their fathers significantly moderated the
relationship between the enculturation gap and internalizing symptoms.
What can they conclude from the study? The researchers concluded that poor father-
adolescent communication had negative impacts for youths’ internalizing symptoms and that
under different conditions of father-child communication, different effects were seen. They also
concluded that depending on the selection of methodologies and theoretical frameworks, the
acculturation gap could affect the sensitivity of an association between acculturation gap and
child distress. They also were able to see that even with no gap, it was not as protective as
expected.
Kim, Chen, Li, Huang, and Moon (2009)
What were they trying to find out? Kim, Chen, Li, Huang, and Moon’s goal was to
look at the discrepancy between parent and child acculturation and at the discrepancy between
parent and child heritage orientation and their affect on child outcomes in Chinese Immigrant
Families. They also wanted to establish the impact that acculturation discrepancy has parenting
practices (parental support) and how the level of support, in turn, affects adolescent depressive
symptoms.
Who did they study? The researchers had a sample of 388 father-child pairs with foreign
born-father and 399 mother-adolescent pairs with foreign-born mothers.
How did they do the study? They used a bidimentional view of acculturation. They
assessed parent-child relationships as a function of affect and behavioral and communicative
parenting by monitoring and inductive reasoning. They measured acculturation using a broader
behavioral acculturation measure. They assessed acculturation with the Vancouver Index of
Acculturation. They assessed parenting through measures adapted from the Iowa Youth and
Families Project. They assessed adolescent depressive symptoms with the Center for
Epidemiologic Studies of Depression Scale. They assessed their experience of discrimination
with a scale developed by Kessler and colleagues. Fathers and mothers answered questions about
family income and highest level of education attained. The acculturation scores for mothers,
fathers, and children were assessed separately. Acculturation levels in both Chinese and
American orientations were designated as low, medium or high
What did they find? They found that if father’s and their children are discrepant in their
American orientation, fathers are less likely to use monitoring and inductive reasoning, and
children would be more likely to experience depressive symptoms. They also found that
supportive parenting mediates between acculturation gap and depressive symptoms only in
father-child relationships.
What can they conclude from the study? They concluded that generational dissonance
is not limited to economic prospects, but may also relate to adolescent adjustment problems in
other areas, especially depressive symptoms. They concluded that paternal parenting mediates
the relationship between father-child acculturation divergence and adolescent depressive
symptoms even when factors such as socioeconomic status, their sense of discrimination,
parents’ length of time in the United States, and when adolescent age and sex were controlled.
Using hierarchical regression analyses of the interaction terms, 3 dependent variables were
predicted (intensity of conflict, feelings of depression, and achievement motivation).
How is acculturation gap conceptualized as well as operationalized in each study?
In Bamaca-Colbert and Gayles (2010)’s paper, there were four different analytical
approaches to how the researchers conceptualized acculturation gap. Two approaches were
variable centered. The other two were person centered. The variable centered approaches
consisted of a difference score and an interaction measurement. The person-centered approaches
were accomplished using match/mismatch groupings (arbitrary grouping) and acculturation
profiles (latent profiles). Difference scores were calculated for three cultural orientation variables
(mother and daughter acculturation, mother and daughter enculturation, and mother and daughter
familism). The operationalization of the difference score for each variable was accomplished by
subtracting the mothers’ acculturation score from the daughters’ acculturation score, subtracting
the daughters’ enculturation score from the mothers’ enculturation score, and by subtracting the
daughters’ familism score from the mothers’ familism score. The operationalization for the
interaction approach was accomplished by centering all the cultural orientation and family
variables at the mean and then creating interaction terms for three cultural orientation variables:
mother x daughter acculturation, mother x daughter enculturation, and mother x daughter
familism. Interactions were also created for mother by daughter orientation by family factor, and
mother by daughter orientation by grade. Match/mismatch groups were created for acculturation,
enculturation, and familism levels. Mothers’ and daughters’ values were cross-tabulated
separately for each of the variables, and three categorical grouping variables were created
corresponding to acculturation, enculturation, and familism. Each of the variables had three
levels: low matched, mismatched, and high matched. The low matched pairs contained mothers
and daughters in the lower 33% of a distribution curve for acculturation, enculturation, and
familism. The mismatched pairs contained mothers and daughters in opposite percentiles for
each of the variables (e.g., daughters in the bottom 33% and mothers in the top 33% and vice
versa). The high matched pairs contained mothers and daughters who were both in the top 66%
of the distribution curve. Nine groups were created using this approach. The second person-
centered approach was the latent profile/class analysis model. Individuals or mother-daughter
pairs were classified into groups. In the first step, cultural orientation profiles were empirically
derived for mothers and daughters independently using their cultural orientation levels and their
responses on family conflict and maternal supportive parenting. In the second step, the
researchers made groups where mothers and daughters were similar or different in their
classifications of cultural orientation. The latent profile analysis yielded a five-profile solution.
The profiles were created with respect to acculturation, enculturation, and familism level. The
researchers provided labels for each of the five profiles. Profiles 1-5 were labeled Cultural
Orientation Dissonance Dyads, Low Acculturated Daughters Dyads, Familism Matched Dyads,
Low Enculturated Dyads, and Cultural Orientation Matched Dyads respectfully.
In Costigan and Dokis (2006)’s paper, they used the interaction approach to
conceptualize acculturation gap. The researchers divided the sample into terciles to describe the
extent of acculturation dissonance and cross-tabulated parent and children’s reports on each
acculturation variable (e.g., Chinese language use, Canadian language use, Canadian media use,
etc.). They took the mothers’ acculturation scores for each of the acculturation variables and
multiplied them by their child’s acculturation scores for each variable to come up with the
interaction terms. They did the same with the acculturation scores for the fathers in the study.
They looked for significant interactions and graphed them. They wanted to determine if a high
acculturation score on one of the acculturation variables by parents and a low score on that same
acculturation variable by children led to an acculturation gap and vice versa. They took parent
and children’s multiplicative scores and graphed them to see if the slopes were either positive or
negative. They looked at children’s acculturation level in predicting intensity of conflict, feelings
of depression, and achievement motivation at high and low levels parents’ acculturation. Six
hierarchical regression analyses were done for each dependent variable, one for each of the
acculturation variables.
In Kim and Park (2011)’s paper, the researchers used the difference score approach and
the interaction term method to conceptualize acculturation gap. The difference scores for
acculturation gap were calculated by subtracting mothers’ acculturation scores from the youths’
acculturation scores. The difference scores for enculturation gap were calculated by subtracting
youths’ enculturation scores form the mothers’ enculturation scores. The acculturation and
enculturation scores were derived from the Asian American Multidimensional Acculturation
Scale. The interaction term method was operationalized by mean-centering the mothers’ and
youths’ acculturation and enculturation scores and then multiplying the mothers’
acculturation/enculturation score by the youths’ acculturation/enculturation score to produce an
interaction term. Hierarchical multiple regression was then used to test for main effects of
mothers’ and youths’ acculturation and enculturation levels and the interaction of those
variables.
In Kim, Chen, Li, Huang, and Moon (2009)’s paper, the researchers used an acculturation
classification to conceptualize acculturation gap. They divided the sample in terms of low,
medium, and high acculturation. The bottom 33% was labeled low in acculturation. The next
33% was labeled medium in acculturation, and the highest third was labeled high in terms of
their acculturation score. If both the daughter and mother were low, medium, or high in terms of
their acculturation levels, they were assigned a score of 1. A score of 1 meant that a small gap in
acculturation was present. If the child was medium and the mother was low, a child medium and
the mother high, or if the child was high and the mother was medium in terms of their
acculturation scores, they were assigned a score of 2 meaning that there was a medium level of
acculturation gap present. If the mother was high and the child was low, or if the mother was
low and the child was high, they would be assigned a score of 3. A score of 3 meant that a large
acculturation gap was present. Four acculturation discrepancy scores were derived from
adolescents’ responses on the American orientation subscale measure when cross-classified with
parents’ responses (father-adolescent and mother-adolescent American orientation discrepancy
and father-adolescent and mother-adolescent Chinese orientation discrepancy).
Which of the four approaches to conceptualizing/operationalizing acculturation gap do you
find most convincing?
The latent profile analysis approach was the most sensitive instrument in assessing the
interactions among cultural orientation, family factors, and youth adjustment. It was a more
rigorous approach than the other person-centered approach because the groups were empirically
derived versus arbitrarily derived. It also displayed the heterogeneity among the group being
studied the best, and it was able to better capture unusual patterns such as mothers being more
acculturated than their children.
Across the three papers (Bámaca-Colbert & Gayles, 2010; Costigan & Dokis, 2006; Kim,
Chen, Li, Huang, & Moon, 2009), what can you conclude about whether acculturation gap
has a positive or negative effect on child development in minority/immigrant families?
After analyzing the findings in the paper by Bamaca-Colbert and Gales (2010), their
study demonstrated that acculturation gap led to negative adolescent adjustment. The researchers
found that cultural discrepancies coupled with high conflict and low maternal supportive
parenting was the most detrimental to the adjustment of the sample of adolescents they studied.
They identified various other forms of acculturation dissonance. All of which led to negative
developmental outcomes such as depressive symptoms and anxiety.
In Costigan and Dokis (2006)’s paper, their study showed that enculturation
discrepancies were the most harmful for child development in terms of conflict intensity,
depressive feelings, and achievement motivation when parents were highly oriented toward their
ethnic culture. Differences in endorsement of the host culture between parents and children did
not significantly affect adolescent development except for 1 out of 18 interaction terms in the
Canadian dimension.
In Kim, Chen, Li, Huang, and Moon (2009)’s paper, acculturation gap demonstrated to
have negative effects on child development in the minority families of their study. The
researchers’ study found that American orientation discrepancies between fathers and
adolescents were associated with unsupportive parenting practices, which, in turn, was associated
with more depressive symptoms in adolescents.
Does Kim and Park (2011) complicate the findings made in the other three papers about
the relationship between acculturation gap and child outcomes in minority/immigrant
families? Why or why not?
Kim and Park (2011) found that parents and their children who were highly match in
terms of their enculturation led to higher levels of externalizing problems. The literature on
acculturation has hypothesized that not as many problem behaviors would be present when a
match occurs. Kim and Park found higher levels of delinquency despite this common prediction.
What are the most salient features of the study methodology or approach that you believe
is useful to maintain/discard if you were to design a future study on this topic?
Bamaca-Colbert and Gayles (2010)’s study had many methodological positives and
negatives. The researchers only studied mothers and daughters. Other studies have found the
overwhelming importance of the father’s role in child development. A positive aspect in the
methodology of the study was that they examined early adolescent and late adolescent groups.
The study of both groups allowed them to compare the degree and variability of the outcomes
between the two groups. In general, affects were stronger for early adolescents.
Costigan and Dokis (2006)’s study used a snowball sampling technique. Participants
helped find someone else like them, and as a result, the sample may have lost its randomness. It
could also be a benefit because the families may have similar traits.
Kim and Park (2011)’s study took place in the Midwest, where less ethnic minorities are
found. Their study was unique, and their findings were different from everyone else’s. The
differences may have been due to the geographical region. Their recruitment methodology may
have been a limitation in their study. The researchers relied on Korean churches to gather their
sample. They may have been artificially selecting people that were highly enculturated because
of their Korean church attendance.
Another limitation was that they didn’t sample fathers directly. They used the children to sample
and report on their fathers. This could have artificially inflated the negative perceptions that
children had about their fathers if they were disgruntled.
Kim, Chen, Li, Huang, and Moon (2009)’s implementation of a cross-sectional study
design may have been a limitation. This method may have distorted the ability to test for
alternative directions of influence in the constructs. A positive aspect of their methodology was
that the researchers assessed the associations between parental quality as defined by affective,
behavioral, and communicative parenting and discrepancies in American and Chinese
orientations between parents and children.
Future Research Direction and Summary of Two Peer Reviewed Papers
Future research should directly incorporate more fathers into studies. Fathers
appear to have a significant role in the relationship between acculturation gap and father-child
relationship quality on child development. A study by Schofield, Parke, Kim, and Coltrane
(2008) found that acculturation gaps were related to increased parent-child conflicts only for
father-child acculturation gaps. They also found that father-child acculturation gaps were related
to more father-child conflict only in families with low father-child relationship quality. Another
study by Weaver and Kim (2008), demonstrated that fathers’ supportive parenting was lower
when adolescents were more oriented toward the host culture and fathers were more oriented
toward their heritage culture.
References
Bámaca-Colbert, M. Y., & Gayles, J. G. (2010). Variable-centered and person-centered approaches to studying Mexican-origin mother–daughter cultural orientation dissonance. Journal of Youth And Adolescence, 39(11), 1274-1292. doi:10.1007/s10964-009-9447-3
Costigan, C. L., & Dokis, D. P. (2006). Relations between parent-child acculturation differences and adjustment within immigrant Chinese families. Child Development, 77, 1252-1267.
Kim, M., & Park, I. K. (2011). Testing the moderating effect of parent–adolescent communication on the acculturation gap–distress relation in Korean American families. Journal of Youth And Adolescence, 40(12), 1661-1673. doi:10.1007/s10964-011-9648-4
Kim, S. Y., Chen, Q., Li, J., Huang, X., & Moon, U. J. (2009). Parent-child acculturation, parenting, and adolescent depressive symptoms in Chinese immigrant families. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 426-437.
Schofield, T. J., Young, K., Parke, R. D., & Coltrane, S. (2008). Bridging the Acculturation Gap: Parent—Child Relationship Quality as a Moderator in Mexican American Families. Developmental Psychology, 44(4), 1190-1194. doi:10.1037/a0012529
Weaver, S., & Kim, S. (2008). A Person-centered Approach to Studying theLinkages among Parent–Child Differences in Cultural Orientation, SupportiveParenting, and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms in Chinese American Families. Journal Of Youth & Adolescence, 37(1), 36-49.doi:10.1007/s10964-007-9221-3
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