Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, Parenting Beliefs, and Adolescent Adjustment: A Comparison of Asian Indian and European American Families

Abstract

Currently, little is known about how child-rearing beliefs change as immigrant families adapt to the host culture and about the extent to which these beliefs begin to approximate the American mainstream. This study examined how parents' child-rearing beliefs were associated with the psychological well-being of 360 (180 Asian Indian and 180 European American) adolescents. Asian Indian adolescents reported higher family conflict, ethnic identity achievement, and anxiety, and their parents endorsed training and shaming child-rearing beliefs more than did European American families. Asian Indian parents who had an integrated or assimilated acculturation style approximated the European families' family conflict ratings and their child-rearing beliefs. With exposure to situations that challenge their ways of thinking, immigrant parents develop child-rearing beliefs that allow them to function in both cultures and have positive effects on their adolescent children's psychological adjustment.