The Relation between acculturation and psychological well-being among adolescents of Asian origin

Date

2018

Authors

Li, Yong
Guo, Yuqi

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Redfame Publishing Inc.

Abstract

The current study aimed to test the direct and indirect effects of acculturation on the psychological well-being among the adolescent children of Asian origin. Subgroup analysis was conducted to compare these effects between Asian refugee and non-refugee children. Data were from the follow-up survey of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS). The analytic sample included adolescents from Asian refugee families (N = 563) and non-refugee families (N = 779). Adolescent acculturation was assessed by three proxy measures: nativity, time in the United States, and U.S. preference. Family dynamics were measured by adolescents’ perceptions about parent-child conflict and family cohesion. Multi-group structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings suggested that the direct effects of acculturation on psychological well-being were dependent upon the proxy measure of acculturation and the immigration type. Mediation analyses showed that higher level of acculturation was generally related to higher parent-child conflict and lower family cohesion, which, in turn, were associated with lower psychological well-being in the refugee subsample, but not the non-refugee subsample. Our findings call for programs that can take advantage of the protective role of family cohesion and reduce the negative impact of parent-child conflict. Special attention needs to be paid to the refugee population from Asia.

Description

Keywords

Children of immigrants, Southeast Asian refugees, Acculturation, Family dynamics, Psychological well-being

Citation

This is the publisher’s version of an article that is available at https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v6i4.2938. Recommended citation: Li, Y., & Guo, Y. (2018). The relation between acculturation and psychological well-being among adolescents of Asian origin. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 6(4), 1. This item has been deposited in accordance with publisher copyright and licensing terms and with the author’s permission.

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