Cascading effects of Chinese American parents' COVID‐19 racial discrimination and racial socialization on adolescents' adjustment

Abstract

Using a three‐wave longitudinal sample of 108 Chinese American parent‐adolescent dyads (Mparent‐ageW1 = 45.44 years, 17% fathers; Madolescent‐ageW1 = 13.34 years, 50% boys), this study examined the effects of parents' COVID‐19‐related racial discrimination experiences on adolescents' ethnic identity exploration and anxiety as mediated by parents' awareness of discrimination (AOD) socialization and moderated by parents' anxiety and racial socialization competency (RSC). Parents' racial discrimination experiences in 2020 predicted adolescents' greater ethnic identity exploration or greater anxiety in 2022 via parents' greater use of AOD in 2021, depending on the levels of parents' anxiety and RSC. These findings highlighted individual and contextual factors impacting racial socialization processes in Chinese American families.