Juggling Between Parental and School Expectations: The Development of Domain‐Specific Acculturation Orientations in Early Adolescence

Abstract

We examined how perceived acculturation expectations from parents and school, and ethnic discrimination predicted early adolescents’ heritage and mainstream acculturation orientations at home (private domain) and in school (public domain) one year later. We surveyed 263 early adolescents of immigrant background in Germany (Mage = 10.44 years, 60% female). Multigroup path analyses revealed that perceived acculturation expectations and ethnic discrimination were more strongly related to adolescents’ private than public acculturation orientations. Parental heritage expectations were the strongest predictor of adolescents’ acculturation orientations. Boys were more susceptible than girls to ethnic discrimination and acculturation expectations in school, which affected their private and public acculturation orientations. Results highlight the importance of integrating domain‐specific and gendered experiences when analyzing adolescents’ acculturative development.

New temporal concepts of acculturation in immigrant youth

“…Acculturation synchrony is the coordination of acculturation processes—timing, tempo, and pace—across different dimensions and domains of adaptation. Some acculturation models differentiate more generally among cultural practices, values, and identifications (Schwartz et al, 2010), whereas others differentiate more specifically between private or public domains (Vietze et al, 2020). Regardless, immigrant youth can differ in their acculturation timing, tempo, and pace across different domains.…”

Parenting in times of refuge: A qualitative investigation

“…Confrontation with a new culture leads to acculturative processes (Berry, 1986) where parents might engage in different cultural socialization practices to impart their cultural identity in their children (Roubeni et al, 2015). And while children identify closely with their parents’ cultural orientations (Vietze et al, 2020), acculturation gaps still exist between parents and children (Berry, 1986; James, 2010; Telzer, 2010). When children retain fewer values from their native cultures, and more from the host cultures, parents might worry that their children will lose their cultural heritage, potentially giving rise to parent–child conflict (Deng & Marlowe, 2013).…”

Family Functioning, Identity Commitments, and School Value Among Ethnic Minority and Ethnic Majority Adolescents

“…Whereas different socialization sources likely have similar expectations for native youth -who grow up in monocultural worlds -, these expectations might contradict each other for immigrant-origin adolescents (Vietze et al, 2020). Consequently, immigrant-origin youth often have different cultural identities than their parents which can be a source of conflict (Telzer, 2010).…”