Longitudinal relations among Mexican-origin mothers’ cultural characteristics, cultural socialization, and 5-year-old children’s ethnic–racial identification.

Abstract

The current longitudinal study examined the intergenerational transmission of ethnic-racial identity/identification and cultural orientation among Mexican-origin adolescent young mothers and their children (N = 161 dyads). Findings indicated that mothers’ ethnic-racial identity and their cultural involvement were significantly associated with children’s ethnic-racial identification via mothers’ cultural socialization; however, associations varied significantly by children’s gender and skin tone. For example, mothers’ ethnic-racial centrality was positively associated with cultural socialization efforts among mothers with sons (regardless of skin tone); but with daughters, a positive association only emerged among those with lighter skin tones. Associations between cultural socialization and children’s ethnic-racial identification also varied by children’s gender and skin tone. For example, the relation between mothers’ cultural socialization and children’s self-labeling as Mexican was positive for girls regardless of skin tone, and for boys with lighter skin tones, but was not significant for boys with darker skin tones. Findings highlight the critical role of children’s own characteristics, mothers’ ethnic-racial identity and mothers’ adaptive cultural characteristics, and mothers’ cultural socialization efforts in the formation of young Mexican-origin children’s ethnic-racial identification.

Persistent Concerns: Questions for Research on Ethnic-Racial Identity Development

“…We found ourselves in good company in grounding a lifespan model in these principles (Cross et al, 2017;Seaton et al, 2017;Syed et al, 2018;Velez & Spencer, 2018;Verkuyten et al, 2019). And while there are important examples and exemplars showing how racial identity depends on contexts (Carter et al, 2017;Witherspoon et al, 2016) and transforms through adulthood (Neville & Cross, 2017), that the meaning of ERI is interlaced with gender and social class (Azmitia et al, 2008;Ghavami & Peplau, 2018), and that young children can report on their own ERI in meaningful ways (Derlan et al, 2017;Marcelo & Yates, 2018), these topics typically reside in the limitations and future directions sections of our publications and in summative reviews and commentaries rather than empirical reports. We believe the following five questions that informed the Lifespan ERI Model (Derlan Williams, this issue) can serve as guideposts for fellow scholars studying ERI development.…”

Inherently Political? Associations of Parent Ethnic–Racial Socialization and Sociopolitical Discussions with Latinx Youths’ Emergent Civic Engagement

“…In a society that denigrates the Latinx community on a daily basis, the messages Latinx parents transmit about their racial and ethnic background, via their ethnic–racial socialization practices (ERS), help to equip youth with tools to thrive despite growing up in a hostile environment. ERS encompasses a set of protective and adaptive practices (e.g., transmitting cultural values, preparing youth to cope with discrimination, and instilling strong family and ethnic connections) employed by parents of color to promote their children’s positive development (Derlan, Umaña‐Taylor, Updegraff, & Jahromi, 2017). In recent years, researchers have aimed to better understand how parents of color share their heritage and cultural history with their children, as well as prepare them for experiences of social injustice and how to respond to them (Hughes et al, 2006; Huguley et al, 2019).…”

“…This includes teachings about cultural history and traditions to encourage the development of ethnic pride and positive group identity. These practices are central to Latinx families, and many parents make an explicit effort to transmit their culture to their children (Derlan et al, 2017). Parents accomplish this by using their native language in the home, celebrating native holidays, and teaching children about their cultural heritage through books, music, and food (Hughes et al, 2006).…”

Know Your Heritage: Exploring the Effects of Fit in Cultural Knowledge on Chinese Canadians’ Heritage Identification

“…Perhaps the most surprising finding pertains to the negative effects of parental FICK. At first blush, it contradicts the well-established conclusion, based on research on various ethnic or racial minority families including immigrant Chinese families, that parental enculturation practices foster minority youth’s development of heritage ethnic identity ( Hughes et al, 2006 ; Umaña-Taylor et al, 2006 ). As the auxiliary analyses of Study 2 showed, however, parental FICK was empirically distinct from Chinese language proficiency and connectedness to family; in the path model that included all of them, they showed opposite effects on heritage identification.…”

“…One specific aspect is parental practices that are geared explicitly toward promoting cultural customs and traditions and ethnic pride. Those explicitly cultural socialization efforts have been associated with stronger heritage identity commitment ( Phinney et al, 2001 ; Umaña-Taylor et al, 2006 ) in addition to other positive developmental outcomes. Relatedly, family socialization also creates the space (e.g., family gatherings and ethnic community) and tools (e.g., heritage language) that afford ethnic minority youth the opportunity to explore the meaning of their heritage ethnicity, a developmental stage important to establishing a well-grounded heritage ethnic identity ( Phinney, 2006 ).…”