Parent cultural adaptation and child functioning in culturally diverse, urban families of preschoolers

Abstract

Parent cultural adaptation and preschool behavioral and socioemotional functioning were examined in a community sample of urban families from diverse cultural backgrounds. Participants were 130 families of children (mean age = 4.1 years) attending eight public Pre-Kindergarten programs in urban communities. Parents completed a measure of cultural adaptation that taps into acculturation and enculturation, and teachers reported on children’s externalizing problems, internalizing problems and adaptive behavior in the classroom. Parents’ ethnic identity was a significant predictor of children’s functioning. The retention of parents’ culture of origin and specific aspects of acculturation are related to positive outcomes in a sample of culturally diverse families of preschoolers living in urban communities. Bicultural parents (those with high ethnic and US American identity) had children with lower levels of internalizing problems and higher levels of adaptive behavior relative to parents who were not bicultural. Implications for enhancing positive child outcomes through the promotion of parental ethnic identity are discussed.

Rates, Associations, and Predictors of Psychopathology in a Convenience Sample of School-Aged Latino Youth: Identifying Areas for Mental Health Outreach

“…For example, while some research fails to find a relation between parental acculturation and youth externalizing problems (e.g., Knight et al, 1994; Vega, Khoury, Zimmerman, Gil, & Warheit, 1995), other studies suggest that greater orientation to culture of origin is associated with more externalizing problems in Latino youth (e.g., Weiss et al, 1999). In contrast, some studies have found that greater orientation to U.S. mainstream culture is associated with more externalizing problems in Latino youth (e.g., Calzada, Brotman, Huang, Bat-Chava, & Kingston, 2009). Similarly, although research has linked parental acculturation to internalizing problems in youth, the nature of this relation is unclear (Dumka et al, 1997; Knight et al, 1994).…”

“…Similarly, although research has linked parental acculturation to internalizing problems in youth, the nature of this relation is unclear (Dumka et al, 1997; Knight et al, 1994). While some studies have found that greater parental orientation to the Latino culture is associated with fewer internalizing in Latino youth (e.g., Calzada et al, 2009), other studies have produced conflicting findings (e.g., Gudiño & Lau, 2010). …”

“…Given research suggesting that biculturalism predicts better psychological adjustment among Latino mothers (López & Contreras, 2005), it is likely that parental biculturalism could protect against the development of youth psychopathology via parenting behaviors and supportive family environments. Indeed, available research indicates that parental biculturalism predicts positive outcomes for children and adolescents (Gonzales et al, 2002), including lower rates of internalizing problems and higher rates of adaptive behavior (Calzada et al, 2009). …”

“…For one, although researchers agree on the multidirectional, multidimensional nature of acculturation, many studies rely on linear measures of acculturation, which prohibit researchers from examining biculturalism and the parallel processes of orientation to both Latino culture of origin and U.S. mainstream culture separately and in aggregate (Calzada et al, 2009). Additionally, despite the fact that the modern conceptualization of acculturation includes multiple facets of cultural behaviors, values, and expectations, many researchers have relied on proxy measures of acculturation, including language preference or generational status (Gonzales et al, 2002).…”

Selektiver Mutismus bei mehrsprachigen Kindern

“…Einen vergleichbaren Alterseffekt konnten Manassis et al (2007) (Dummit et al, 1997;Ford et al, 1998;Steinhausen & Juzi, 1996) und sechs mehrsprachig (S8, S13, S14, S15, S17 und S18). Die einsprachigen Kinder erfüllten (Calzada et al, 2009) und höheren sozialen (Pawliuk et al, 1996) sowie sprachlichen Kompetenzen (Oades-Sese & Li, 2011) einher.…”