The moderating role of gender and acculturative status in the socialization of cultural values in U.S. Mexican families.

Abstract

Objectives: Familismo and respeto are traditional Latine values often taught to U.S. Latine children by their caregivers. Deference to authority figures and restraint from defiance to such figures are also taught. Despite the central role of these as markers of Latine ethnic identity and their relevance to children's health and wellbeing, little is known on how these traditional cultural values are socialized and whether differences exist in these values between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking U.S. Latine mothers and between boys and girls. We examined expressions of familismo, respeto, deference, and defiance in conversations of lowincome, U.S. Mexican mothers and their children as a function of mothers' acculturative status and children's gender. Method: One hundred thirty-eight video-recorded U.S. Mexican mother-child conversations (65 girls; age: M = 10.5 years, SD = 0.53) were transcribed and coded to obtain indices of respeto, familismo, deference, and defiance. There were 70 Spanish-speaking mothers and 68 Englishspeaking mothers (age: M = 34.9 years, SD = 5.8) from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project. Results: Spanish-speaking children were more deferent than English-speaking children. Englishspeaking children were more defiant. There were no group differences, however, in familism and respect. Conclusions: The findings advance a more nuanced conceptual framework of cultural values socialization that is sensitive to acculturative status in U.S. Latine populations and can inform the development of effective intervention efforts (e.g., parenting education programs) aimed at supporting enculturative practices that can enhance U.S. Latine children's health and well-being. Public Significance StatementAlthough there is prior evidence that Latine parents' cultural values (e.g., familism, respect) are associated with their children's cultural values, there is less evidence on how parents and children converse about these traditional cultural values and on defiance and deference behaviors. The present study yields evidence that, during conversations on everyday conflict, there are acculturative status effects on deference and defiance but no such effects on familism and respect. These findings inform the development of more comprehensive cultural socialization theories of U.S. Latine children's development.