Work

Becoming civically engaged adolescents: Individual and parenting mechanisms in Chinese American families.

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To understand processes contributing to Chinese American adolescents' civic engagement, our study examined: (a) the mediating role of Chinese American adolescents' ethnic identity resolution in the associations between their parents' cultural socialization and their own civic engagement (i.e., political participation and civil participation), (b) the moderating role of parents' racial socialization competency in the association between parents' cultural socialization and adolescents' ethnic identity resolution, and (c) the moderating role of adolescents' behavioral acculturation toward American culture in the associations between adolescents' ethnic identity resolution and civic engagement. METHOD: = 6.0; 78% mothers). RESULTS: Chinese American parents' cultural socialization was positively related to their adolescents' ethnic identity resolution, which in turn contributed to adolescents' greater political participation and civil participation. The positive association between parents' cultural socialization and adolescents' ethnic identity resolution was further strengthened by parents' greater racial socialization competency. Moreover, a complex moderating effect of adolescents' behavioral participation in American society was revealed, in which adolescents' ethnic identity resolution was significantly associated with greater political participation only when they also had high levels of behavioral acculturation. Conversely, the relation between adolescents' ethnic identity resolution and their civil participation was not dependent on their behavioral acculturation level. CONCLUSION: Our study highlighted the joint contribution of adolescent and parenting factors in promoting different forms of youth civic engagement in Chinese American families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Source: Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/cdp0000720

Authors: Bumo Zhang, Charissa S. L. Cheah, Ana Katrina Aquino, Huiguang Ren

Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Language: English

Topic: Racial and Ethnic Identity Research

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: National Science Foundation