Intergenerational Transmission of Tridimensional Cultural Orientations in Chinese American Families: The Role of Bicultural Socialization

It is important to understand the acculturation process of ethnic minority youth: To which cultures do they orient, and how do their cultural orientations develop? The present study tests a tridimensional acculturation model in Chinese American families and examines a potential mechanism through which parental cultural orientations may relate to adolescent cultural orientations. Participants were 350 Chinese American adolescents (M_age = 17.04, 58 % female) and their parents in Northern California. Results support the tridimensional acculturation model by demonstrating moderate associations among Chinese American orientation, Chinese orientation, and American orientation; our findings also point to a unique effect of parental Chinese American orientation on parental bicultural socialization beliefs. Most importantly, we identified an indirect pathway from parental to adolescents’ Chinese American orientation through adolescents’ internalization of parental bicultural socialization beliefs.