Understanding Acculturation Profiles: Su Yeong Kim’s Study on Mexican-Origin Adolescents From Immigrant Families

How Culture Adaptation Influences Identity, Behavior and Success

The fact that adolescents of migrant families have to move between two cultures can be a challenge and an opportunity simultaneously. The Mexican-origin youth in the United States are mostly anchored between maintaining the heritage culture as practiced by the parents to other contemporary American culture that surrounds them.

But what effect do these cultural identity issues have on their mental health, academic performance, and developmental dynamics over time?

A longitudinal study conducted by Jinjin Yan, Lester Sim, Seth J. Schwartz, Yishan Shen, Deborah Parra-Medina, Su Yeong Kim, published in New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development illuminates this question by tracing the patterns of acculturation among Mexican-origin adolescents in families who immigrated to the United States. Findings of the research depict clear-cut acculturation profiles, and explain how acculture routes affect the well being of adolescents during important years of development.

Su Yeong Kim’s Perspective on Research Findings on Acculturation and Why it Matters

Acculturation is a way of describing the adaptation of individuals when they are exposed to more than one culture. In most cases, this involved a trade-off in two directions (as a teen), between heritage cultural orientation (e.g., speaking Spanish, maintaining Mexican traditions) and mainstream orientation (e.g., adopting U.S. cultural norms, speaking English).

Earlier studies tended to take acculturation as a linear model that when one is acculturated to the new culture the more he or she becomes detached to his heritage. The study contradicts this perspective by defining longitudinal profiles of acculturating, finding that the cultural adaptation of adolescents is more dense and diverse than one continuum of unity can be discussed.

Profile of Acculturation and its Consequences

Individualistic Differences in Themselves

Taking a longitudinal, person-centered approach, this research study discovered that Mexican-origin adolescents are likely to follow various acculturation patterns as they develop, like:

Bicultural-High attitude toward both Mexican culture and the culture in the United States.

Assimilated – Orientation toward American culture, low affiliation with native culture.

Separated - powerful heritage orientation, weak mainstream orientation.

Marginalized- Low orientation to either of the cultures.

Effects of Acculturation Suggested Developmental Outcomes

The research help us found that these were not merely hypothetical cultural types- each type had serious implications with regard to adolescent well-being:

The bicultural adolescents were mostly involved with the most positive outcomes, although it can be noted that they show a better self-esteem, improved mental state, and higher academic achievement.

Assimilated Youths were known to have shown positive results academically but exhibited the risk of identity crisis weakness in families.

Separated Adolescents had high family cohesion and school and mainstream peer problems.

The most vulnerable group is Marginalized Youth as they had low results in both psychological well-being and academics.

Family and Situational Factors

Acculturation is not only a personal decision but is a family and community process:

Parental Influence: Both the cultural cornerstones and socialization styles of the parents determine the acculturation patterns of adolescents.

Socioeconomic Context: Poverty, discrimination and limited resources aggravate the difficulty in adapting to the culture.

Family Relationships: Biculturalism tends to be beneficial to the functioning of a family; whereas differences in acculturation between parents and their children can provide conflict.

Implications on Families, Educators and Practitioners

1. Understand the Importance of Biculturalism

Helping adolescents to remain connected to both cultures may help develop resilience and healthy coping with the adjustment.

2. Empower Parent- Child Cultural Bridges

Avoiding clashes in acculturation gaps can be done by assisting the families in historical differences.

3. There is No One-Size-Fits-All Approach

The adolescents of Mexican origin have different cultural pathways; interventions should take this difference into consideration.

4. Address Structural Barriers

By decreasing discrimination and forms of economic hardship, families will be able to concentrate on the cultural strengths rather than the causes of survival stressors.

Moving Forward: Supporting Youth in Two Worlds

Cultural adaptation is not a zero-sum game (see Hong Kong SAR, previous work). The Mexican-heritage adolescents seem to perform best when they can be successful in maintaining both their respective culture and the mainstream and enjoy the best of both worlds, maintaining support and family traditions as well as embracing new opportunities present in the US.

By emphasizing the effects of acculturation profiles in the long term, this study will be of value to educators, clinicians, and policymakers who have to deal with immigrant youth. Encouraging bicultural competence is not just the concern of retaining cultural identity, but of providing adolescents a sense of meaning, belonging, and success in both worlds.

Read full research article:

This summary is based on the peer-reviewed article - Longitudinal Profiles of Acculturation and Developmental Outcomes Among Mexican-Origin Adolescents From Immigrant Families, published in New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development

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