Deconstructing the “acculturation gap” in Mexican American families

1. Deconstructing the “acculturation gap” in Mexican American families Tanya Nieri, PhD and Matt Grindal, MA Department of Sociology University of California at Riverside Acknowledgements: Data were collected as part of the Parents and Youth Study, funded by NIH, S. Coltrane & R. Parke, PIs, University of CA at Riverside

2. Background • Acculturation: process of cultural change as a result of encounters with a new or mainstream culture • Acculturation associated with higher risk of delinquency • Effect often attributed to “acculturation gap” – parent-child differences in acculturation – that undermines family functioning • Some research supports this conclusion, but current research is limited • Acculturation differences not always measured • Direction of differences often assumed (child more American) • Nature and effects of other differences unexplored • Any difference taken to indicate a “gap” • Analyses do not reflect current theoretical understanding of acculturation as bidimensional

3. Research questions • Using a categorical approach to acculturation measurement, what are the nature and extent of parent-child acculturation differences? • How do the different patterns of parent-child acculturation relate to delinquent behavior?

4. Data • Parents and Youth Study – study of fathering effects in European American and Mexican American families in CA and AZ • 392 families: 1 Middle school child and both parents • Recruited through the schools, screened for eligbility, then randomly selected • 3 waves of interview surveys: 2004 (7th grade), 2005, 2006

5. Sample • 193 Mexican American families • Youths • 52% female • Mean age: 13 years • 27% foreign born • 12% took survey in Spanish • Moms • Mean age: 37 years • 69% foreign born • 56% took survey in Spanish • Mean time in US: 17 years • Dads • Mean age: 38 years • 70% foreign born • 58% took Survey in Spanish • Mean time in US: 19 years

6. Measures • Acculturation • Mexican American Cultural Values Scale (Saenz & Knight, 2010) • Mexican Acculturation subscale • American Acculturation subscale • Values range from 1- 5 • 50 items • Total acculturation • Categorical version formed thru crosstabulation of two subscales • Mexican, American, Lo Bicultural, Hi Bicultural, Unidentified • Measured separately for youth, mom, and dad

7. Measures • Parent-child acculturation difference • Categorical version formed thru crosstabulation of youth acculturation and parent (mom or dad) acculturation • Parent-child match (reference group) • Child more American than parent • Parent more American than child • Neither parent nor child more American (excluded from analysis)

8. Measures • Delinquency • Last month substance use, fighting, stealing, physically harm someone • Dichotomous • 45% report some delinquency at baseline

9. Measures • Controls • Age • Gender (female reference group) • Socioeconomic status – mother’s education • Generation status – native-born parents vs. at least 1 foreign-born parent

10. Results: Acculturation Note: %s may total to more than 100 due to rounding.

11. Results: Acculturation differences Note: %s may total to more than 100 due to rounding.

12. Results: Delinquency

13. Results: Delinquency

14. Results: Delinquency • Results don’t change when • we account for partial matches (eliminate hi vs. lo bicultural) • we dichotomize match vs. any mismatch • we drop generation status • we control for potential mechanisms: family factors • Results relative to traditional linear version of parent-child acculturation difference • Mean is Parent more Am than child (i.e., negative difference) • Absolute value of mean difference is small (.5) • DAD: Effects (ns) in direction of protection for children more Am than par • MOM: Effects (significant at p<.10) in direction of protection for children more Am than par

15. Discussion • Patterns of individual acculturation run counter to the “acculturation gap” narrative • No American-identified in sample • Not due to sampling; Biculturalism is the norm and increasingly so • Large numbers of biculturals – can/should distinguish between high and low bicultural • Patterns of parent-child acculturation difference run counter to the “acculturation gap” narrative • Most common parent-child pattern: match • Not surprising given developmental stage; may change over time • Parent-child differences, where present, not only in one direction • Parent-child differences are small – not a “gap”

16. Discussion • No effects of parent-child differences in delinquency • Exception: Children more American than moms have lower odds of delinquency • Both results counter the “acculturation gap” narrative • Perhaps due to absence of American-identified in sample • No differences big enough or too few in the expected direction (Child more Am than parent) • Again, possibly developmental • Perhaps due to delinquency measure • Perhaps due to measuring acculturation in terms of values – mechanism of effect may be something other than cultural values • Or…perhaps because parent-child differences are not as problematic in Mexican American families as prior lit would suggest

17. Conclusions • No definitive proof, but this is a call to attention! • Acculturation and parent-child acculturation differences in Mexican American families are more complex than past research would suggest • Different operationalizations of acculturation=different pathways to delinquency (e.g., language and monitoring) • Need to consider operationalization when hypothesizing and modeling • Differences are not necessarily gaps – label is inaccurate and unnecessarily pathologizes family relationships • Differences are different – need further exploration • E.g., exceptional effect may signal whole different mechanism…access to/integration in American society • “Gap” narrative is inaccurate and unnecessarily pathologizing; needs revision

18. Thanks for your attention. • Tanya Nieri, tanyan@ucr.edu • Matthew Grindal, mgrin001@student.ucr.edu