UC Berkeley

Acculturation is the process of change and adaptation that occurs as individuals are in contact with a new host culture. As the population of U.S. immigrant youth continues to grow, research on acculturation has become critical in ensuring their health and social integration. Acculturation and developmental processes are inherently intertwined, yet longitudinal research on acculturation is lacking. Studying acculturation longitudinally can contribute to science on the dynamic nature of acculturation, and inform policy, programs, and interventions aimed at supporting immigrant youth’s cultural adjustment. Unfortunately, few studies investigate acculturative changes within the same children over time, making it difficult to distinguish between individual variations in acculturation timing (e.g. different points in the same acculturation trajectory) and acculturation approach (e.g. individuals on different pathways of acculturation). In Chinese American youth – one of the largest and fastest growing immigrant subgroups – the study of acculturation is additionally obscured by the “model minority” stereotype (suggesting high integration into U.S. culture) and the “forever foreigner” stereotype (suggesting low integration into U.S. culture). Although connections between acculturation and psychological adjustment in youth have been found, such links are inconsistent in studies of Chinese American immigrant youth, warranting further investigation. Understanding the nature of associations between acculturation and psychological adjustment can help identify risk factors for mental health issues and inform interventions to support positive adjustment in immigrant youth.

To address the methodological and sample limitations of prior acculturation research, this dissertation longitudinally characterizes acculturation using person-centered approaches in Chinese American youth, as well as associations with their concurrent and subsequent psychological adjustment. I investigate both snapshots of cross-sectional acculturation profiles at each timepoint (using latent profile analyses), as well as longitudinal transition trajectories of how youth move between or stay in different acculturation profiles from one timepoint to another (using latent transition analyses). The study leverages a longitudinal dataset of Chinese American (CA) immigrant youth (N=258) collected at three waves when youth were 6-9 years old (early elementary school), 9-11 years old (late elementary school), and 15-18 years old (high school). Youth and parents reported on youth’s behavioral acculturation (Chinese and English language proficiency, Chinese and American friendships) and psychological adjustment (externalizing and internalizing symptoms).

Cross-sectional snapshots of acculturation profiles identified by latent profile analyses at each data wave identified three profiles during early elementary school and late elementary school, and two profiles during high school. The largest and most consistent acculturation profile was a bicultural or Moderately Integrated group, which showed relatively moderate and average levels across all acculturation variables (English language, Chinese language, American friends, Chinese friends). Among the cross-sectional profiles, the main sources of variation in acculturation were the levels of American friends during early elementary school and English language during late elementary school and high school. Longitudinal analyses of changes in acculturation profiles (acculturation transition trajectories captured by latent transition analyses) revealed that CA youth, on average, either moved to more integrated (bicultural) profiles or remained in integrated profiles across time. Both cross-sectional acculturation profiles and longitudinal transition trajectories were largely not associated with youth’s psychological adjustment with one exception - youth in the Moderately Integrated group reported significantly lower concurrent externalizing problems during late elementary school, but significantly greater concurrent externalizing problems during high school compared to youth showing less bicultural profiles.

These results provide several key takeaways for the science of acculturation and efforts to support immigrant youth’s cultural adjustment. First, in terms of language and social affiliations, youth were largely bicultural and remained bicultural over time – the largest variation was in their self-perceptions of English language proficiency. This result suggests that interventions targeting immigrant youth may need to be flexible and tailored to the youth’s comfort with the English language. Second, there was no evidence for a profile in which youth disengaged from both cultures (often referred to as a marginalized group). There were also few associations between acculturation and adjustment. This lack of findings could be due to the time period examined, the geographic context with a relatively high density of Chinese Americans, or could suggest that acculturation in Chinese Americans varies from that of other groups which are more represented in the acculturation literature. Overall, our results still showed variation in acculturation profiles and acculturation transition trajectories over time, providing support for the conceptualization of acculturation as a dynamic and multidimensional process.