Lecture 9: Culture and Multiracial Families

Question 1

How do we classify different cultures? [6]

Answer 1

• Collectivistic vs. Individualistic (Triandis)
  
  • On the basis of group values, goals, duties
• Interdependent vs. Independent (Markus & Kitayama)
  
  • On the basis of self-construals, identity (more recent categorization)
• Somewhat interchangeable
• What aspects might these groups differ on (e.g. parenting)?

Question 2

intercultural strategies model [6]

Answer 2

• Developed by John Berry, famous acculturation researcher
• Different strategies for how people moving into a culture + receiving culture will interact with each other depending on the orientation they hold
• Parent-child mismatch + discord in integration strategies
  
  • Usually b/c children adapt better + have more peers in the host culture
  • Parents usually have the other three (not integration)

Question 3

bicultural frame switching [5]

Answer 3

• How one should switch between two lenses/cultural meaning systems competently
• cultural meaning systems: a framework for interpreting and directing affect, cognition, and behavior
• cultural frame-switching: moving between different cultural meaning systems in response to situational cues
• Is frame-switching always good?
  
  • It’s like multitasking; using two frames simultaneously means you might not be doing well in either

Question 4

3 aspects to bicultural identity [3]

Answer 4

1. Can integrate both cultures in everyday life
2. Can follow norms of behaviour in both cultures
3. Can switch behavior depending on the cultural demands of a situation

Question 5

Benet-Martinez et al. (2002) [6]

(hint: bicultural identity integration)

Answer 5

• Chinese-American Ps given American vs. Chinese prime
• Completed bicultural identity questionnaire; 8-point Likert Scale
• Rated why one fish was swimming apart from others
• 9-point Likert scale: 1=because fish is influenced by group (e.g. being pressured, teased, or chased by others); 9=because fish is influenced by internal traits (e.g. personal objective or leadership)
• Moderation effect of cultural priming on attributions of fish behaviour
• Low BII → complete rejection of both cultures, opposite results of primed culture

Question 6

parent-child acculturation discrepancy [4]

Answer 6

• Mismatch between child + parent integration strategies → potentially leads to:
• Family conflict
• Unsupportive parenting
• Prior two can sometimes → negative child outcomes

Question 7

Kim et al. (2013) [6]

(hint: acculturation discrepancy)

Answer 7

• Acculturation discrepancy + adolescent outcomes
• Chinese-American Ps (parents + adolescents) at two time points (HS)
• Measured acculturation discrepancy (Ps + As); sense of alienation (Ps + As); supportive parenting (warmth, reasoning, monitoring); adolescent adjustment (academic, emotional)
• Only American orientation discrepancy had an impact; no discrepancy was found in Chinese cultural maintenance
• Fathers: depression + lower GPA; mothers: only GPA
  
  • Fathers + mothers talk differently to their children, + maybe differences in value of patriarch for Chinese families

Question 8

positive outcomes of acculturation [3]

Answer 8

• One possibility: greater responsibility and resilience
• e.g. Through language brokering → being a spokesperson for your family that doesn’t speak the host language very well
• Also having gone through acculturative stress

Question 9

issues with “cross” cultural [6]

Answer 9

• Greater difference within countries than between them!
• Patricia Greenfield (JCCP, 2014): claims that these within country differences are due to globalization and expansion of (global) commerce
• Media effects as well: internet and facile exposure to other cultures and incorporation of other value systems
• Within a country: both individualist and collectivist systems exist?
  
  • Isolated, rural, poor, subsistence based, home-educated, simple technology → more collectivist based
  • Connected to world, urban, rich, commerce-based, heterogenous → more individualist based

Question 10

parental concerns in multiracial families [8]

Answer 10

• Discussion of racial identity
  
  • Limited knowledge of multiracial identity and related issues
• Ambivalence in acknowledgement; don’t know if they want to address the multiracial identity of their children (when children are younger)
• Experiences of racism due to being in mixed-race relationships
  
  • How do you address this if it happens when you’re with your child?
• Physical appearance; stress of not looking like either of your parents (am I adopted?)
• Pros and cons to integration of ethnicity (and sometimes, culture)
• Curiosity (and worry); often as a result of all prior factors

Question 11

navigating multiracial parenting [8]

Answer 11

• Multiracial children from 2 monoracial parents → higher risk of mental, physical, and behavior problems
  
  • Usually b/c of society’s inability the role of being multiracial, identity of being multiracial, + challenges faced as a result
  • Everyone will want to categorize you as one or the other; difficulties trying to identify as both
• Each parent’s perspective, disagreements; don’t understand unique MR/ME experience
  
  • e.g. double rejection/dual discrimination; not accepted by either race completely
• Parents must modify parenting style and response → flexibility + sensitivity
  
  • Show warmth + support even if you don’t understand what’s happening
  • Perceive the issues and properly respond

Question 12

Crippen & Brew: intercultural parenting strategies [8]

Answer 12

• Mixed-culture couples; identified 2 areas of concern in adapting to differences between cultures
• 1. How are differences perceived?
     * Minimized, (Differentiated, Transcended,) Emphasized
     * i.e. Differences don’t matter vs. these differences are a huge problem
• 2. Can there be mutual agreement of differences in order to reach a solution??
     * Low (no), asymmetrical (mother or father accommodates), convergent (third culture/space), high (yes)
     * i.e. low disagreement on how minority culture status is addressed vs. trying to accommodate

Question 13

assimilate [1]

(intercultural parenting strategies)

Answer 13

• Unilateral accommodation (usually on part of minority parent)

Question 14

cultural tourism [2]

(intercultural parenting strategies)

Answer 14

• Lower investment in teaching of cultural values (especially from minority culture)
• Superficially celebrate certain holidays; usually if minority is dad

Question 15

cultural transition [2]

(intercultural parenting strategies)

Answer 15

• Explicitly teaching the child values from the minority culture
• Usually if minority is mom

Question 16

cultural amalgamation [2]

(intercultural parenting strategies)

Answer 16

• Blending of values for a higher goal
• Wiewing different cultures as both significant + complementary

Question 17

dual biculturalism [2]

(intercultural parenting strategies)

Answer 17

• Both parents trying to acculturate to one another; simultaneously modelling to their child how to acculturate
• Accepting one another’s cultural values while still maintaining own culture

Question 18

Bowie et al. [8]

(hint: MR outcomes)

Answer 18

• Study of African American, Caucasian American, + multiracial kids
• Connection between emotional dysregulation of parents in T1 + emotional outcomes for children in T2?
• Sadness dysregulation for mother’s correlated to child depression in AA + Caucasian children, + depression in AAs
• Mother anger dysregulation related to child anxiety + depression for AA and Caucasian children
• Father anger dysregulation related to anxiety + depression for multiracial kids
• Emotional dysregulation for parents impact children’s emotional regulation @ T2
• Father’s lack of anger regulation impacts multiracial children’s adjustment
  
  • Only mother’s dysregulation affects monoracial children

Question 19

Bowie et al. (2013)

Answer 19

Question 20

Shih & Sanchez (2006) [7]

(hint: review of MR studies)

Answer 20

• Review of +/- outcomes for multiracial kids
• 1/5 studies: more MR/ME kids had depressive symptoms
• 7/12 studies: no self-esteem difference for MR/ME and mono
• 2 indicate higher self-esteem for MR/ME!
• 2/7 studies: no academic success difference between MR/ME and mono
• Only 2/7 studies indicate lower scores for MR/ME
• But 8/10 studies: more MR/ME problem behaviours

Question 21

positive role of parents [3]

Answer 21

• Supportive, model proper interpretation of + coping responses to social difficulties → better developmental outcomes
  
  • Not different from monoracial families; all kids need the same warmth + support
• But, MR/ME families: unique, more complexity