An Exploration of Family Racial-Ethnic Socialization of East Asian Americans in Racialized America

Abstract

Racial-ethnic socialization (RES) is beneficial for the development of Asian American youth. Yet, how East Asian American families respond to the forces of racialization and discriminatory policies beyond their home boundaries remains unclear. Guided by the tenets of AsianCrit (CRT; Matsuda, 1987) and frameworks of the Integrative Model for the Study of Developmental Competencies of Minority Children (Garcia Coll et al., 1996), the present study used structural equation modeling to examine the implications of East Asian American family’s racial-ethnic socialization for youths’ experiences of racial discrimination, internalization of the model minority myth, and their academic achievement. Among the 143 youth participants (ages 11-18), internalization of the model minority myth did not significantly mediate the association between their experiences of discrimination and academic achievement (GPA). Among the 78 caregiver and youth dyads, there was only a significant interaction of youth’s racial discrimination and youth-reported (a) maintenance of heritage culture and (b) awareness of discrimination on youth’s internalization of the model minority myth. Notably, the association between discrimination and internalization of the model minority stereotype was only significant when youth-reported RES was higher (+1SD). Furthermore, both youth- and caregiver-reported RES (maintenance of heritage culture and awareness of discrimination) had no moderating effect on the association between internalizing the model minority myth and academic achievement (GPA). The discrepancies in RES messages, both sent and received, confirm that while East Asian American caregivers play a critical role in socializing their children, not all intended messages may be internalized or understood by youth. The results of this dissertation offer several contributions to inform research, family, and communities in understanding the ways caregivers respond to youth’s racialized settings, which also predict youth’s positive outcomes.