Acculturation trajectories of South Korean multicultural adolescents and their immigrant mothers and its association with adolescent adjustments

Abstract

This study identified the acculturation trajectories of multicultural adolescents in South Korea along with those of their migrant mothers using a latent class growth analysis and examined the relationship between latent trajectories of adolescents and their mothers and the adjustment of adolescents. Data from a nationally representative sample of Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (N = 1458, Girls = 50.62%, age range = 9.97–14.96) were used. Three latent acculturation trajectories of multicultural adolescents were identified, including integration, modest assimilation, and high assimilation, and four latent acculturation trajectories of migrant mothers were distinguished, including high assimilation, high separation, modest assimilation, and modest separation. The most favorable profiles were those of the integration of adolescents and high assimilation of migrant mothers. These findings suggested the importance of providing family‐based prevention and intervention programs against the maladjustment of South Korean multicultural adolescents.

Parenting attitudes, career adaptability, and bicultural acceptance perceived by multicultural youth

“…The stronger the identity and acceptability of having a dual culture, the easier it is to live with both cultures and the greater the social adaptability of the dual culture individual (de Anda, 1975;Haritatos & Benet-Martínez, 2002;Valentine, 1971). Using the potential growth model of Korean multicultural youth panel data, Park (2022a) and(2022b) confirmed that the relationship between migrant mothers' adaptation to Korean culture and the youth and mothers' adaptation to the culture affects children. Parenting attitudes have been studied in their effects on children's career decisions and on dual culture acceptability.…”

“…Here, we define a multicultural family as one that is formed when people from different cultures become part of one family. Immigrants encounter differences due to the necessary shift in their culture and lifestyle to a different environment, but also in absorbing the ideas, norms, practices, and identities of the new culture through social relationships (Park, 2022a(Park, , 2022b. Research on parenting attitudes, job adaptability, and bicultural acceptance has been actively conducted in Korean in recent years.…”