Ethnic socialization and ethnic identity development among internationally adopted Korean American adolescents: A seven-year follow-up.

Abstract

The relationship between ethnic socialization by parents and peers and ethnic identity development was examined over a seven-year time span in a sample of 116 internationally adopted Korean American adolescents. Parent report data was collected in 2007 (T1) when the adopted child was between 7–13 years old and again in 2014 at ages 13–20 years old (T2). Adolescent report data also was collected in 2014. We examined differences in parent and adolescent reports of parental ethnic socialization at T2, changes in parent reports of ethnic socialization from T1 to T2, and the relationship among ethnic socialization by parents at T1 and T2, ethnic socialization by peers at T2, and ethnic identity exploration and resolution at T2. Results indicated parents reported higher levels of parental ethnic socialization than did adolescents at T2. Parent-reports of parental ethnic socialization also decreased between childhood and adolescence. Adolescents reported higher parental ethnic socialization than peer ethnic socialization at T2. Path analysis demonstrated positive indirect pathways among parental ethnic socialization at T1, parental ethnic socialization and peer ethnic socialization at T2, and ethnic identity exploration and ethnic identity resolution at T2. The study highlights the cultural experiences of transracial, transnational adopted individuals, the role of both parents and peers in ethnic socialization and ethnic identity development, and the importance of longitudinal and multi-informant methodology.

Ethnic–Racial Socialization in the Family: A Decade's Advance on Precursors and Outcomes

“…In addition to the important substantive insights presented previously, our review also revealed that the ethnic–racial socialization literature in the 2010 decade was characterized by several methodological strengths. For instance, study design elements such as the inclusion of multiple reporters (e.g., Caldwell et al, ; Hu, Zhou, & Lee, ; Pahlke, Bigler, & Suizzo, ; R. White et al, ) pointed to increased methodological rigor. Furthermore, the perspectives of both caregivers and youth were well‐represented in the literature, as approximately half of the studies included caregivers' reports of ethnic–racial socialization, and this was true for quantitative and qualitative studies (see Table ).…”

Racial Inequality in Psychological Research: Trends of the Past and Recommendations for the Future

“…Second, authors S. O. Roberts and C. Bareket-Shavit independently queried 20% of the journal issues to reliably determine which empirical publications with human participants explicitly highlighted race in the title, abstract, or both (e.g., Asian, Black, White, racial categories, racial identity, racial segregation, racial stereotyping, racial inequality; Fleiss’s κ = .96); disagreements were resolved by discussion. These included a variety of publication types, including those with all-White samples that focused on race-related outcomes (e.g., the origins of symbolic racism; Sears & Henry, 2003) or did not focus on race-related outcomes (e.g., personality and drug use; Brook, Whiteman, Gordon, & Brook, 1986), those with racially diverse samples that focused on race-related outcomes (e.g., cooperation in interracial groups; Blanchard, Adelman, & Cook, 1975) or did not focus on race-related outcomes (e.g., detecting and recognizing geometric figures; Stein & Mandler, 1975), and those with samples composed completely of persons of color that did focus on race-related outcomes (e.g., ethnic socialization; Hu, Zhou, & Lee, 2017) or did not focus on race-related outcomes (e.g., pretend play; McLoyd, 1980). S. O. Roberts and C. Bareket-Shavit then queried the remaining 80% of the journal issues and downloaded the publications for which at least one study had been performed in the United States and that highlighted race in the title or abstract, resulting in 1,511 articles.…”

Fostering Racial and Ethnic Identity for Transracial Adoptees: The Importance of Culturally Competent Transracial Adoption Training Programs for White Adoptive Parents

“…Current research supports that most white adoptive parents tend to think they are doing enough to promote their TRA's racial and ethnic development, often focusing on cultural festivals, making food from their child's culture, and providing books and movies related to the child's birth culture (Hu, Zhou, & Lee, 2017). However, access to these events, information, and media may be difficult for a family to access depending on location or socioeconomic status.…”

“…With much of the research available on transracial adoption focusing on parental perception of their skill in socialization practices and the racial discrimination their child faces, there is still much to learn about the most effective practices when it comes to white parents raising TRAs. Focusing on parental perception of their socialization practices is a limitation as one study showed that parents tended to report engaging in higher levels of socialization practices than their children reported (Hu, Zhou, & Lee, 2017). In an age of colorblindness, defined as "the denial of racial dynamics," many white parents are unequipped to address the multifaceted ways in which racism, bias, and discrimination affect people of color in society, even (or especially) when it comes to their TRA (Lee, Crolley-Simic & Vonk, 2018;Morgan & Langrehr, 2019).…”

“…As such, there is a limited amount of academic research that is currently available studying the effects of this practice on the Transracial Adoptee (TRA) in their cultural, ethnic, and racial socialization processes and on how well they adjust to a racialized society outside of their adoptive family unit. Since the 1940s, an estimated one million children have been adopted internationally, most frequently to white parents (Hu, Zhou & Lee, 2017). In recent years as adult TRAs have come forward and shared their experiences growing up in a transracial adoptive home, the need for culturally competent training programs has come to light.…”