Family Ecologies of Ethnic Minority Children

Abstract

N.; PINE, CHARLES J.; CHAN, SAMUEL Q.; and BURIEL,RAYMOND. Family Ecologies of Ethnic Minority Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1990, 61,347-362. This article discusses a proposed interconnectedness between the ecologies of ethnic minority families, adaptive strategies, socialization goals, and child behavioral outcomes. The ethnic minority groups included are African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian Pacific Americans, and Hispanics. Demographic information on population size, geographic area of concentration, and preferred identity terms is provided. It is argued that adaptive strategies, including extendedness of families and role flexibility, biculturalism, and ancestral worldview, emerge from the ecological challenges of ethnic stratification status. These adaptive strategies foster the child-rearing goals of positive orientation to the ethnic group and socialization for interdependence, which in turn enhance the developmental outcomes of cognitive fiexibility and sensitivity to discontinuities among ethnic minority children.Except for the first two, authors are listed in the order of joining the project. Special thanks to

Psychosocial background in incarcerated adolescents from Austria, Turkey and former Yugoslavia

“…Ethnic minorities tend to establish extended families as an adaptive strategy and the family represents a problem-solving and stress-coping system and provides social regulation (Harrison et al, 1994). Secondly, Austrians reported significantly more often to have been victims of abuse.…”

Attachment and Autonomy During Adolescence

“…As suggested previously, parental responses to adolescent autonomy strivings require balancing the need to set limits on behavior and the need to provide adolescents with sufficient freedom to try out new behaviors and learn from mistakes (Allen, Kuperminc, & Moore, 1997 ;Holmbeck, Paikoff, & Brooks -Gunn, 1995 (Bradley, 1995 ). Extensive anthropological theory and research suggests that parents ' behaviors in socializing their children are strongly influenced by awareness of the traits that are considered necessary for survival and success (Barry, Child, & Bacon, 1959/67 ;Harkness & Super, 1995 ;Harrison, Wilson, Pine, Chan, & Buriel, 1990 ;Kohn, 1963Kohn, , 1979LeVine, 1980LeVine, , 1988Ogbu, 1981Ogbu, , 1988Okagaki & Divecha, 1993 ). For example, parental appeals to prudential justifications -including concerns about health and safety -to resolve conflicts with their teens, have been found to be characteristic of certain subgroups of parents, particularly African American parents of male adolescents (Smetana et al, 2003 ).…”

The Transracial Adoption Paradox

“…Cultural socialization is a lifelong developmental process that enables individuals and families to have greater adaptability and competence in a given cultural milieu (Harrison, Wilson, Pine, Chan, & Buriel, 1990). For racial/ethnic minorities, it specifically entails the transmission of cultural values, beliefs, customs, and behaviors from parents, family, friends, and community to children that foster racial/ethnic identity development, equip children with coping strategies to deal with racism and discrimination, and encourage prosocial behavior and appropriate participation in society.…”