Trajectories of Mexican American and Mainstream Cultural Values Among Mexican American Adolescents

Abstract

Mexican Americans are one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States, yet we have limited knowledge regarding changes (i.e., developmental trajectories) in cultural orientation based upon their exposure to the Mexican American and mainstream cultures. We examined the parallel trajectories of Mexican American and mainstream cultural values in a sample of 749 Mexican American adolescents (49% female) across assessments during the fifth grade (approximately 11 years of age), the seventh grade (approximately 13 years of age) and the tenth grade (approximately 16 years of age). We expected that these values would change over this developmental period and this longitudinal approach is more appropriate than the often used median split classification to identify distinct types of acculturation. We found four distinct acculturation trajectory groups: two trajectory groups that were increasing slightly with age in the endorsement of mainstream cultural values, one of which was relatively stable in Mexican American cultural values while the other was declining in their endorsement of these values; and two trajectory groups that were declining substantially with age in their endorsement of mainstream cultural values, one of which was also declining in Mexican American cultural values and the other which was stable in these values. These four trajectory groups differed in expected ways on a number of theoretically related cultural variables, but were not highly consistent with the median split classifications. The findings highlight the need to utilize longitudinal data to examine the developmental changes of Mexican American individual’s adaptation to the ethnic and mainstream culture in order to understand more fully the processes of acculturation and enculturation.

Neighborhood and school ethnic structuring and cultural adaptations among Mexican-origin adolescents.

“…All five studies examining enculturative and acculturative changes over time among Latino adolescents have documented substantial within-group variability (Knight, Vargas-Chanes, Losoya, Cota-Robles, Chassin, & Lee, 2009b, 2014; Matsunaga, Hecht, Elek, & Ndiaye, 2010; Schwartz et al, 2013, 2015), thereby confirming that the processes are not monolithic and may vary based on environmental exposures. In terms of explaining observed variability, the studies documented individual characteristics (e.g., gender, nativity) related to adolescents' enculturative and acculturative changes.…”

“…Increased exposures to neighborhood and school environments that vary on co-ethnic structuring means increased variability in neighborhood- and school-level aspects of cultural socialization (e.g., the need to use English/Spanish, opportunities to socialize with in/out group members, needs to think and behave in Mexican/Anglo ways). Early adolescent differences in cultural socialization in neighborhood and school environments may have long-term implications for cultural adaptations (Knight et al, 2014). Neighborhoods and schools with low concentrations of the ethnic minority groups' members (and more European Americans) support more mainstream social processes, whereas those with high concentrations of the ethnic minority groups' members support more heritage social processes (García Coll & Marks, 2009; Rumbaut & Portes, 2001; Yoshikawa, 2011).…”

“…Based on prior work (Knight et al, 2014) and theory (Knight et al, 1993), we expected that, on average, Mexican orientations would decline across time or remain stable and Anglo orientations would increase across time. Because prior work indicates that there may be gender (Matsunaga et al, 2010) and nativity (Knight et al, 2009b) differences in acculturative and enculturative processes during adolescence, we modeled these differences in both initial levels and changes across time in Mexican and Anglo cultural orientations.…”

The Sociocultural Context of Mexican-Origin Pregnant Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Teen Pregnancy and Links to Future Outcomes

“…For instance, Coatsworth and colleagues (2005) examined behavioral aspects of Latino adolescents’ cultural orientations (English and Spanish usage, enjoyment of Latino vs. American music and television programs) and identified different subgroups of adolescents using cluster analysis, with the largest group being bicultural; that is, bicultural adolescents exhibited behaviors associated with both Latino and American culture. In one of the few studies examining variability in cultural values, Knight and colleagues (2013) examined trajectories of value endorsement and found different trajectories based on adolescents’ endorsement of Mexican (e.g., familism) and mainstream (e.g., material success) values. These findings highlight the diversity that exists in the endorsement of behaviors and values within this cultural context, and underscore the importance of examining multiple behaviors and values when describing Latino adolescents’ cultural orientations.…”

“…Most often the focus is on proxy measures and behavioral indicators (e.g., nativity, language fluency). Yet, scholars who study Latino adolescents’ cultural adaptation argue that it is important to examine multiple dimensions of cultural orientations simultaneously to gain a more comprehensive understanding (Coatsworth et al, 2005; Knight et al, 2013; Updegraff & Umaña-Taylor, 2010). We extend these ideas to include attitudes about teen pregnancy in combination with multiple indicators of cultural orientations to increase our understanding of the cultural context of Mexican-origin adolescent mothers’ pregnancy and early parenting experiences.…”