Acculturation/enculturation and internalized model minority myth in Korean immigrant families.

Abstract

Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1977), this study examined the antecedents and outcomes of internalized model minority myth (MMM) within the microsystem of family and the macrosystem of culture. Among Korean immigrant families, we examined how mothers’ internalized MMM (i.e., achievement orientation, unrestricted mobility) and youth’s cultural orientations (i.e., acculturation, enculturation) were related to youth’s internalized MMM and had direct and indirect relations to youth outcomes (i.e., life satisfaction, depression, antisocial behaviors, and academic performance). In a sample of 334 Korean immigrant mother-youth dyads (155 female youth; 132 foreign-born youth; M_age of youth = 16.37; M_age of mothers = 46.94), we conducted a path analysis by using the maximum likelihood and bootstrapping methods. A path analysis revealed mothers’ achievement orientation was indirectly related to youth’s academic performance via youth’s beliefs in unrestricted mobility. In general, mothers’ internalized MMM had harmful relationships to youth’s depression and antisocial behaviors versus mixed relationships to academic performance. Importantly, mothers’ internalized MMM indicated greater direct and indirect associations with youth outcomes than youth’s own internalized MMM. A follow-up analysis of moderated mediation ruled out the possibility that academic performance moderated the relations of youth’s internalized MMM and outcomes and thus masked any significant associations. Overall, the current findings highlighted the importance of understanding the internalized MMM within the microsystem of the close-knit Korean immigrant family relations. Implications for research, family intervention, parent education and outreach were discussed.