Friday, 14 January 2005 - 10:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Acculturation and Biculturalism in Latino Adolescents: Mapping Risk and Protective Factors, Examining Measurement Strategies, and Evaluating Intervention Approaches

Entre Dos Mundos: Cultural Identity Development in Latino Adolescents

Specific Aims: This paper presentation focuses on the dynamics of second-culture-acquisition for Latino immigrant adolescents. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted to examine: (a) adaptation to life in the United States, (b) cultural identity development, and (c) environmental influences that affected both adaptation and cultural identity development.

Methods: Standardized, open-ended interviews were conducted with one hundred Latino immigrant adolescents and at least one of their parents. All of the participants were born in Latin American countries (Mexico, Columbia, El Salvador), and immigrated to the United States within the last ten years. Interview transcriptions were analyzed using Atlas.ti. The text was coded, categorized, and an extensive process of network mapping was performed. Relationships within and across codes and categories were hypothesized. A network map was drawn to display a comprehensive model for describing adolescent cultural identity development processes.

Results: Results indicated that Latino adolescents must balance different, and often opposing, Latino and U.S. cultural influences. Inability to integrate multiple cultural demands contributed to the manifestation of complex acculturation-related problems. Latino adolescents thought that they had three worlds to balance. (1) Their Latino world was primarily driven by dynamics within the home. This world was particularly invested in maintaining the adolescent’s sense of familism and pride in her or his culture of origin. (2) School and American friends dominated the U.S. world. These U.S. influences were Assimilationist, pushing the adolescent to become increasingly integrated into U.S. culture. The third world (3) was characterized by an emerging sense of self for the adolescent. This represented the internal process for integrating these disparate influences and making personal identity decisions. Each of these worlds has specific dynamics that will be addressed in the presentation.

Implications: This model can help social work researchers and practitioners understand the systemic dynamics behind adolescent acculturation after immigration. Understanding these dynamics can help social workers create new prevention and intervention strategies that aid immigrant adolescents in integrating complex cultural messages. Results of this study indicate that practitioners can help Latino adolescents adjust to life in the U.S. by lowering assimilation pressures in the school environment, by designing prevention and intervention strategies to target acculturation issues in Latino family systems, and by helping immigrant adolescents to create their own identities while balancing disparate cultural demands.

See more of Acculturation and Biculturalism in Latino Adolescents: Mapping Risk and Protective Factors, Examining Measurement Strategies, and Evaluating Intervention Approaches
See more of Symposium

See more of Celebrating a Decade of SSWR (January 13 - 16, 2005)