Importance of School Multicultural Attitudes and Practices: Teachers’ Ethnic Socialization, Ethnic Identity and Depression in Indigenous Students in Southwestern China

Background and Purpose. Ethnic minorities in China are indigenous peoples who, like other indigenous groups worldwide, have experienced historical-cultural oppression (Postiglione, 2017). The examination-oriented system in China has been inadvertently assimilating indigenous students into mainstream culture, resulting in their ethnic identity confusion/dismal (Xiong, 2020). Using information collected from Yi indigenous students in Southwestern China, this study aimed to examine the effects of perceived teachers’ ethnic socialization on ethnic identity and depression. Based on the school ethnic socialization framework (Byrd, 2015), positive teachers’ ethnic socialization was defined as (i) teachers’ culturally-diverse attitude; (ii) teachers’ Yi cultural and multicultural socialization, i.e., teachers’ practices in socializing students to Yi culture and other cultures. According to the ethnic identity development theory (Phinney, 1996; Umana-Taylor et al., 2004), strong ethnic identity was defined as (i) ethnic identity commitment, i.e., feeling attached to one's ethnicity; (ii) ethnic identity resolution, i.e., feeling confident about the meaning of one’s own ethnic identity to oneself. Hypotheses were: (1) Perceived positive teachers’ ethnic socialization led to lower depressive symptoms; (2) Perceived positive teachers’ ethnic socialization led to stronger ethnic identity; (3) Strong ethnic identity led to lower depressive symptoms.

Methods. A cross-sectional quantitative survey was implemented. Participants were Yi youths from five schools in Liangshan (n=295; age=14.3; Female=68%; Male=32%), recruited using multistage sampling. Teachers’ ethnic socialization was measured with the adapted teachers’ cultural diversity scale (Yildirm & Tezci, 2016, α=0.76) and the adapted teachers’ Yi cultural and multicultural socialization scale (Wang et al., 2015, α=0.90). Ethnic identity was evaluated with the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney & Ong, 2006, α=0.70). The depressive level was measured with the Patient Health Questionaire-9 (Tsai, 2018, α=0.76). A two-step structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed using Mplus 8.0. A measurement model was first established to examine the scales’ cross-cultural validity. Then, the covariances in the measurement model were re-specified as direct effects in the SEM.

Results. The final model showed satisfactory fit statistics: CFI/TLI= 0.91, RMSEA= .05, SRMR= .04. Perceived teachers’ cultural diversity and multicultural socialisation positively affected ethnic identity commitment (b _{cultural diversity}=5.01; b _{multicultural socialization}=2.76). Similarly, they positively affected ethnic identity resolution (b _{cultural diversity} =3.70; b _{multicultural socialization}=3.05). Yet, they did not affect depression. Surprisingly, teachers’ Yi cultural socialization did not affect ethnic identity and mental health. Strong ethnic identity resolution lowered depressive levels (b=-2.11). Interestingly, strong ethnic identity commitment increased depressive levels (b=2.52).

Conclusions and Implications. Findings underscore the importance of teachers’ culturally-diverse attitudes and multicultural socialization in fostering strong ethnic identity. Having a strong ethnic identity commitment without achieving ethnic identity resolution can hurt mental health. Schools shall encourage students to embrace the meaning of their ethnicity via multicultural education rather than merely socializing them to their own cultures. Policy leaders can introduce multicultural training for teachers to establish culturally-embracing schools for positive mental health.