Parental Racial-Ethnic Socialization and Racial Stereotypes Among Asian American Youth

Background and Purpose: Asian Americans are subject to two major racial stereotypes: the model minority stereotype of being hard-working (MMS-achievement) and having unrestricted social mobility (MMS-mobility) and the perpetual foreigner stereotype (PFS) of not being fully accepted as Americans regardless of where they are born. Theoretical and empirical studies suggest that together these opposing racial stereotypes have put Asian Americans in a unique racial position detrimental to their overall wellbeing. Racial-ethnic socialization practices within the family have been identified as important protective factors for young Asian Americans from negative racial experiences. However, not enough research explores how racial-ethnic socialization contributes to negative stereotyping experiences of Asian Americans. The proposed study will examine how different types of parental racial-ethnic socialization practices are associated with the internalization of MMS and awareness of PFS. In addition, we examine how these relations vary by ethnicity, i.e., Filipino Americans (FAs) vs. Korean Americans (KAs).

Methods: Data are from the Midwest Longitudinal Study of Asian American Families project that survey-interviewed 378 FA and 408 KA youth at Wave 1 in 2014. This study used data from Wave 2 to Wave 4. Retention rates were 77% at Wave 2 in 2016 (N=604), 82% of Wave 1 at Wave 3 in 2018 (N=641) and 78% of Wave 1 at Wave 4 in 2022 (N=608). Associations between racial-ethnic socialization practices (preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, and ethnic-heritage socialization) and stereotypes (MMS-achievement, MMS-mobility, and PFS) were examined by using a cross-lagged structural equation modeling in Mplus Version 8.4. Analytic models included within-time correlation, autoregressive path, and cross-lagged path. The constrained model was chosen as the final model since it was not significantly different from the unconstrained model.

Results: The model fit for each subgroup was adequate (FAs: RMSEA=.053, CFI=.941; KAs: RMSEA=.042, CFI=0.955). Preparation for bias was related to more PFS over time among FAs. Ethnic-heritage socialization was associated with more PFS for both ethnic groups, although in different directions. Specifically, ethnic-heritage socialization longitudinally predicted more PFS for KAs, whereas PFS was predictive of more ethnic-heritage socialization over time for FAs. Regarding racial stereotypes, MMS-mobility was related to lower rates of MMS-achievement and PFS over time among KAs.

Conclusions/Implications: The findings underscored the multi-dimensional nature of racial-ethnic socialization and its relation to stereotyping experiences of Asian Americans. That is, racial-ethnic socialization practices that are shown to protect racial minority children from racial harms may also increase the awareness of PFS that is detrimental to young Asian Americans. We also found differential effects of socialization practices across ethnicity. Ethnic-heritage socialization predicted more PFS among KAs, but it was preparation for bias among FAs. These findings are especially notable because KAs, one of the least acculturated Asian American subgroups, engage more in ethnic-heritage socialization, whereas FAs, highly acculturated into the racialized American society, may be more likely to be influenced by preparation for racial bias than other subgroups. This study highlights the significance of group-specific interventions in being meaningfully effective in helping Asian American families to respond to negative stereotyping experiences.