NCJ Number
225627
Journal
Journal of Adolescent Research Volume: 24 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2009 Pages: 37-66
Date Published
January 2009
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This study examined gendered expectations at home and school for Chinese immigrant adolescents and how they negotiated these expectations in constructing their identity.
Abstract
Findings confirm previous research findings on gender and ethnic identity formation of Chinese and other immigrant adolescents. The Chinese girls in the sample were more securely rooted in their Chinese ethnic identity in negotiating the different expectations they faced at home and at school. Examining the issue of immigrant adolescent identity negotiations is important because of the implication it has on their adaptation outcomes. Research in the last few decades has consistently shown that preserving one’s ethnic identity is associated with lower levels of psychosocial risks and higher educational achievement in minority youth. For immigrant adolescents, a strong sense of ethnic identity may serve to anchor and buffer them against risk factors such as discrimination as they try to negotiate different expectations they face at home and school. Examining how immigrant girls and boys may differ in the process of identity formation may also shed some light on the well-documented gender gap favoring girls in immigrant students’ education. This research is embedded in the Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation (LISA) study, which originated in the fall of 1997 and studied 400 immigrant students from China, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Central America. The 72 Chinese students included in this study were recruited from the Boston area. Among the sample, 44 participants were girls and 28 were boys. Table and references