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Bi-Cultural Socialization and Ethnic Identity in Daughters Adopted from China

Bi-Cultural Socialization and Ethnic Identity in Daughters Adopted from China AbstractTo varying degrees, parents who adopt children from China attempt to bring Chinese people, language, and culture into daily life as a way to help their adopted children feel proud about their ethnic heritage. Do attempts to provide bi-cultural socialization really influence ethnic identity? And, if so, what are the costs and benefits? In this article we draw on a longitudinal study of families with children adopted from China to describe their pre-teen and teenage daughters' orientations toward Chinese identity. The results indicate that Chinese ethnicity is an important component of adolescent identity for many adoptees, and that the odds of its being important are directly related to bi-cultural socialization influences within and outside of the family. Chinese ethnic identity does not appear to compromise the importance of American identity or closeness with family members who are not of Chinese descent. However, it does have the potential to magnify feelings of loss of birth parents and distress associated with pre-adoption histories in China. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Social Distress and Homeless Taylor & Francis

Bi-Cultural Socialization and Ethnic Identity in Daughters Adopted from China

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References (34)

Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2009 Maney
ISSN
1573-658X
eISSN
1053-0789
DOI
10.1179/105307809805365208
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractTo varying degrees, parents who adopt children from China attempt to bring Chinese people, language, and culture into daily life as a way to help their adopted children feel proud about their ethnic heritage. Do attempts to provide bi-cultural socialization really influence ethnic identity? And, if so, what are the costs and benefits? In this article we draw on a longitudinal study of families with children adopted from China to describe their pre-teen and teenage daughters' orientations toward Chinese identity. The results indicate that Chinese ethnicity is an important component of adolescent identity for many adoptees, and that the odds of its being important are directly related to bi-cultural socialization influences within and outside of the family. Chinese ethnic identity does not appear to compromise the importance of American identity or closeness with family members who are not of Chinese descent. However, it does have the potential to magnify feelings of loss of birth parents and distress associated with pre-adoption histories in China.

Journal

Journal of Social Distress and Homeless – Taylor & Francis

Published: Dec 1, 2009

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