Acculturation Strategies and Educational Outcomes of Chinese American Children of Immigrants

In this study, I examined whether Berry’s (1997) acculturation strategies would be found in a sample of 258 Chinese American adolescents who are children of immigrants (CIs) and whether these strategies were associated with educational outcomes. I conducted separate latent profile analyses (LPA) on participants’ American and Chinese orientation in each of the three behavioral acculturation domains (language proficiency, social relationships, and media use). I also conducted LPA on the composite scores of participants’ Chinese and American orientations which combined all of the domains to see whether there were differences when analyzing acculturation by domain or combined as a composite. I found six different profiles (integrated, assimilated, marginalized, moderately separated, strongly separated, and ambivalent), but they were not all represented in every acculturation domain. I found practically significant differences in GPA (i.e., Hedges’ g > 0.41), educational expectations, and perceived competence among the profiles in the three acculturation domains and the composite analysis. Generally, participants with the integrated and assimilated profiles often reported the more favorable academic achievement outcomes, and the other profiles were associated with different educational outcomes depending on the domain examined. The results demonstrate the complexity of Chinese American CIs’ acculturation processes and can inform future acculturation research on this population