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Asian American Parenting pp 11–35Cite as

A Critical Race Perspective on an Empirical Review of Asian American Parental Racial-Ethnic Socialization

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Abstract

This chapter reviews what we currently know about Asian American parental racial-ethnic socialization and provides historical context as well as an outlook for future directions. We first define racial-ethnic socialization and provide a brief history of immigration and racialized experiences of Asians in America. We then present a thorough review of empirical literature on Asian American parental racial-ethnic socialization with attention to measurement, highlighting key limitations of this literature. Finally, we conclude by offering directions for future research to advance scholarship on Asian American parental racial-ethnic socialization that is based on a Critical Race perspective. Understanding how Asian American parents socialize their children to become aware of issues of race, racial oppression, and resistance will continue to be a critical area for youth development.

Bay, a Vietnamese American mother of two children, ages 6 and 10 living in the Midwest recalled, “My mom would try to go talk to the parents [of the boy who bullied Bay because of her race], but her English wasn’t so good. The parents would say, “Did you do that?” And the son would say, “No, I didn’t.” And, the parents would believe the son. We just felt powerless. And, I hated that feeling, of feeling powerless, that we lacked the language and also the, how to say, the energy to pursue it. Now, I’d say I have to do anything I can in my power to change things.” (Juang et al., under review)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Hughes et al. (2006) and others use the term “ethnic-racial socialization” but we chose to also use “racial-ethnic socialization” in this chapter for two reasons. One is to accentuate the racial aspect as most studies of Asian Americans have focused on ethnic, and not racial socialization. Two, the main contribution of the chapter is to highlight and discuss in detail the racialization of Asian Americans and what this means for parental socialization. Therefore, we thought it was appropriate to have this term “racial” appear first.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Human Sciences, University of Potsdam, Karl Liebknecht Strasse 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Linda P. Juang

  2. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85282, USA

    Hyung Chol Yoo & Annabelle Atkin

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  1. Linda P. Juang
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Correspondence to Linda P. Juang .

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  1. School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Yoonsun Choi

  2. School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Hyeouk Chris Hahm

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Juang, L.P., Yoo, H.C., Atkin, A. (2017). A Critical Race Perspective on an Empirical Review of Asian American Parental Racial-Ethnic Socialization. In: Choi, Y., Hahm, H. (eds) Asian American Parenting. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63136-3_2

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