Exploring individuation among Latine first‐generation students: Insights from culturally informed memorable messages

Abstract

When Latine first‐generation college students transition to college, they must renegotiate a balance between autonomy and relatedness with their families—a process known as individuation. Individuation encompasses five dimensions: support seeking, connectedness, intrusiveness, self‐reliance, and fear of disappointing parents. Existing measures of individuation prioritize westernized assumptions about parent–child relationships (e.g., egalitarianism, mutual respect) over those more salient in Latine families (e.g., respeto, familismo). To build more culturally grounded perspectives on individuation, we studied Latine first‐generation students' memorable messages—enduring messages shaping socialization and identity development—to and from their parents. We collected memorable messages through a cross‐sectional survey (n = 77) and longitudinal interviews (n = 8) with Latine first‐generation students before and after the college transition. Analyses revealed how immigration history, gender, and social class intersected to highlight the interrelatedness among the dimensions, including how connectedness functioned as the primary lens from which to understand the other dimensions of individuation.

INTRODUCTION

As Latine first‐generation college students navigate college, often as the first in their families to do so, their parents provide messages of support and guidance (Lara et al., 2025; Luedke, 2020). These messages offer insights into how families navigate relational shifts during this transition period. Indeed, messages that students recall during the college transition—known as memorable messages—reveal how meanings about the college experience are informed by cultural and relational contexts (Wang, 2014). To our knowledge, no studies explore how ethnic cultural values, immigration background, social class, and gender intersect to inform Latine first‐generation students' meaning‐making of memorable messages to and from their parents. To fill this gap, we sought to explore the utility of the memorable messages framework as a culturally grounded lens for examining developmental and socialization processes during the college transition. Specifically, we investigate the cultural insights that memorable messages reveal about individuation from parents.

Individuation theory: Dimensions, cultural expansions, and gaps

The process of individuation during the transition from adolescence to adulthood describes the nonlinear process of maturing into an autonomous‐related self. The autonomous‐related self establishes increasing psychological distance, and thus autonomy, from important others, such as parents. This independence exists alongside emotional closeness and connectedness with those same figures, otherwise known as relatedness (Kagitcibasi, 2005; Nice & Joseph, 2023). To operationalize this dual emphasis on developing autonomy alongside relatedness, Komidar et al. (2014) introduced a five‐dimensional measure of the individuation process. Connectedness reflects a perceived strong and mutual parent–child bond with open communication, emotional closeness, and reciprocal trust and respect. Support‐seeking consists of the child turning to parents for advice, reassurance, or emotional comfort when facing significant life choices or challenges. Self‐reliance represents the positive development of autonomy, described as the belief that one can solve problems or make significant life decisions independently from parental input. The final two dimensions detail maladaptive or hindering components of individuation. Fear of disappointing parents is described as an internalized concern about falling short of parental standards, often accompanied by guilt, anxiety, or worry about disappointing one's parents. Intrusiveness reflects parental overreach in the form of excessive worry, exertion of control, or invasion of privacy.

Together, these five dimensions capture a matured attachment with parents, reflecting a more egalitarian relationship based in mutual trust (Komidar et al., 2014; Nice & Joseph, 2023). Utilizing this measure, Nice and Joseph (2023) examined how these dimensions related to emerging adulthood, finding that connectedness with and minimal intrusiveness from parents facilitates positive development. They also identified college‐going status as an important moderator: for college‐goers, connectedness and fear of disappointing parents predict key features of emerging adulthood (e.g., identity exploration, feelings of instability, sense of possibilities) while intrusiveness did so for noncollege‐goers. These results point to how situational factors, like transitioning to college, shape individuation processes.

Pointing out Westernized and classed assumptions inherent in this framing of individuation (e.g., equal parent–child dynamics), scholars have studied the role of culture in shaping individuation (Grotevant & Cooper, 1998; Kagitcibasi, 2005; Radmacher & Azmitia, 2016). For example, literature on low‐income, immigrant Latine families highlights the centrality of connectedness, including the maintenance of close familial bonds and an orientation toward and responsiveness to group harmony (Grotevant & Cooper, 1998; Tamis‐LeMonda et al., 2020). More specifically, collectivist cultural values of familismo—loyalty and closeness to family (Lara et al., 2025)—and respeto—expectations of respectful behavior, decorum, and deference toward elders and authority figures (Calzada et al., 2010)—socialize young people to find one's place within and contribute to a hierarchical family structure.

When Latine emerging adults transition to college for the first time, they must renegotiate a balance between autonomy and relatedness as they encounter new calls for autonomy (Radmacher & Azmitia, 2016). Latine emerging adults, especially those who are first generation to college, find creative ways to maintain this balance with their families, as this support is critical for navigating and persisting in college (Delgado Bernal, 2001). For example, Valle and Covarrubias (2024) highlighted how five Latina first‐generation college students engaged in subtle strategies with their families to balance competing expectations of autonomy and relatedness in college and home settings, respectively. Because these women experienced unique socialization of cultural values across these contexts based on familial immigration history, social class, and gender, they utilized differing strategies of negotiation. These acts included strategizing to meet priorities across home and school settings, tackling cultural expectations 1 day at a time, compassionately setting boundaries at home, and being cautious in disagreement with a parent about college to maintain harmony.

A cultural analysis of how Latine first‐generation students negotiate a balance between autonomy and relatedness complicates a Westernized and middle‐to‐upper classed theory of individuation. Take another dimension of individuation, self‐reliance, as an additional example. As low‐income, immigrant families navigate both white middle‐to‐upper class cultural settings (e.g., work, school) and Latine working‐class settings (e.g., neighborhood enclaves) in the United States, research documents how different kinds of socialization for self‐reliance are present within a household (Covarrubias et al., 2019; Covarrubias & Valle, 2023). One version of self‐reliance stems from working‐class notions of hard independence, a socialization toward toughness and resilience to navigate limited socioeconomic resources and supports (Kusserow, 2012). Another version of self‐reliance stems from soft independence, which describes a middle‐to‐upper class socialization toward exploring personal development and self‐expression (Kusserow, 2012; Stephens et al., 2012). The authors argue that these harder and softer forms of self‐reliance co‐exist among Latine first‐generation working‐class households and that they stem from Latine first‐generation students' connectedness with their families, including their prioritization of familismo and respeto (Covarrubias et al., 2019; Covarrubias & Valle, 2023).

In general, the recognition of cultural values, like familismo and respeto, is largely absent from generalized measures of individuation (see Komidar et al., 2014). Consequently, the literature misses important relational nuances that, while historically considered maladaptive in Western populations, are normative in Latine parenting relationships. For example, the intrusiveness dimension measures the sense that parents have overstepped personal boundaries, are overly worried, attempt to exert control over the child's life, or smother the child (Komidar et al., 2014; Nice & Joseph, 2023). Yet, these features of intrusiveness can have differing cultural groundings, understandings, and outcomes (Kagitcibasi, 2005). Indeed, research demonstrates that, for less acculturated Latina mothers, these aspects of intrusiveness are not linked to maladjustment for Latine children's interactions with mothers as they are for European American children (Ispa et al., 2004), suggesting that how intrusiveness is interpreted is shaped by culture. In short, when we take culture into consideration, we can expand upon the meanings of the dimensions of individuation. To develop these more culturally grounded meanings, we employ memorable messages as an analytic tool.

Memorable messages: Cultural tools for capturing socialization

Memorable messages are long‐lasting significant messages shared by meaningful others (e.g., family members, mentors) that shape or influence how one perceives and engages with their surroundings (Cooke‐Jackson et al., 2025; Knapp et al., 1981). They can vary in form (e.g., verbal, nonverbal) or length (e.g., short, long) but are characterized by their perceived meaning (e.g., emotional valence) rather than their accurate word‐for‐word recall (Cooke‐Jackson et al., 2025). Memorable messages received earlier in life can shape one's understanding of cultural norms, values, and expectations (Knapp et al., 1981; Wolfe et al., 2025) and can inform one's identity development, beliefs, and behaviors (Cooke‐Jackson et al., 2025; Cooke‐Jackson & Rubinsky, 2023). In this way, these “sticky” messages constitute a form of “anticipatory socialization” because they help prepare individuals for what to expect across different types of situations and contexts (Cooke‐Jackson et al., 2025, p. 259). Importantly, individuals continue to interpret and reinterpret the meaning and influence of these messages throughout their lives, especially as they navigate new experiences and receive new messages (Cooke‐Jackson et al., 2025). This is particularly important for marginalized groups, who might encounter and negotiate competing, paradoxical, or even discriminatory, messages across different social contexts (e.g., home, school) (Valle & Covarrubias, 2024).

Memorable messages have been explored across a variety of contexts (for review, see Cooke‐Jackson et al., 2025; Cooke‐Jackson & Rubinsky, 2023), including their role in shaping college students' experiences (Ashby‐King & Anderson, 2022; Kranstuber et al., 2012; Nazione et al., 2011). Studies with college students document how many of their memorable messages come from parents, illustrating their prevalence for emerging adults (Kranstuber et al., 2012; Nazione et al., 2011). To our knowledge, no work has examined the types, content, or meaning‐making around memorable messages for Latine first‐generation emerging adults or students of color broadly as they negotiate their college‐going identities (for some discussion on memorable messages and students of color, see Lemus et al., 2022; Tindage et al., 2024). Indeed, most of the research on memorable messages focuses on white, continuing‐generation samples (Cooke‐Jackson et al., 2025).

The limited research that does exist focuses on first‐generation students primarily from white backgrounds (Wang, 2012, 2014; Wolfe et al., 2025). Wang (2014) explored first‐generation students' memorable messages from family to document parental socialization around the college transition journey. Via semi‐structured interviews, first‐generation students recalled that their parents communicated the importance of remembering, focusing on, counting on, and not worrying about family as they navigated college—arguably all messages related to connectedness (for similar patterns using mixed methods, see Wolfe et al., 2025).

We similarly argue that memorable messages serve as culturally sensitive tools for exploring parental socialization from the perspective of Latine first‐generation‐to‐college emerging adults.¹ By exploring how memorable messages continue to be (re)interpreted, especially as students navigate new experiences and social contexts, like in their transition to college (see the concept of layering, Cooke‐Jackson et al., 2025), we posit that memorable messages become important anchors as Latine first‐generation students make sense of their college‐going identities, including their home‐school responsibilities and connections and their future aspirations. Uniquely, we argue that the articulation of memorable messages might represent an integration of how parental messages have shaped students' socialization and of how students themselves also actively re‐narrate their socialization while navigating new terrains. That is, as first‐generation college‐goers, these students carry enduring messages from family about education and simultaneously encounter new messages in institutional contexts (high school and college) that are distinct from their family members' own educational pathways.

To better capture how these differing messages are (re)interpreted and recontextualized across the transition to college, and adding to the scholarship on memorable messages, we probe Latine first‐generation students' memorable messages to and from family. More specifically, we explore the cultural insights memorable messages offer into the individuation process as these students make sense of their college‐going identities. We employ both a cross‐sectional and longitudinal approach and pay attention to how immigration history, gender, and social class background shape the memorable messages that students recall before and after the college transition. Our examination of memorable messages over time aims to showcase how memorable messages function as a useful and asset‐based method for capturing culturally informed communication exchanged among families.

METHOD

Recruitment and participants

Student participants were recruited from two campuses of the same charter high school that served a predominantly Latine (90.2%), low‐income (87.7%), and first‐generation (96%) population. Both campuses, which have since closed, were in a large city in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. They aimed to increase college access for first‐generation students and emphasized students' cultural backgrounds via messaging, like their school motto: Ganas (desire), Comunidad (community), y Orgullo (pride).

In Spring 2019, a research team of undergraduates, a graduate student, and faculty member—all of whom identified as first‐generation, Latine—visited each campus to participate in a panel about the college transition and to invite high school seniors to participate in a longitudinal study tracking their college transition. With the help of school personnel, the team also provided informational flyers to parents during college success nights for parents. Students 18+ years old provided informed consent; those under 18 returned signed parental consent and participant assent forms. The institutional review board approved all research materials and procedures (#HS3172).

Participants completed four waves of surveys and a subset completed two interviews. We developed surveys and interviews with input from school leadership, tailoring questions to address both the interests of the research team and the needs of the school community. Survey and interview materials were then piloted for length, clarity, and relevance with a small group of undergraduate researchers and a high school‐aged family member of the lead author, respectively; they all shared similar backgrounds with the participants. In addition to collecting demographic and enrollment information, the surveys included a series of scale items assessing familial relationships and responsibilities, cultural connections to campus, motivations for attending college, and psychological well‐being at each time point. A few open‐ended questions also solicited participant feedback on improving support and resources at the high school.

For this study, we focused exclusively on responses to open‐ended items about memorable messages. These were collected at three time points: the last semester of senior year in high school (Time 1 survey), the summer before college (Time 2 interview), and the summer after the first year of college (Time 3 interview). Other survey and interview questions were excluded because they addressed distinct research questions beyond the scope of this study.

Of the 142 eligible seniors, 95 (66.9%) completed the Time 1 survey. We excluded 18 participants because they did not answer the memorable messages question and/or they did not identify as Latine, resulting in a final sample of 77 (M _age = 17.7 years, SD = .67). Of these 77 participants, 35 participated in interviews. For this project, we focused on interviews of eight participants who provided substantive² responses to our memorable message questions. All participants were first‐generation college students³ (see Table 1 for more demographics).

TABLE 1.

Participant demographics across time points.

Demographics	Survey (T1) (n = 77)	Interviews (T2, T3) (n = 8)
Gender
Women	46 (59.8%)	4 (50%)
Men	29 (37.6%)	4 (50%)
Nonbinary	1 (1.3%)	–
Did not disclose	1 (1.3%)	–
Ethnic heritage
Mexican	73 (94.8%)	8 (100%)
Mixed heritage (Mexican and Filipino)	2 (2.6%)	–
Mixed heritage (Mexican and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander)	1 (1.3%)	–
Puerto Rican	1 (1.3%)	–
Socioeconomic status
Working‐class	23 (29.9%)	3 (37.5%)
Lower‐middle‐class	29 (37.6%)	2 (25%)
Middle‐class	17 (22.1%)	2 (25%)
Upper‐middle‐class	2 (2.6%)	–
Upper‐class	–	–
Missing	6 (7.8%)	1 (12.5%)

Note: This table represents the same cohort of Latine first‐generation students across three time points. Differences in sample size across time points reflect participant attrition and exclusion of participants who did not answer the memorable messages question. Socioeconomic status was measured through a close‐ended item with five answer choices (i.e., working‐class, lower‐middle‐class, middle‐class, upper‐middle‐class, upper‐class).

Time 1 survey

Using school computers, participants completed an online Qualtrics survey with close‐ and open‐ended items. We focused on responses to the memorable message prompt: What do you wish you could tell your family or what do you wish they knew about the experience of going to college? At the end of the survey, participants indicated their interest in participating in follow‐up interviews. Participants took a maximum of 30 min and received $20 cash.

Time 2 and time 3 interviews

Participants completed two semi‐structured interviews focused on family relationships, college transition experiences, and sense of belonging. Both interviews included a memorable messages prompt, this time focused on messages received from family. In Time 2, students were asked, What memorable messages have you received from your family as they raised you? and in Time 3, Think about conversations you've had with family members this past year. From those conversations, what messages from your family feel the most memorable and why?

Data analytic approach and positionality

We analyzed data using a combination of inductive and deductive approaches across three distinct coding stages. Throughout these stages, we engaged in ongoing reflexive practices to explore how our positionalities, training, and assumptions shaped our analysis. Three of us are Latina first‐generation college students (two faculty, one graduate student) and one of us is an Asian American woman and faculty member from a continuing‐generation college background. All of us are trained social and cultural psychologists who study the sociocultural factors shaping the college transition among historically marginalized college students. Leaning on our positionalities and disciplinary training, we had regular discussions and wrote reflexive memos to surface any assumptions we brought to our interpretations of the data. Below, we detail each coding stage, noting when and how we engaged in reflexivity.

Stage 1: Unitizing responses and coding for memorable messages

To begin, we unitized survey responses following Lincoln and Guba's (1985) guidelines to break down whole responses into single units that (1) contained substantive information relevant to our research question and (2) stood alone, reflecting an identifiable concept or theme (as cited in Merriam, 1991). To do this, authors I.V. and R.C. independently reviewed and unitized each survey response, met to compare units, and constructed codes via a consensus approach for each unit (Braun & Clarke, 2006). To enhance the trustworthiness of our approach, we employed investigator triangulation and invited other coders to generate their own codes (Jackson & Trochim, 2002; Jonsen & Jehn, 2009). G.L., K.Q., and another graduate student independently sorted subsets of units. We then compared, mapped, discussed, and consolidated all constructed codes and converged our understandings to finalize a codebook (see Table 2).

TABLE 2.

Memorable messages codes, definitions, and frequencies.

Category	Definition (Participants wish they could tell or express to family that …)
Code
Goals and motivations
Family‐based aspirations	… they are pursuing college due to familial motivations (e.g., to improve family's future or honor family's sacrifices)
Personal aspirations	… they are pursuing college for personal aspirations (e.g., to get a good job, to benefit or grow as a person)
Commitment to success	… they are committed to trying their best
Challenges related to school
General difficulty	… aspects of school (e.g., academic, social, personal) and the college transition are known to be challenging, time‐consuming, and/or stressful
Uncertainty about college	… aspects of college (e.g., process, requirements) are confusing and/or they feel uncertain or uneasy about attending
Challenges related to family
Internalized pressure	… they feel pressure, anxiety, or fear about letting family down or not meeting expectations related to college
Home‐school balance	… they expect that college may create challenges in their family dynamics, relationships, or communication and would like to discuss these issues (including past and current dynamics) and how to manage demands between home and school
Relational needs and feelings
Requests for support	… family support or understanding is critical for the college journey, including pressure to challenge them academically
Requests for trust	… they wish to address familial concerns about college by offering reassurance or by asking family members to give them more autonomy
Frustration	… they recognize or are frustrated with being unable to share parts of college with or receive guidance from family
Grateful for sacrifices	… they are grateful for their family's efforts and/or sacrifices that gave them opportunities to pursue college
Benefits of college	… college offers various opportunities and benefits and/or they wish family could have the opportunity to go to college
Pride in accomplishment	… they feel pride and a sense of accomplishment for going to college, often despite personal or familial challenges

The authors then re‐coded all units using the final codebook. We assigned a subset of units to at least two coders, who coded separately and then compared their codes. Any discrepancies were reconciled by a third coder. If a coder noted that a data unit could be further unitized, we would break up the response into more units and then re‐code them. In rare cases, if consensus could not be reached after discussion, we excluded responses from analyses, resulting in a final 131 coded memorable message units. These units contained expressions of what students wanted to share with their parents as they anticipated the transition to college, capturing cultural elements important to the Latine first‐generation experience.

Stage 2a: Coding units for individuation

We then coded the units for individuation using both deductive and inductive processes. We first developed a deductive codebook with definitions and scale items from the literature (Komidar et al., 2014; Nice & Joseph, 2023). However, coders (G.L, K.Q., and R.C.) quickly concluded that these definitions and scale items did not fully capture what students conveyed in their responses. After repeated discussion and testing with small subsets of units, coders inductively created coding rules for each dimension that better reflected the underlying sentiment of the data unit. Before they coded all remaining units, I.V. reviewed the coding rules to ensure that each dimension code still reflected distinct categories as defined in the literature.

Coding for individuation followed an iterative process to allow for constant comparison against the data and continued refinement of coding rules. Paired coders independently coded small subsets of units before discussing their own understandings. To maintain distinctions in the dimensions, coders applied only one individuation code per unit. Any discrepancies were resolved by a third coder new to the units and prompted a group discussion to revise and clarify codebook rules and definitions. Ten units could not be reconciled and were assigned no code.

Stage 2b: Examining patterns between individuation and memorable messages

Next, we examined the pattern of memorable messages present within each individuation dimension. For each unit, we merged its corresponding memorable messages and individuation codes. Then, G.L. and R.C. wrote memos about their interpretations of patterns, informed by theory on both individuation and memorable messages, to finalize a more culturally grounded definition of each individuation dimension (see Table 3). For example, they noticed that responses coded for the individuation dimension “Fear of Disappointing Parents” co‐occurred with a memorable message code “Internalized Pressure.” Thus, they reasoned that for first‐generation Latine students, part of the fear in disappointing their parents included pressure that they might fall short of family expectations and, thus, expanded the definition to make space for students' culturally informed memorable messages. An additional team member then reviewed each memo, offered summative thoughts, and proposed any additional revisions.

TABLE 3.

Culturally grounded expansions of individuation dimensions.

Scholarly definition of individuation a	Culturally grounded expansions (based on memorable messages)
Connectedness: Reflects experiences of mutual understanding, respect, and trust, as well as perceptions of companionship and availability for open and sincere communication with one's parents. Example item: “She respects my needs”	Expansions: Reflects experiences of understanding, respect, and respeto, as well as sincere communication. Students demonstrate respeto, a cultural value emphasizing deference and honor toward elders, by affirming their connection to parents. Rather than an emphasis on mutual respect and companionship, respeto includes students' perspective‐taking of what they believe their parents think, feel, and experience. This occurs when students acknowledge their parents' support and sacrifices, name them as their motivation, or reassure them about current and/or future circumstances. Message sentiment: To reassure, to express gratitude, to affirm existing closeness
Self‐reliance: Reflects one's belief that they can manage personal affairs, problems, and important decisions without parental assistance. Example item: “I make career decisions independent of her”	Expansions: Reflects one's desire to reassure parents that one can solve problems, make life decisions, or improve life opportunities. Rather than independence from parental input, this form of self‐reliance relates to celebrating one's personal growth or agency in making decisions that expand future opportunities. Message sentiment: To reassure family of their ability to manage college responsibilities; to ask for trust; to affirm and celebrate one's personal growth and resilience, especially related to college
Support‐seeking: Reflects one's seeking of parental emotional support, approval, and advice in difficult or important situations. Example item: “When I'm in distress I turn to her”	Expansions: Reflects one's desire to turn to parents to share, or invite understanding of, one's internal experiences when navigating life choices or challenges. This involves wanting parents to recognize the stressors (like those tied to college preparation) without assuming this process is easy. The emphasis is on helping parents grasp these experiences rather than receiving directive guidance. Message sentiment: To encourage or invite understanding
Fear of disappointing: Refers to an intrapersonal form of dependence on the parent, such as feelings of worry, anxiety, or guilt when one does not meet parental expectations. Example item: “I find it hard to commit to a decision if I know she will be disappointed”	Expansions: Refers to concern about falling short of parental standards, often accompanied by guilt, anxiety, or worry about disappointing one's parents. The concern is connected to achieving success for the family, rather than resistance to specific or even explicit expectations. This might co‐occur with feeling unprepared for college, already having let parents down, or feeling responsible for (continuing) helping family. Message sentiment: To communicate heaviness, stress, or concern related to meeting familial expectations or supporting familial needs
Intrusiveness: Refers to one's perceptions that parents intrude on privacy, are overly concerned, and desire to exert emotional control. Example item: “She asks more questions about my personal life than I want to disclose”	Expansions: Refers to one's perceptions that parents are overly worried, including intrusiveness in personal matters or privacy, attempting to exert control over one's life, or softer forms of judgment or misunderstanding. As a result, they often express a desire for freedom, space, or trust, especially when they feel parents are controlling or place heavy familial expectations or responsibilities on them. Message sentiment: To plea against, reject, or resist parental standards, expectations, rules, or judgments

^a Definitions based on Nice and Joseph (2023) and example items from Komidar et al. (2014).

Stage 3: Focused interview coding

Using the combined codebook (see Table 3) containing individuation definitions from the literature and those generated from our culturally grounded approach (i.e., from students' memorable messages), we conducted focused coding of interview data. I.V. created coding documents for each interview participant that included their memorable messages response across all time points, demographics, and rich contextual information from the interview (e.g., living situation, sibling dynamics). I.V., G.L., and R.C. then generated prompts to guide analysis; some examples included: “What do the memorable messages in this interview say about the individuation process? Expand and consider the longitudinal component in your explanation,” and “What are your overall reflections about the relationship between scholarly and expanded definitions of individuation?” R.C. and G.L. divided the interviews and applied the combined codebook (Table 3), looking for all instances of individuation. They completed a reflexive memo (between 500 to 1500 words) for each participant and then summarized key observations on a shared document to observe patterns across time. I.V., G.L., and R.C. regularly met to discuss these cross‐cutting patterns and reflected on what these patterns suggested about the utility of memorable messages as a culturally grounded lens for understanding individuation.

RESULTS

Analyzing memorable messages extended current conceptualizations of individuation by demonstrating the interconnectedness of the dimensions. Across survey and interview data and across timepoints, our key takeaway is the foundational nature of connectedness. Connectedness functioned as the primary lens from which other dimensions of individuation could be understood (see Figure 1).

FIGURE 1.

Analytic illustration of the interrelatedness of individuation dimensions. This figure demonstrates the relationships between individuation dimensions, as documented through analyses of Latine first‐generation students' memorable messages to and from family during their transition to college. Connectedness, particularly dual notions of respect and respeto, functioned as the primary basis from which other dimensions—like hard and soft forms of self‐reliance, support seeking, fear of disappointing parents, and intrusiveness—could be understood.

Connectedness: A foundational and multifaceted dimension

Connectedness consists of “experiences of mutual understanding, respect, and trust, as well as perceptions of companionship and availability for open and sincere communication with one's parents” (Nice & Joseph, 2023, p. 272). Analyzing memorable messages expanded our understanding of students' experiences of “mutual respect” and how these experiences often existed alongside notions of respeto. For example, Julio shared the same memorable message over the span of a year: respete para que te respeten. Julio later clarified the significance of this message, “Like, I respect you, you are gonna like, respect me and that's how it should work. And my mom was right about that.” At face value, this memorable message communicates the idea of mutual respect, assuming equal exchanges within relationships. After a year in college, Julio shared the same message but elaborated on its meaning:

‘Respete para que te respeten’. I always carry that with me…. something else that they've told me recently is that family should always be the most important thing to you…. I feel like it's true though, because I think of myself as a family person.

This subtle yet critical addition to his memorable message signals a move toward stronger notions of respeto, emphasizing deference and attunement to one's family. Julio further shares how he helps his older sister raise his nephews, and that contributing to family is essential for learning how to be responsible. In short, Julio's memorable messages over time signal how reciprocal familial care is central to becoming an adult.

Mauro and Marcos similarly shared messages emphasizing respeto. During the first interview, both men described receiving “tough love” messaging from their fathers (e.g., no seas pendejo). Marcos contextualized why his “parents expect more, specifically [his] dad.” He shared how his father grew up poor with many siblings and had to work and immigrate to the United States to support his family, concluding with “And so a person changes after certain stuff happens.” This contextualization represents a form of respeto. With a cultural lens, mutuality is less about equal exchanges or open dialogue, and more about the capacity to recognize a parent's humanity, lived experience, and sacrifice, even as a child in the family. Marcos's perspective‐taking is an act of mutuality but one that honors relational obligations to his father. Indeed, a year later, Marcos is clearer in this connection when describing his memorable messages again. He shared,

It's always repeated that, uh, take, take advantage of what I have because like I can, cause, cause being in the position that I am, um, I can do a lot of things that a lot of people can't unfortunately. But, I'm fortunate enough to like, to have the support that, um, that for example, my parents didn't have. So that kind of helps me as, like, I kind of don't take stuff for granted anymore.

Across surveys and interviews, students emphasized their appreciation for their immigrant parents' sacrifices, demonstrating how respeto is fundamental to connectedness. Julio, in his message to family, summarized this sentiment well: “I want to (and am going to) tell my parents that I am eternally grateful for everything they have done for me to help me get to this point.”

Memorable messages allowed us to identify reassurance as a key facet of connectedness tied to students' respeto toward family and tied to how students communicated appreciation. Reassurance took the form of communicating to parents that anticipated changes to their living situation, current and future relationships, prospects, or security for the family would be “worth it in the end,” would “work out,” or would not create further disconnect. Interestingly, we observed how gender intersected with familial responsibilities. Women engaged in acts of reassurance while communicating appreciation for their immigrant parents' sacrifices, whereas some of the men, like Julio, Marcos, and Mauro, very rarely reassured their parents, if at all.

Tatiana, for example, engaged in heavy caretaking in her family. She expressed feeling like she had to mature fast to help raise her younger school‐aged siblings, which became a source of tension especially as her parents preferred that she attend a community college to continue to support family. Her memorable message during her first interview reflects respeto:

My parents always say like, “never bite the hand that feeds you.” And I feel like that really like means like humble yourself. Like regardless of what, like what position you're in or like how high you are, how low you are like, never like, like come at people that try to help you and like do their very best to put you in a better position.

The idea of not “biting the hand that feeds you” represents a form of deference and honor toward those who support you. Like Marcos and Mauro, Tatiana took her parents' perspective, recognizing how frustrating it might be for them to witness “that their kids came out the same way that they did” even though “they're trying to show us what's best for us, but like, obviously we don't understand that cause we're not in their position.” Tatiana concluded by cautioning, “But, you know, like what they're saying is right, like obviously don't push them to the side or like, like treat them worse or like bite their hand.” Again, these messages reveal Tatiana's capacity for perspective‐taking: honoring her parents' struggles and wisdoms despite her own heavy caretaking burden and desire for more autonomy. These messages carry weight for Tatiana. Indeed, before college, Tatiana's message to her family reveals a humbling message of appreciation and reassurance, “I wish I could tell my parents that my going away to college doesn't mean I'm going to forget them because the whole reason I'm going to college is them.”

Connectedness and self‐reliance

Self‐reliance—the sense that one can work through problems and make decisions independently from parents (Nice & Joseph, 2023, p. 272)—was reflected in both the communication to and from students' parents. In examining students' memorable messages from parents during interviews, we gathered how specific facets of connectedness, like respect and respeto, informed both soft and hard forms of self‐reliance. For example, when connectedness emphasized mutual respect and respeto, such as students describing open communication with parents, students described soft self‐reliance that resembles the definition by Nice and Joseph (2023). When connectedness had a heavier emphasis on respeto and hierarchy, we observed a harder version of self‐reliance.

Makaela's memorable messages illustrate a softer form of self‐reliance rooted in connectedness. In the interview before college, she recalled her parents' memorable message:

before I decline anything … to not be selfish. Don't think of only the things that I've done, but the things that people around me have done for me to get to a place where I have those opportunities presented to me.

This message reflects a relational view of self‐reliance and individual decision‐making. That is, embedded in the recognition that she was increasingly capable of molding her own path toward success was a reminder that such success is rooted in collective efforts. Over time, the interrelatedness of connectedness and self‐reliance deepened for Makaela. After her first year of college, she stated, “I've always been very vocal with my parents about what I want.” Indeed, she made the decision to transfer from a four‐year university to a community college, sharing how her connection to family motivated this decision:

At first, I would feel so bad that my family was going through hardships while I was out here [at four‐year university] doing whatever. That eventually got me to a point where I didn't want to do anything because I felt like I couldn't contribute anything to the table. It got to the point where I wasn't trying hard enough and I was skipping meals just to avoid going out of the room for something, outside of doing the bare minimum for classes. Now at [community college] I feel much more motivated and supported.

In the year between her interviews, Makaela's family's hardships coupled with her distance from them manifested into a guilt related to college‐going common among first‐generation students (Covarrubias et al., 2021). Importantly, when explaining her decision, she declared,

it's something I decided on my own to help the family … I just called [my mom]. I was like, “well, you know, I don't want you or my dad to be disappointed, but you know, I talked to my counselors at [high school] and we decided that the best move is for me to go back.”

Her decision was made independently while rooted in family connectedness.

Like Makaela, Oscar described a softer form of self‐reliance grounded in mutual respect and respeto. Detailing his father's immigration history, Oscar's memorable message revealed how his dad encouraged him to make decisions on his own with the reminder that: “failure sits better than regret.” He traced this message to his father's regret of not finishing high school upon his immigration to the United States,

… it's not that his parents, well my grandparents, didn't want him to continue education or anything. It's just that they were getting like poorer and poorer basically in Mexico. And like, they couldn't find any stable jobs, any stable home to live in. And so they decided to just come up here to the U.S. And they did, for the most part, they started getting better jobs, better pay…. And he tells me that whenever I want to do something, or I feel like something might be the right thing to do, to always go for it. And it, it's okay to fail at it, because it's better than sitting with the regret that you didn't try it for the rest of your life.

Despite the family's financial and caretaking needs shared in other parts of his interview, Oscar makes clear that his parents wanted him to have the freedom to focus on himself as he transitioned to college. Indeed, when revisiting memorable messages a year later, Oscar shared that shortly before he left for college, his parents reinforced this message:

In 10 years they'd saved almost $15,000 just to put aside for my education and I kind of broke down there. And so, um, what my dad told me there and I probably will never forget, to be honest, is that, um, “even though we're not the richest family, we don't have a lot to provide to you … But the one thing I will give you that you can hold on to for the rest of your life is a solid education.”

With overwhelming gratitude, Oscar identified that the freedom his family afforded him stemmed from financial sacrifice, in both what the family had saved up over the years and what they were giving up (i.e., Oscar's financial contributions to the family). Oscar honored his connection and commitment to his family by leaning into their encouragement to be self‐reliant. Even in focusing on his own personal affairs, connectedness remained foundational to him: “every time I struggle and I feel desperate with classes … [I] just think about ‘why am I here and why am I doing this?’ And I always think about them when I do that.”

Illustrating respeto, Oscar also reassured his father about his own achievements, “I tell them, even without an education, you've still got a lot to be proud of yourself because you've basically built your entire life from nothing.” He then shared how pursuing his own passion also honors his father's dream:

Um, it's kinda weird because as soon as I arrived at [high school], I started realizing that, okay, my passion is really in engineering and computer programming …. And so around that time was when he told me, ‘you know, if I had graduated from high school, I would have really liked to go to an engineering school’ which is exactly what I want to do and so I find it kind of ironic that I'm kind of following his own dream, but it's also my own dream as well.

For Makaela and Oscar, as both the youngest siblings in their families, their parents afforded them a sense of freedom to make independent decisions in ways that are consistent with the individuation dimension of self‐reliance (Nice & Joseph, 2023). However, integral to their meaning‐making around these affordances is a desire to help family or honor their sacrifices.

Different from these softer forms of self‐reliance, Mauro's and Marcos's memorable messages revealed hard notions of self‐reliance, notions shaped by cultural norms of masculinity and a socialization toward toughness for overcoming hardships. They were interviewed together during their initial interview and as noted earlier, they expressed receiving frustrated messages from their fathers. In an animated exchange, Mauro shared memorable phrases like “nothing's gonna be handed to you” and “you gotta learn,” whereas Marcos shared “no seas pendejo.” Expanding on this, Marcos repeats more of his dad's words, “I taught you. I told you three, four times already and you keep getting it wrong.” Their fathers were expressing the need to strengthen their problem‐solving abilities to avoid “getting it wrong.”

When explaining where they think this messaging comes from, Marcos notes that the message is conveyed more through tone than explicit wording, noting “that's when I know … I am doing something very wrong here” to which Mauro follows with, “I just feel like when they like cuss you out … my dad sometimes like gets mad, but it's more like, ‘you gotta learn’ … it's out of frustration, ‘you got to learn’.” Marcos ultimately agreed with Mauro's reflection that receiving those messages “just keeps pushing you a little bit” noting, “it's that extra boost.” In essence, their discussion of their fathers' messages demonstrated respeto and deference to their fathers' wisdom, despite the harshness of the messages at face value. Respeto, particularly toward their parents' wisdom, was central to both of their follow‐up interviews, where self‐reliance reappeared in the messages they recalled. For example, when Marcos further reflected on a memorable message about honoring the sacrifices of immigrants, he internalized this message as a reminder to use the advantages he has “to better yourself. To do better, not to do worse,” noting that this is a message coming from elders who are “just more wise.”

Connectedness and support‐seeking

Students' memorable messages—across surveys and interviews—overwhelmingly communicated the importance of support‐seeking. Support‐seeking “delineates an individual's seeking of parental emotional support, approval, and advice in difficult or important situations” (Nice & Joseph, 2023, p. 272). At times, students directly elicited the advice of their parents, demonstrating a unidirectional approach to support‐seeking whereby parents give support to students. But often, we observed a relational view of support‐seeking whereby students were inviting their parents to better understand their situations as their children and as college‐bound people. That is, memorable messages enabled us to attune to how, for some, support‐seeking comprises a difficult, vulnerable act, especially if one is more accustomed to deferring to the family unit or to being self‐reliant (Chang et al., 2020).

Makaela and Tatiana shared some commonalities in how self‐reliance and connectedness informed their experiences of support‐seeking. Both women shared strong messages of self‐reliance and connectedness from their parents before heading to college. Makaela was reminded “to not be selfish” and to consider what “people around me have done for me” in her decision‐making whereas Tatiana was reminded that her self‐reliance (“it's always going to be you, not anybody else”) must also be checked by and in relation to connectedness (“never bite the hands that feeds you… humble yourself”). Their precollege memorable messages demonstrated a delicate balance of autonomy (soft self‐reliance) and relatedness (connectedness, respeto, respect). From this balance, we then observed commonalities in their form of support‐seeking after a year in college, which characteristically reflected a more unidirectional pattern from parent to student.

For example, when asked again about memorable messages from family a year later, Makaela declared how vocal she is with her parents about what she wants and then immediately described her relationship with her mother, naming how her mother “has always cared about our education.” Here, again, we observe a balance between self‐reliance and connectedness, and from this foundation, Makaela then details the core of the message:

So she [mom] was always more sort of about us and our school. So, like with her, I can really discuss, you know, like career options. Like, at first I was planning on becoming like a physical therapist, but you know, now I think about it and it was like, I dunno, if going into the same building in the same office, every single day is really gonna do something for me in life, or it's going to fulfill what I want to do in life. And you know, my mom, she told me like, “you know, you, don't got to worry about it. You know, people don't always know what they want to do at first but, just figure it out.” So it's sort of like with her, like I started like learning, to like, take my time.

Via connection, mutual trust, and open communication with her mother, Makaela seeks direct advice about her career. In being able to directly solicit advice and emotional support, her memorable message demonstrates how support‐seeking is related to her relationship with her mother. Moreover, her mother's advice again reveals encouragement toward soft notions of self‐reliance to take one's time to explore and figure things out.

Yet, most memorable messages from the survey and other interviews revealed less open communication or direct advice‐seeking. Rather, students wanted to communicate to parents that school was difficult and stressful (e.g., “It is all very stressful and not as easy as they think it is,” “I really just wish they were more supportive, and to at least understand”). Indeed, in his survey response before graduating high school, Mauro shared that what he most wanted his parents to know was “how difficult it is in high school.” As detailed earlier, Mauro's memorable messages were characterized by strong notions of respeto, hierarchy, and hard self‐reliance, with frustrated reminders from his dad that “you gotta learn.” Mauro remarked that “to this day, I've never heard my dad say, ‘I love you’. Like, nah, it's just not a thing,” signaling a desire for more emotional closeness with his father. This desire becomes especially salient as Mauro describes his plan to show support to his own children.

Memorable messages enabled us to understand how Mauro's experiences of respeto changed over time. A year into college and newly expecting a child, Mauro shared a powerful memorable message centered on telling his parents “I was going to be a dad.” Mauro explained that he “cried with his dad,” and that his father responded by hugging him and his fiancé, “He had the calmest reaction.” When asked what he took away from that experience, Mauro clarified, “He was just like, ‘we're always going to be there for you guys. Whatever you guys need’. I dunno, it was just like a very touching moment.” The description of the memorable message is brief, but its intensity and meaning are evident in how Mauro describes its importance. Whereas Makaela feels empowered to be “vocal” about her needs and desires, this is not the case for Mauro. For him, asking for support is a much more vulnerable endeavor, making his father's calm reassurance and affection especially meaningful.

The vulnerability around support‐giving is also evident how Mauro and other men shared memorable messages in group interviews. Their exchanges blended connectedness and affirmation with interruption, teasing, cussing, and “tough love,” reflecting a gendered manifestation of support‐giving grounded in respeto. Even as Mauro described his father's support, he simultaneously pushed back against their views from a place of regard, connection, and respeto. For example, after noting this touching moment between father and son, he returned to how his “parents think that college is the exit … to be successful … Like, oh, college, college, college, college, like, there's never another route,” before concluding, “And I mean, it's true, but at the same time, they're wrong.” Here, Mauro demonstrates his capacity to hold space for parental wisdom while also carving out an alternative understanding of success, particularly as he navigates transferring from a state university to a community college as a soon‐to‐be‐father.

Connectedness, fear of disappointing parents, and intrusiveness

Among participants, fear of disappointing parents and intrusiveness were less apparent in both survey and interview responses. Nice and Joseph (2023) describe the fear of disappointing parents as “an intrapersonal form of dependence on the parent, such as feelings of worry, anxiety, or guilt when one does not meet parental expectations” (p. 272) and intrusiveness as “individuals' perceptions their parents intrude on their privacy, are overly concerned, and desire to exert emotional control over them” (p. 272). While the few survey responses reflecting fear of disappointing parents aligned with Nice and Joseph's definition, their content also highlighted respeto, with participants' concerns relaying reassurance of their commitment to familial obligations. That is, the messages conveyed responsibility for the family's well‐being, which was tied to college‐going. Highlighting the gendered roles primarily assigned to women, one participant wrote a message to family expressing fear of what her absence would mean for them, “I am scared to leave … Who will go to my brother's soccer games and support him as I did? My mom, who is she going to talk [to] to get everything off her chest?” Others wrote about more generalized fears around pressure, sharing responses like, “I wish they knew I feel obligated and extremely stressed” and “I am also really nervous that I can fail. I do not want to let them down.”

Only a handful of survey messages to family conveyed intrusiveness, typically expressing a rebuttal to parental judgments (e.g., “they're so stuck on that I'm leaving because I'm selfish”) or to gendered expectations. Reflecting on these dynamics, one woman shared, “I don't think it's fair the way I'm treated because I'm the only daughter” following with a simple sentence holding the weight of her message to parents, “I wish I could ask for more freedom.” Overall, participants' responses to intrusiveness tended to reflect a softer form that was less severe than an exertion of emotional control described by Nice and Joseph (2023). Rather, rooted in connectedness to family, participants were primarily requesting fewer rules and more trust.

Tatiana's survey response illustrates this threading between intrusiveness and connectedness (and interestingly, intrusiveness was absent from her interview). She wrote,

This whole thing has just been for them. Sure I love school and I want to be successful but this is only to benefit them because they gave up everything for me and now it's my turn to give them everything that they couldn't have. I want them to know that even though they didn't get to go to college I will! Furthermore, I want my parents to know that even though [boyfriend] is going to the same college a[s] me it doesn't mean that I chose this college for him, I wouldn't choose something just because some guy, who I might not even stay with, decided to go there as well.

Tatiana reminds her parents that her college‐going is in honor of their sacrifice, while offering reassurance about her decision‐making. In her first interview, Tatiana shared that her parents disapproved of her college choice, but she remained steadfast in her decision and would cover the cost without parental support. At the core of what she expresses is an appreciation for her parents' efforts to give her a life they could not have, even when pushing back on judgment. Tatiana is not communicating a desire for detachment, as individuation measures might suggest (Komidar et al., 2014). Rather she desires to be recognized and trusted.

One survey message closely aligned with Nice and Joseph's (2023) definition of intrusiveness: “I really don't wish to tell them much other than to stop monitoring me so much.” This message came from Rosa who ultimately did not attend college and instead was living at home and working to contribute to her own and her family's finances. In her second interview, Rosa's memorable message was that her family “want[s] me to return back to school” but she later shared, “I can't accomplish that for them … I don't know what to do to make them happy because I thought going to work and helping them would be enough. But no, they want me to go back to school. And it's like, if I go to school, then will you guys leave me alone?” Rosa's response highlights the strain of not meeting parental expectations and her choices.

Importantly, Rosa expressed frustration with her parents' messaging while also taking their perspective. She conveys that she understands why they want her to continue her education and that she wants to meet this expectation but is not ready to take that step. She noted,

Yeah, I understand … They're like, ‘Oh, you have all the opportunities. You don't take them.’ And I'm like, ‘I do want to take them, but I also don't want to be taking the decision, just like that and then, giving up or something … I just want to be like, ‘what are your goals? So you can be happy.’ ‘Cause I feel like it's easy for them to tell me that, but they don't know how stressing it is because they don't really know how I feel.

Rosa grapples with both her parents' expectations and her own, including the fear of closing off future opportunities. She simultaneously asks for parental approval and asks for more understanding of the stress their expectations create. Rosa is the only participant who did not attend college, perhaps aligning with the finding that experiences of intrusiveness are higher among emerging adults that do not attend college compared to college‐goers (Nice & Joseph, 2023). However, it is unclear how much Rosa articulates these feelings to her parents, perhaps signaling deference. Her memorable messages thus provide a unique window into her own sense‐making of their expectations. Via her memorable messages, Rosa disagrees and rejects their socializing messages while articulating her continued contributions to her family's well‐being, “when I was in high school, I had to depend on my parents. Now, I'm like, I buy my own stuff … and then whenever they need something, I give it to them and like it feels good.” Though our data were limited, among participants who reflected intrusiveness and fear of disappointing parents, connectedness remained embedded in these sentiments across time.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

In the current study, we utilized memorable messages to conduct a cultural analysis of individuation processes. By examining Latine first‐generation students' memorable messages to and from family, we aimed to capture how individuation unfolds from their perspective. We observed how inquiring about memorable messages surfaced unique integrations of how Latine parental messages have shaped students' socialization and how students also actively re‐narrate their socialization as they navigate new terrains that their families have not navigated. Specifically, our analysis enabled us to understand how memorable messages function as a communicative bridge: a relational space where Latine college‐going students can be in conversation with their parents, even to express disagreement. In this way, memorable messages reflect complex—both enduring and in‐the‐making—understandings about the “right way” to be a person (Wang, 2014). We contribute to literature on memorable messages by employing a longitudinal investigation of Latine first‐generation students' sense‐making of memorable messages, observing how these students negotiate autonomy and relatedness over time in sophisticated ways.

We also add to theory on individuation by illuminating the interconnectedness across dimensions, specifically how connectedness is foundational for understanding the other individuation dimensions for Latine emerging adults. Indeed, our analysis revealed discrepancies between students' articulations of individuation and current measurement of individuation (Komidar et al., 2014). All dimensions lacked a recognition of enduring cultural values among Latine first‐generation students and their families, including familismo and respeto. Without accounting for cultural orientation, measurements with Latine samples may skew toward Westernized notions of autonomy and relatedness.

For example, rather than equal weight ascribed to autonomy and relatedness, our findings suggest that autonomy is rooted in relatedness. Scholars have similarly documented the interconnected and dynamic connections between autonomy and relatedness, including how Latine families socialize soft and hard forms of independence as a way to stay connected and to equip children to navigate different sociocultural values and contexts (Covarrubias et al., 2019; Covarrubias & Valle, 2023; Denmark et al., 2014; Tamis‐LeMonda et al., 2008). Specific to individuation dimensions, the negotiation of how one expresses and engages in behaviors like self‐reliance or support‐seeking, stem from a relational stance toward respeto and reciprocity of care among family units. Indeed, probing students' memorable messages allowed us to observe how individuation dimensions are experienced as a bidirectional exchange between parents and students. For example, sometimes students' memorable messages signaled what they received from parents (e.g., directly soliciting their advice) and other times these messages captured what students offered to parents: perspective‐taking and reassurance as ways to invite understanding and bridge disconnects.

These bidirectional exchanges are informed by gendered and classed positionalities. For example, both men and women engaged in perspective‐taking, but women expressed more reassurance and described more open communication with their mothers. Men tended to focus on communication with fathers, with perspective‐taking focused on contextualizing their family's immigration history, traditional values (e.g., norms of masculinity), and social class backgrounds. These observations align with past work highlighting formality in Latine adolescent communication with fathers as compared to more open communication with mothers (Grotevant & Cooper, 1998). Our findings suggest that when this orientation toward formality with fathers is present, it can also shape the approach toward negotiating individuation for sons. In general, memorable messages ultimately afforded an understanding of the dynamic influence of culture on the dimensions of individuation, which serves to strengthen existing quantitative measurements of individuation.

Limitations and future research

Several limitations are worth noting. First, our study design did not include specific probes for individuation, limiting nuanced explorations of the dimensions. For example, intrusiveness and fear of disappointing parents appeared only minimally in the data and centered largely on college‐going. What we could infer about intrusiveness was specific to a participant who did not attend college, which stood out in a sample of students who attended a college‐preparatory high school. Future research should consider exploring explicit links between memorable messages and individuation among more robust samples of Latine first‐generation students with differing trajectories post high school.

Second, though memorable messages were a useful tool for a culturally grounded analysis of developmental processes, we missed an opportunity to center existing culturally relevant frameworks. Dichos (sayings), consejos (words of wisdom or advice) and moralejas (moral guidance from storytelling) reflect parental socialization messages within Latine cultural contexts (Lara et al., 2025). Through such messages, Latine parents share life lessons with their children, foster their cultural pride, and support their autonomy and positive development (Lara et al., 2025). Importantly, these messages are centered on the intergenerational wisdom that parents transmit to their children, including how Latine soon‐to‐be‐college students lean on this wisdom to navigate an upcoming transition (Carrión & Torres, 2023). We understand memorable messages to be a broader framework that would encompass dichos, consejos, and moralejas and that would also enable researchers to understand the wisdom that students transmit back to their parents, especially as first‐time‐college‐goers. Future research should include study designs that integrate both frameworks to capture culturally relevant and bidirectional parent–child exchanges and to better understand what new messages get generated and what this conveys about the role of culture in human development.

Implications and conclusions

In focusing on memorable messages, our findings point to a concrete action step for institutions hoping to support their Latine first‐generation students (and their families). Institutions can implement support structures that help students bridge parental understandings and their own understandings. For example, institutions foster student belonging and help‐seeking when they build intentional, culturally relevant spaces where Latine first‐generation students and their parents exchange and build on their understandings around the college transition; these can include bilingual parent panels or family workshops on topics related to negotiating familial responsibilities and supporting the first‐generation journey (Covarrubias et al., 2020). These spaces matter as few students in this study clarified that they vocalized their memorable messages to their parents or that they intended to do so. For the majority, the invitation to share a memorable message to their parents and then share their meaning‐making of their parents' memorable messages surfaced a unique communication space that might not always be available. Building institutional spaces where students and parents can communicate their memorable messages during the first year of college might provide a critical context for co‐building new enduring socialization messages for both students and their families. Such approaches can be especially valuable for Latine families and families of cultural backgrounds where storytelling is integral to relational dynamics.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Ibette Valle‐Luján: Data curation; conceptualization; methodology; project administration; funding acquisition; formal analysis; investigation; writing – original draft; writing – review and editing; supervision; visualization. Rebecca Covarrubias: Writing – review and editing; conceptualization; investigation; writing – original draft; funding acquisition; methodology; visualization; formal analysis; project administration; data curation; supervision. Giselle Laiduc: Visualization; writing – review and editing; formal analysis. Katherine Quinteros: Formal analysis; writing – review and editing.

FUNDING INFORMATION

The research design was funded by the Susan D. Dudley Early Career Research Grant sponsored through Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

ETHICS STATEMENT

Ethics approval was obtained by the University of California, Santa Cruz Institutional Review Board on 09/06/2018 (#HS3172).

CONSENT STATEMENT

Parent consent and participant assent were obtained for all participants under the age of 18 prior to participation in the study. For participants over the age of 18, consent was provided prior to participation.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Research data are not shared.