Reactive and Proactive Ethnic–Racial Socialization Practices of Second-Generation Asian American Parents

Abstract

Studies of Asian American parenting have primarily focused on first-generation immigrant parents. Few studies have examined the experiences of second-generation Asian American adults who now have children of their own. The purpose of this qualitative study, then, is to better understand the values, practices, and concerns of second-generation Asian American parents regarding ethnic and racial socialization. The sample included 34 Asian American parents from seven different cities across the United States. Using interviews and a focus group, the results show that (a) place, specific contexts, and transitions were important to second-generation parents’ motivation behind ethnic and racial socialization, (b) parents are reactive and proactive, especially with regard to promoting an awareness of discrimination, in the racial socialization of their children, (c) parents engage in predominantly proactive ethnic socialization when passing on heritage culture, which they believe is important, but also difficult to do, (d) in contrast to ethnic socialization, passing on American culture and passing on important values (that they did not see as solely “American” or “Asian”) came easily, and (e) parents consider the intersection of race and culture with religion and disability when socializing their children. Our findings highlight unique aspects of how second-generation Asian American parents engage in ethnic and racial socialization in an increasingly socially diverse world.

In a demographically diverse country such as the United States where the Asian American population is steadily increasing and is the fastest growing racial group (Pew Research Center, 2013b), the socialization of children over issues regarding race, ethnicity, and culture continues to be central to their development (García Coll et al., 1996; Hughes et al., 2006; Kiang, Tseng, & Yip, 2016).

Parental ethnic–racial socialization refers to the “transmission of information from adults to children regarding race and ethnicity” that will allow children to develop competence to participate in their communities and society at large (Hughes et al., 2006, p. 748). The term has been used to capture two distinct socialization processes. Ethnic socialization refers to the preservation and transmission of cultural practices, traditions, and history that reflect the ethnic heritage(s) of the family (Hughes et al., 2006; Paasch-Anderson & Lamborn, 2014). Racial socialization refers to the ways in which parents teach their children about perceptions and experiences as members of a certain racial group, such as the fact that one’s racial group may be devalued in society and that one should prepare for challenges due to stereotyping, racism, and racial/ethnic discrimination. In addition to ethnic–racial socialization, parents of immigrant background also engage in majority culture socialization—or cultural assimilation practices—whereby parents support their children’s integration into the majority culture (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001; Zhou, 1997).

There is limited psychological research on the ethnic and racial socialization beliefs and practices of Asian American parents. Hughes et al.’s (2006) seminal review of 46 racial–ethnic socialization studies showed that most focused predominately on African American families, with only seven including Latino, three including Asian, two including mixed-ethnic, and one including White families. Since that review, 21 studies with Asian American parents have been published, indicating a growing interest in this topic (Juang, Yoo, & Atkin, 2017). Nonetheless, ethnic–racial socialization studies of Asian American families have primarily focused on first-generation immigrant parents arriving in large numbers after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Much less research has been conducted to understand the experiences of second-generation Asian Americans born or predominantly raised in the United States. This generation of Asian Americans is now having children of their own. The goal of this study, then, is to better understand the values, practices, and concerns of second-generation Asian American parents of school-age children regarding ethnic and racial socialization. To do this, we chose to take a qualitative approach. With a qualitative approach, we aim to provide a rich description of a phenomena (Asian American second-generation parenting), rather than attempting to generalize to an entire population (Levitt, Motulsky, Wertz, Morrow, & Ponterotto, 2016). We also decided that a qualitative approach allowed us to center Asian American second-generation parents’ voices, such that they could define and describe, in their own words, their experiences.

Ethnic and racial socialization are usually studied separately for Asian American families. One set of literature has emphasized the importance of socialization goals, beliefs, and practices that are shaped by a consideration and integration of the majority and heritage cultural contexts and values, focusing primarily on ethnic and not racial socialization (Bornstein & Cote, 2003; Cheah, Leung, & Zhou, 2013). Studies of Asian American families have shown that parents engage in a wide range of parenting practices to promote the learning and maintenance of heritage culture (Choi, Kim, Pekelnicky, & Kim, 2013; Moua & Lamborn, 2010) as well as help children become integrated into the wider majority culture by helping them navigate institutions such as school, encouraging English language use, and celebrating mainstream American traditions and holidays (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Zhou, 1997). Another set of (much smaller) literature has focused predominantly on racial socialization among Asian American families (French, Coleman, & DiLorenzo, 2013; Liu & Lau, 2013; Tran & Lee, 2010). These studies have focused on, for instance, whether parents prepare their children for negative and positive experiences regarding race, such as preparing for racial bias or for appreciation of living in a multiracial world. An integration of these two sets of literature suggests that ethnic–racial socialization for Asian American families consists of practices that support at least three socialization goals: (a) socialization of children to their heritage culture, (b) socialization to the majority culture, and (c) how to deal with interpersonal and societal racism and discrimination (Hughes et al., 2006; Phinney & Chavira, 1995).

Although some studies have suggested that Asian American parents are less likely than African American or Latino parents to engage in ethnic–racial socialization (Hughes et al., 2008; Phinney & Chavira, 1995; Rivas-Drake, Hughes, & Way, 2009), other studies have found that Asian American parents are actively seeking to teach their children about their ethnic heritage and growing up as racial minorities. For instance, Korean American immigrant parents engage in more ethnic and racial socialization practices compared with White parents raising Korean American children adopted internationally as infants (Seol, Yoo, Lee, Park, & Kyeong, 2016). These Korean American parents also engaged in similar levels of ethnic and racial socialization. A majority of Chinese American mothers and fathers in another study reported (sometimes or often) talking to children about how to respond if they experienced discrimination (Benner & Kim, 2009). Other studies have suggested that Asian American immigrant parents socialize their children to do better at school in anticipation of unequal opportunities in the mainstream society (Louie, 2004; Sue & Okazaki, 1990). Tran and Lee (2010) found that among Asian American college students, 62% percent reported that their parents had engaged in cultural socialization–pluralism (a combination of encouraging an understanding of one’s own racial–ethnic group along with emphasizing appreciation of other racial–ethnic groups), 61% reported parental preparation for bias, and 53% reported parental promotion of mistrust. A recent study also found that Asian American young adults reported that their parents “sometimes” or “often” passed on cultural heritage, promoted becoming American, promoted an appreciation for other cultures, and encouraged the idea that all races and ethnicities are equal—all aspects of ethnic and racial socialization (Juang, Shen, Kim, & Wang, 2016). In these reviewed studies, however, it was primarily second-generation children reflecting on their first-generation immigrant parents’ ways of parenting. Few studies have focused on second-generation parents’ socialization of their own children, another reason why our study provides valuable insights from this next generation of parents.

Focus on the Second Generation

In our study, we focus specifically on second-generation Asian American parents, defined as those who were born in the United States with at least one foreign-born parent, or those who arrived in the United States before the age of 12 with at least one foreign-born parent (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). The inclusion of those arriving before adolescence in the definition of second generation is based on the argument that those born in the United States and those immigrating before adolescence share linguistic and cultural similarities (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). Other scholars have defined second generation as those born in the United States or arriving before the age of 5, whereas those arriving between the ages of 6 (when formal schooling starts) to the end of adolescence are considered 1.5 generation (Zhou, 1997). For the purposes of our study, we use Portes and Rumbaut’s (2001) broader definition so that the parents in our study are those who spent the majority of their lives growing up in the United States.

Demographically, first-generation Asian American immigrant adults comprise 75% of the Asian American adult population, whereas second generation comprises 25% (Pew Research Center, 2013b). Further, the median age of second-generation adults is 30 years (compared with 44 years for first-generation adults), suggesting that significant numbers are just beginning to come into adulthood and to have children of their own (Pew Research Center, 2013b). Because of this demographic landscape, first generation accounts of parenting currently dominate the research literature, yet second generation numbers are growing. Our study provides insights into the second generation who now have children of their own.

Second-generation Asian Americans may be distinguished from their first-generation immigrant counterparts in several ways. First, most have not experienced the immigration process directly but learned about immigration struggles through the stories of their parents (Kim, Knudson-Martin, & Tuttle, 2014). And although some second-generation Asian Americans did experience immigration directly by arriving to the United States at a young age, the majority of their upbringing was in the United States. Second, they are more likely to speak English well and less likely to speak the heritage language (Pew Research Center, 2013a) compared with the first generation. They are more likely to identify as “American” (28% second generation and 9% first generation) and feel like a “typical American” (65% second generation and 30% first generation; Pew Research Center, 2013a). They also report better interethnic relations, are more likely to marry someone of another race, and more likely to be comfortable if their own children married someone who was not of Asian heritage. These differences in attitudes and experiences inform the way each generation socializes their children regarding issues of race and ethnicity.

The literature on Asian American first-generation immigrant parents has primarily emphasized the ways in which they pass on their heritage culture (Cheah et al., 2013) and their sacrifice for the sake of better opportunities and a better life for their children (Moua & Lamborn, 2010; Sue & Okazaki, 1990). In young adulthood, many second-generation children eventually recognize and appreciate the sacrifices of their parents as they reinterpret and make meaning of their immigrant parents’ parenting (Kang, Okazaki, Abelmann, Kim-Prieto, & Lan, 2010). Acculturation studies have shown that second-generation children vary in orientation to heritage culture. Compared with their immigrant parents, some second-generation Asian American and Asian Canadian children report adhering to heritage culture even more, whereas others report adhering to their heritage culture less (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006; Costigan & Dokis, 2006; Juang & Cookston, 2009; Kim, Wang, Chen, Shen, & Hou, 2015). As these second-generation Asian Americans grow into adults and become parents, their ability, intentions, and motivation to pass along heritage culture and engage in ethnic socialization depends in part on the degree to which they have oriented to and maintained the heritage culture.

Other studies have approached parenting from a cultural–ecological perspective to understand ethnic minority families by emphasizing that it is too simplistic to understand parenting as being informed solely by heritage culture values. The ways that second-generation parents socialize their children will depend on the particular ecological context, such as socioeconomic resources and neighborhood conditions. These ecological aspects play important roles in the parenting values, beliefs, practices, and goals that parents adopt (Lau, 2010). For instance, in more disadvantaged neighborhoods, parents emphasize greater strictness and control to ensure their children’s safety (Bradley, Corwyn, McAdoo, & Coll, 2001). One limitation of our understanding of Asian American parenting is the primary attention to how cultural heritage guides parental values and less attention to contextual demands such as geographic place, socioeconomic status (SES), neighborhood supports (e.g., same-ethnic density, access to ethnic media, and ethnic institutions), and stressors (such as discrimination, acculturation dissonance with children, and acculturation stressors; Lau, 2010). In our study, we recruited parents from a variety of communities to examine how these different contexts relate to second-generation Asian American parenting.

Concerning racial socialization, some Asian American college students reported that their immigrant parents tended to minimize experiences of racism while growing up (Garrod & Kilkenny, 2007). When these second-generation Asian Americans become parents, do they minimize (or not minimize) experiences of racism as their parents did? How do they prepare their children because of their own experiences with racism? Studies have found that first-generation immigrants report greater discrimination than second generation (Yip, Gee, & Takeuchi, 2008), yet second generation report being more hurt by these experiences (on indicators such as lower self-esteem, life satisfaction, and greater depressive symptoms), presumably because they have grown up in the United States; thus, being perceived as not American (i.e., experiencing foreigner objectification) is more disturbing (Armenta et al., 2013). If discrimination is more consequential for the second generation, perhaps these experiences will inform their parenting more so than for their immigrant parents.

Becoming a parent prompts exploration and change in ethnic and racial identities and self-understanding. A study of Korean transnationally and transracially adopted women has shown that becoming a mother prompted self-reflection regarding their own childhood experiences with ethnic and racial experiences and efforts to create more positive experiences for their own children (Day, Godon-Decoteau, & Suyemoto, 2015). For second-generation parents in our study, we were also interested in investigating the ways in which becoming parents may have prompted reflection on their own upbringing with immigrant parents and inform how they would transmit certain values and not others, and potentially transmit and emphasize different values as a result of their experiences growing up as Asian American. In keeping with the adaptive culture approach (Lau, 2010), we were also interested in understanding how the particular contexts in which second-generation parents raise their children inform their parenting values, goals, beliefs, and practices. In sum, our exploratory study focuses on how second-generation Asian American parents socialize their children regarding issues of race, ethnicity, and culture.

Method

Data were collected from seven communities—San Francisco and Los Angeles, California; South Bend, Indiana; Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota; East Lansing-Okemos, Michigan; Austin, Texas; and New York City, New York. The Asian-heritage population in each city varied widely, with 33% in San Francisco, 14.5% in Los Angeles, 11.7% in New York City, 10.6% in the Twin Cities, 6.3% in Austin, 5% in East Lansing-Okemos, and 1.2% in South Bend (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Inclusion criteria for participants were as follows: at least 18 years old, self-identified as Asian American, had at least one immigrant parent of Asian heritage, born in the United States or immigrated to the United States before the age of 12, and had at least one child from 3 to 10 years old. All procedures and focus group/interview questions were approved by each site’s institutional review board.

Researchers’ Background and Reflexivity

The eight researchers who led the project were all of Asian heritage: two were of Chinese background, three Korean, one Japanese, one Taiwanese, and one Okinawan/White. Seven are second generation (based on Portes and Rumbaut’s [2001] definition), and one is first generation. The second-generation researchers grew up in the United States, ranging from low Asian dense states (e.g., Connecticut and Minnesota) to high Asian dense states (e.g., California and Massachusetts). To improve fidelity to the subject matter, our team of investigators who varied by ethnicity, generation, region of residence, gender, and age of children, engaged in discussions and reflections of our own stances and interpretations at all stages of the project, from conception to analysis and reporting of findings, recognizing that our own personal and academic experiences inform how we have conducted this study. As an example, our methods of recruitment led to a sample that, in general, reflected the demographic profile of the researchers: middle to upper-middle class, highly educated, two-parent families with children. Thus, the experiences the participants shared were familiar, and yet we were also attentive to those experiences that deviated from our own.

Sample

The participants included 34 second-generation Asian American parents with Chinese (n = 12), Korean (n = 10), Vietnamese (n = 4), Taiwanese (n = 2), Hmong (n = 2), Asian Indian (n = 2), Laotian (n = 1), and Chinese/Vietnamese (n = 1) backgrounds (Table 1). Most (n = 17) were born in the United States, seven arrived when they were infants (before the age of two), and 10 arrived between the ages of 3 and 8 years. Most participants (n = 28, 83%) were mothers, and all reported having a spouse. Most spouses were of Asian heritage (n = 24, 71%), eight were White, one was Chinese/White, and one was Native American/White. All participants had at least a bachelor’s degree, eight had a master’s degree, and nine had a doctorate or professional (e.g., MD) degree. Four participants reported a family income between $50–100K, three between $100–150K, four between $150–200K, 15 more than $200K, and eight declined to report. Most spoke primarily English with their children (n = 26, 76%), with the rest speaking both English and their heritage language (n = 7, 21%), and one speaking mostly Chinese with her child.

Table 1:

Description of Participants (N = 34)

Name (pseudonym)	Age (years)	Ethnic background	Children ages (years)	City, state
Susie	41	Korean	3	San Francisco, California
Helen	39	Korean	5, 8	San Francisco, California
Jae	39	Korean	6	San Francisco, California
Jill	38	Chinese	7, 9	Austin, Texas
Carol	40	Taiwanese	3, 7, 9	Austin, Texas
Chris	36	Vietnamese	3, 6	Austin, Texas
Hanh	41	Vietnamese	4, 8, 10	Austin, Texas
Constance	37	Chinese	7	Austin, Texas
Casey	41	Chinese	7, 10	Austin, Texas
Kaitlin	39	Chinese	7, 9	Austin, Texas
Amanda	38	Laotian	Not specified	Austin, Texas
Kevin	43	Taiwanese	5, 6	Austin, Texas
Anh	40	Chinese Vietnamese	3, 6	Austin, Texas
Will	40	Chinese	5 months, 3, 5	Austin, Texas
Jill	39	Chinese	3 months, 3, 6	South Bend, Indiana
Karen	46	Indian	8, 10	South Bend, Indiana
Randall	32	Vietnamese	6 months, 6, 7	South Bend, Indiana
Mary	38	Korean	4, 7	South Bend, Indiana
Lisa	42	Korean	10 months, 6, 7	South Bend, Indiana
Diana	45	Korean	Redacted for confidentiality	South Bend, Indiana
Anne	40	Chinese	3, 6, 8	Los Angeles, California
Liz	42	Chinese	7, 13	Los Angeles, California
Mike	44	Chinese	5, 8	Los Angeles, California
Jean	38	Korean	10, 14	New York, New York
Jack	34	Chinese	2, 5	New York, New York
Vivian	43	Chinese	5, 8	Okemos, Michigan
Hazel	41	Chinese	4, 8, 9.5	East Lansing, Michigan
Panya	38	Indian	3, 6	Twin Cities, Minnesota
Mim	33	Hmong/Laotian	1.5, 7	Twin Cities, Minnesota
Bay	41	Vietnamese	6, 10	Twin Cities, Minnesota
Kab	30	Hmong	1.5, 5	Twin Cities, Minnesota
Abby	28	Korean	5, 8	Twin Cities, Minnesota
Susan	38	Korean	7, 8	Twin Cities, Minnesota
Jennifer	43	Korean	3, 13, 16	Twin Cities, Minnesota

Note. All were individual interviews except for the participants from South Bend (n = 6) who participated in a focus group.

Procedure

Participants were recruited through posting flyers about the study in public spaces, personal contacts of the main researchers (such as contacting community networks to search for those who fit study criteria, who then passed on study information to their own networks), and snowball sampling. Once participants expressed an interest in the study via e-mail or phone, they were contacted by a research assistant. In South Bend, a focus group with six parents (all unrelated) was conducted. Because of the difficulty in scheduling focus groups, all other research sites conducted individual interviews with parents.

The participants were told the study was to learn more about the experiences of being a second-generation Asian American parent of school-age children. On the day of data collection, participants were given the consent form, had a chance to read over and ask any questions about the study, and when all their questions were answered, they signed the informed consent form and the focus group and interviews began. The focus group followed the same protocol as the individual interviews (e.g., the same warm-up and questions were presented) but was tailored to be relevant for focus groups (e.g., instructions about confidentiality included discussion about the importance of not sharing what was discussed with the group, outside the group). The focus group and interviews were conducted in person in a location that was convenient to the participants. The focus group was moderated by the lead researcher of that site, and interviews were conducted by either the lead researcher or research assistants. The research assistants were trained by discussing the goals of the study, reading and discussing literature relevant to the study, reviewing the interview procedure, learning how to probe questions without leading the participant, and conducting practice interviews with the lead researcher. The moderator who conducted the focus group was of Asian heritage, and nine of the interviewers were of Asian heritage, one of Mexican heritage, and one of European heritage.

As a warm-up task, participants were asked to discuss the importance of 10 statements such as “Encourage my child to have friends of other races/ethnicities/cultures.” Then, the main questions were presented, focusing on parenting attitudes, beliefs, and practices in socializing their children over issues of heritage culture, mainstream culture, discrimination, parenting with spouses, and sources of parenting (Appendix). The focus group and interviews lasted between 60 and 120 min, were conducted in English, and were audio recorded. The focus group was also video recorded. Following the focus group and interviews, participants completed a brief demographic survey. Respondents at all of the sites except for Austin received a $20 or $25 Amazon, Target, or Starbucks gift certificate for participating.

Analysis

The authors of the article led the data analyses separately at each site, with the exception of the Los Angeles data, which was combined and analyzed at the New York site. Each team of coders comprised psychology or human development undergraduate and graduate student research assistants. Of the 11 coders, five were of Asian heritage, two of biracial Asian heritage, two of European heritage, one of Mexican heritage, and one of biracial Mexican heritage. Coders were trained by reading and discussing relevant articles on Asian American parenting/families, qualitative analysis, and transcription.

When the focus group and interviews were completed at each research site, the video- and audio tapes were transcribed verbatim. Pseudonyms were used in the transcriptions. Data analysis began with three basic agreements: (a) We wanted to provide a rich description of the data set versus a detailed account of an a priori set of themes, (b) to do so, an essentialist/realist approach was adopted in our epistemology, and we used more of an inductive, semantic approach to thematic analysis (vs. a theoretical, latent, and constructionist approach), and (c) we would share our initially generated codes to serve as basic building blocks for identifying themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006). To analyze the transcripts, we began with open coding. With the exception of the New York site that had one coder, each site had multiple and independent coders comprising at least one or two assistants and one auditor (the lead researcher of each site). Coders at each site first individually read through each transcript several times, highlighting what they saw as salient similarities and differences across transcripts. Coders met and created initial labels representing a “chunk” of data, along with short phrases to capture these broader labels to summarize data from each transcript. Based on these open codes, each group of coders discussed and identified initial themes and subthemes. These initial themes and subthemes were collated and then shared among all the lead researchers.

We then moved to axial coding, in which the initial themes were organized into two broad themes of racial socialization and ethnic socialization, with several subthemes each. Coders from each site went back through each transcript again and identified all excerpts that exemplified the specific codes within each subtheme. If there was a disagreement between coders regarding where the interview transcript excerpt fit, the auditor met with the researchers to compare, discuss, and reach consensus about where the excerpt should be coded. After all sites finished coding, the lead author of the article reviewed all the coding from each of the sites, identified overlaps and connections between subthemes (paying particular attention to overlaps between aspects of racial and ethnic socialization), and came up with a preliminary integration of subthemes to highlight and present a more coherent set of five main results. From this initial integration, the lead researchers from all sites provided detailed feedback by discussing and commenting on multiple drafts about the overarching ideas represented by the five main results. Thus, the findings presented in the following text are based on coding and cross-checking within each of the seven sites, as well as an integration and consensus regarding final results across all sites.

Results

The results are organized into five main findings regarding second-generation Asian American parenting: (a) importance of place and time, (b) reactive and proactive ethnic and racial socialization, (c) proactive ethnic socialization: the dilemma of second-generation parents, (d) socialization of “American-ness” and other values, and (e) intersection of religion and disability with ethnic and racial socialization.

Importance of Place and Time

Place.

We sampled from communities that were diverse in the ethnic density of the Asian-heritage population. Parents mentioned how the particular context informed what and how they socialized their children over issues of race and culture. Multiple-level contexts were mentioned: Parents talked about the ethnic composition of their particular school, their neighborhood, and the state that they lived in. They also talked about the changing demographics of the country. Parents recognized that it was not just the context that they presently experienced, but that comparisons and transitions while traveling and moving across contexts were important to how they parented.

For those with children who live in predominantly White environments, parents prepared their children for becoming aware of being different. In the Twin Cities, some lived in suburbs that were predominantly White. Parents who had similar experiences of growing up with few others who looked like them wanted to create a different experience for their children. Mim, of Hmong/Laotian heritage living in the Twin Cities, said,

I grew up with all Caucasian students, and Caucasian neighbors and stuff. All my friends were Caucasian growing up. And that made me very isolated. … And I do not want that for my children. I think if we are consistently around a lot of diversity, I probably wouldn’t bring it [diversity] as much or try to make sure I am talking about it on [a] regular basis.

Holly, a mother of Chinese heritage living in East Lansing, also used the word “isolated” to describe how she felt growing up in a predominantly White community. Vivian, a mother of Chinese heritage living in Okemos and who grew up in a community with few Asians in Detroit, checked the census reports for percentage of Asians in each city to decide where to move with her family. Second-generation parents in our sample who grew up in communities with few Asians actively tried to expose their children to more diverse environments.

On the West Coast, the parents in San Francisco mentioned the unique context of the city. Helen, a mother of Korean heritage, said of her children, “Their little world of San Francisco is … I mean, not every place is like that you know.” Susie, a Korean-heritage mother, also noted that it was like living in a bubble, that discrimination was not likely to happen in the city, but more likely to happen outside of San Francisco. Living in such a diverse environment meant that preparing their children to be aware of and deal with discrimination was less pressing compared with those living in predominantly non-Asian environments. In Los Angeles, Mike, a Chinese-heritage father, also felt like living in such a racially and ethnically diverse environment lessened the need for preparations to deal with discrimination. Mike said,

I do not feel discrimination as a serious problem against Asians in this country. But I’ll tell my kids that there are some people that aren’t going to like you because of the way you look and they are going to judge you because you look this way. But as far as to be prepared for them being teased, I cannot see what I would do…. And I feel now, so many Asians are around, and I do not think it’s gonna be an issue.

Although Mike prepares his children for bias based on the way they look, he however said it is not critical in this racially and ethnically dense Asian environment.

Time.

In addition to place and context, time was also important to understand parental socialization. Jae moved to the United States from Korea right after she was born, whereas her husband immigrated from Korea as a young adult. He pointed out to her that her way of parenting reflects her own parents’ experiences, who arrived in the United States 40 years ago. Jae’s husband suggested that her parents are “culturally set” and parent like it was 40 years ago, which Jae is passing on. Her husband suggested that her parenting does not reflect contemporary Korea because so much has changed. Her husband also observed that she is more Korean than he is even though she came here at a young age. What second-generation parents in our sample believe is appropriate for passing on heritage culture will also depend, then, on when their parents have immigrated. Immigrant parents who arrived at a certain point in time may be somewhat frozen in a particular historical–cultural moment in terms of their parenting traditions. Indeed, this is the process of being “frozen in time” or “mummification” of immigrant traditions (Suárez-Orozco, 2001, p. 6).

On a smaller time scale, the transition from one context to another prompted shifts in how second-generation Asian American parents planned to socialize their children. Kab is a mother who identifies as Hmong American, living in the Twin Cities. Her 5-year-old son is in a preschool that is racially and ethnically diverse, but he will soon be transitioning into a different school with a different racial and ethnic make-up. Kab said,

He doesn’t see himself different from his white friends or his other friends of different ethnicities. Right now I think he’s at a school that’s diverse enough, that they’re young enough, that there’s not a lot of discrimination or, you know, they see each other as equals. But then, I’m actually prepping him for next year, when he’s going to a primarily all-white school.

Kab is aware that in a different context, she will need to provide more explicit socialization regarding discrimination.

Overall, second-generation parents in our sample were very conscious of raising their children in a particular place and a particular time. Parents noted that the United States is changing demographically, that there are more mixed-race children compared with when they grew up, and there are more visible Asian American role models in the media. At the time of the interviews, Jeremy Lin, a Chinese American professional basketball player, was making the headlines. One parent noted that this visibility was a source of pride for the children. Parents recognized that contexts and communities from the school, neighborhood, and country are not static, providing a different racial landscape than the one in which they grew up, which in turn calls for a new way to parent their children regarding issues of race, multiculturalism, and ethnicity. Overall, the parents interviewed in this study were keenly aware of the demands as well as rewards of raising their children in an increasingly more multicultural society.

Reactive and Proactive Racial Socialization

Children as “global citizens.”

In many ways parents talked about how they actively socialized their children to promote the idea that all humans are equal, that diversity should be appreciated and celebrated, and the importance of being open to diverse points of view. Parents also talked about appreciating not just cultural diversity, but diversity with regard to gender, SES, and disability. Anne, a mother of Chinese heritage living in Los Angeles, chose to enroll her two older children (6 and 8 years old) in a public school to be more exposed to different types of children. She and her husband wanted their children to learn to communicate with people of different backgrounds and felt that attending a public school would better prepare their children to do so. Hazel, a Chinese-heritage mother living in East Lansing, emphasized how they are preparing their children to become “global citizens” by enrolling their children in ethnically diverse schools. In San Francisco, Jae of Korean heritage said,

I want her to have a real diverse group of friends so that she can appreciate who she is. It can also help define who she is and also to appreciate other cultures because I think when my parents raised us they were more discriminatory. They were more like, “Oh don’t hang out with African Americans or what, your friend is Mexican?” And it’s like no I do not ever want my daughter to have that kind of thoughts or feelings.

Unlike her own immigrant parents, Jae emphasized that it is desirable to have friends with other backgrounds to better understand themselves and who they are. Second-generation parents in our study were proactively creating contexts that exposed their children to diversity in many forms.

Two-way communication.

Children elicited parental racial socialization, and parents were reactive and proactive in communicating about discrimination. The parents in our sample reported experiencing discrimination while growing up and used these experiences to help their children deal with discrimination. These experiences started young. Jill, of Chinese heritage living in Austin, recalled,

When my oldest daughter was in kindergarten, a little boy went up to her and said she had funny eyes. That was her first experience with discrimination. We told her that me, the mom, also had the experience and in 5th grade, I was called a chink and all of my Caucasian friends backed me up.

Constance, also living in Austin, told her 7-year-old son the cool things about being Asian when her son experienced discrimination.

My son just told me kids [were] making fun of him because he was Chinese. I asked why they did that and how he felt. I told him “I am Chinese and that’s cool because I get to do things their family doesn’t do. I get dumplings, noodles, and cool things” … I encourage and show the positive aspects of being Asian.

These children shared their experiences of discrimination, which then prompted their parents to talk about their own experiences and how they coped. These discussions opened up lines of communication to offer comfort and to talk about how it made the child feel, how to make meaning of discrimination, and how to reframe and cope with the experience.

Proactive racial socialization.

Some parents did not wait for their children to talk about racism. Jennifer, of Korean heritage living in the Twin Cities, said of her children,

They’ve never brought it up to me…. So, I asked my oldest one. And, she said no, she never faced any racism. But, then one thing she said was, she feels like in [school district] she thinks that her teachers sometimes thinks that she’s not going to be smart because they think she’s Hmong. That’s awful.

In addition to asking her children directly about interpersonal experiences of racism, Jennifer talks to her children about systemic racism, issues such as genocide, and police killings.

I guess I just want them to know that they can talk to us. I talk to them about pretty serious things like genocide in North Korea, for example. And, I get very passionate about historical (exhales) wrongs…. And just like the stuff we read about in the newspaper. Like the whole Treyvon Martin thing, we talked a lot about as a family.

Hazel from East Lansing said,

We do check [out] a lot of books from the library about how immigrants and how people deal with race … books on how people came to the world and how people come to the United States and the struggles they faced as they came here.

Through books, news stories, and direct questioning to their children, these second-generation parents address racism head-on and do not wait for their children to bring it up. These parents’ descriptions of their proactive racial socialization contrasts sharply to literature, suggesting that traditional Asian-heritage individuals are more likely to adopt an indirect communication style, especially regarding difficult topics (Hwang, 2011).

Empowerment.

In our sample, second-generation parenting around discrimination differed from how they remembered their own parents dealing with issues of discrimination. Unlike their immigrant parents who grew up in their heritage country, second-generation parents grew up experiencing racism aimed at their Asian-ness. Also in stark contrast with their immigrant parents, second-generation parents felt empowered to confront racism and to do it effectively. The powerlessness that they witnessed with their immigrant parents is now empowerment that second-generation parents in our study were actively socializing their children to feel and draw upon. “My parents would just be like oh don’t worry about it, it’s fine,” said Mim from the Twin Cities. In contrast to her parents, Mim gave her children explicit strategies about what to say if they experience discrimination. Bay, a Vietnamese-heritage mother also in the Twin Cities, recalled that even if their parent tried to stand up for them when they did get discriminated against, it would not work:

My mom would try to go talk to the parents, but her English was not so good. The parents would say, “Did you do that?” The son would say, “No, I didn’t.” And, the parents would believe the son. We just felt powerless. 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. And, so you do not just sit back, and I do not want them to sit back and take it. So if those things ever happen tell an adult or you have a good comeback line.

Mim and Bay engaged in these conversations with their children so they can feel empowered to do something if and when it happens. Both mothers want their children to handle and confront racism with strength, not alone, but with the support and advocacy of those around them.

Proactive Ethnic Socialization: The Dilemma of Second-Generation Parents

Similar to racial socialization, parents engaged in proactive ethnic socialization when passing on heritage culture, which most agreed was important to do. Similar to some of their own experiences growing up with immigrant parents, they enrolled their children in Saturday heritage language schools if available in their community, gathered with other Asian American families to expose their children to the language and traditions, and visited their children’s schools to share holiday traditions. Thus, parents in the sample created opportunities not just at home but also outside of the home, to share and reinforce their cultural heritage with not only their children but the broader school community.

The second-generation dilemma.

Despite their proactive efforts to pass along heritage culture, challenges arose from being culturally isolated or not having a deep grasp of their own heritage culture. There were parents who did not have resources such as having access to books in the heritage language, family members who could speak the heritage language with the child, or an ethnic community to support and celebrate heritage traditions and holidays. There were parents who felt culturally isolated with no other same-ethnic members and no extended family living nearby. Jennifer from the Twin Cities said, “I think if we lived in Chicago we would be better about it. I would like to teach them more about respect for elders. But, since there are no elders here, it’s kind of hard.” The cultural void highlights the importance of place and geographical location in providing resources to support cultural socialization efforts.

Another reason why it was difficult to pass along heritage culture was that they felt they did not have a deep understanding of their own heritage culture, partially attributed to their own experiences of not wanting to maintain heritage culture as they were growing up. Mike, living in Los Angeles, remembered, “I didn’t want to bring mooncakes to school, I didn’t want friends to come over and have jiu cai or tofu, which was the weird thing back then.” But now, Mike can relate that when the parents of his children’s friends come over for dinner, he serves spaghetti and not something “cultural” that the other parents expect:

So I really do not have anything that I can pass down to my kids. I mean I do not give them Hongbaos … hmm, I’m kind of feeling bad about it. [Interviewer: Are you?] No, not bad. I’m feeling very aware of that I’m not providing any of my parent’s culture.

Hazel from East Lansing shared similar sentiments about the tenuous grasp she has on the heritage culture:

I think my own understanding has been watered down … so there are a lot of holidays that I think I know when we are supposed to eat that food but I do not know how to cook, I do not know what it’s about, and what the meaning is behind the food. And so it feels like things are slipping [laughs] through my fingers … it does feel like I am always watching and learning what are other families were doing so that we can incorporate it into our family. Otherwise, what I have gets smaller and smaller—what I know of this culture.

Unlike first-hand experiences with racism that bring up vivid memories and prompt discussion and do not diminish with time, knowledge of heritage culture was uneven, sometimes superficial, and weakened over time despite efforts to continue learning heritage culture. Even in ethnically diverse places, there were parents who did not always have deep enough connections with their heritage culture to be able to pass down deeper levels of meaning to their own children.

Most parents recognized the importance of language to understanding and identifying with one’s cultural heritage. Parents also realized that language can be either a barrier to or facilitate sharing cultural knowledge. This is different from experiences with their own immigrant parent. Mary, of Korean heritage living in South Bend, stated,

The one thing I can think of is the language issue because my parents they speak English but pretty rudimentary. That makes it hard to communicate just beyond the basic. And I think that my kids and I speak the same language and that affects our relationship. That affects how we behave around each other and what we can share with each other.

But although the communication may be better with their own children, they also regretted not knowing the heritage language well enough to pass on. Herein lies the unique second-generation parent dilemma concerning ethnic socialization: They want their children to be proud of their heritage, to identify with their heritage, and they proactively create opportunities for their children to learn their heritage culture. But for those who have not learned the heritage language well or internalized a deep understanding of that culture, they felt limited in their efforts to pass along important cultural knowledge to their children.

Role of grandparents.

Some parents rely on their children’s grandparents to instill heritage culture. Things have come full circle: First-generation immigrant parents tried to teach their second-generation children heritage language and culture. The second-generation children had some resistance and sometimes did not retain enough to pass on to their own children. And now grandparents (the first-generation immigrants) are back in the picture to teach their third-generation grandchildren heritage culture and language that perhaps their second-generation children cannot. Isabel from East Lansing said, “They [my children] love … having dinner at my mom’s house, they love sleeping over, and my mom’s house is a lot of Chinese all over, and so they get a lot of exposure there.” Grandparents play an important role in passing along heritage culture through language and sharing stories of life back home. Jennifer from the Twin Cities stated,

Last summer when my dad turned 80, he gave us a speech about his life in Korea. And, I could tell my kids, the two older ones were really interested. And they said they had this new respect for their grandpa that they didn’t know.

Socialization of “American-ness” and Other Values

In contrast to ethnic socialization, passing on American culture and passing on important values (that they did not see as solely “American” or “Asian”) came easily. For Asian American second-generation parents, America is their home culture. They emphasized the importance of children identifying as “American,” and socializing this identity came more easily than the dilemma of ethnic socialization described earlier. Second-generation parents in our study focused on claiming an American identity. Kab from the Twin Cities wants her child to identify first as American, then Hmong:

I had a lot of taunting, comments of “Oh go back to where you came from.” I was like “I am in my home country.” You [her son] are American. You are an American citizen…. I want him to know that even though he is Hmong, he truly is an American as well.

Similarly, Jill, who lives in Austin, said,

… even though they [my children] are born in America, they are Chinese. So, their Chinese heritage is very important to us because they know we look different from other children, so they have to identify with that. But, then I want them to also know that they are American.

For both Kab and Jill, because of their awareness that in the United States, looking Asian means one may be considered a perpetual foreigner (Armenta et al., 2013), they both want their children to remember that they are truly American as well.

Important values.

Second-generation parents in our study did not easily distinguish between what was a mainstream or “American” value versus an “Asian” value that they wanted to pass on to their children. Helen from San Francisco stated,

I do think it’s important, I guess just to respect everybody, more like the golden rule, you know, treat others like you want to be treated. But I do not necessarily equate it as a Korean thing. I think of it more as just an everybody should do this thing….

And in contrast to the deliberate efforts and dilemmas surrounding the difficulty of passing along heritage culture, second-generation parents did not talk about the importance of learning the English language, liking American food, or learning about American traditions. Being immersed in the majority culture, their children are exposed to many sources of socialization outside the home that already promote cultural assimilation. Parents instead mentioned many values that they wanted to pass along to their children that they learned from their own parents: respect for elders, helping out in community, being honest, being an independent thinker, the importance of hard work, and being good workers by helping around the house. In contrast to passing along heritage culture aspects such as language or traditions, passing on these values that were not labeled as American or Asian did not seem difficult. No second-generation parent talked about how difficult it was, for instance, to pass along the value of respect to their children. Randall, a Vietnamese-heritage father in South Bend, stated,

I never think about it as traditional Asian way or traditional American way. When the kids’ grades come home from school, we discuss it. I do not think I’ve ever discuss it with my parents as I was growing up. But when I’m talking to my kids, it’s more of a dialogue there. I do not think of it being, do I want to parent as an Asian or do I want to parent as an American. I really do not think about it in that sense.

Unlike heritage cultural knowledge, these basic, core values were not difficult to pass along.

Intersection of Religion and Disability With Ethnic and Racial Socialization

Parents socialize their children about issues of race and culture within the intersection of religion and disability. Concerning religion, most participants identified themselves as Christian, Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant. Some talked about the importance of religion and how values passed on to children (such as the golden rule) are not just cultural but religious. Anne from Los Angeles encouraged more Jewish culture and religion to pass along to her children, more so than her White Jewish husband. Thus, for some parents in our sample, the values that are transmitted to their children are drawn from a mixture of heritage culture, majority culture, and religious faith.

Three parents had children with special needs (or borderline special needs), and this shaped the way they thought about racial and ethnic socialization. Mim from Twin Cities has a boy who is on the autism spectrum. She realizes that the intersection of this particular disability and the way children with autism can act, along with his skin color, may have “potential dangerous ramifications as they get older.” For Mim and her son, race intersects with disability and she must consider his disability as she engages in racial socialization. Karen, living in South Bend, has a special needs son. She aims for him to be happy and not necessarily to have high education, so she does not pressure him. Jean in New York said the following about her son:

I think he’s like borderline ADHD, so for kids like that, you do not want to give them too much [Korean language school], where they feel like they’re failing all the time, so I just felt like … all he does is one after school thing and then some music, and that’s enough, right? I didn’t want to overload him.

Parents’ attention to these intersecting identities illustrates how characteristics of the children shape the content and process of how parents socialize. The personality of child, the developmental age of child, whether the child has a disability or not, influence the way parents socialized or pushed (or did not push) their children regarding ethnic and racial socialization.

Discussion

Most of the literature concerning Asian-heritage parenting has focused on how first-generation immigrants parent. The purpose of the study, then, was to examine how second-generation Asian American parents—who were born or raised predominantly in the United States—engaged in ethnic and racial socialization with their children. Our study addresses a gap in the literature to showcase experiences and perspectives of second-generation children who have now grown up and have children of their own.

Because of the vastly different ethnic and racial landscapes captured by our data set (from the high-density cities of East and West coasts to the more sparsely populated cities in the Midwest and South), our findings show that parents modified their socialization practices based on their particular geography, whether to emphasize some aspects more (e.g., living in a predominantly White context motivated parents to actively seek out diverse neighborhoods and schools) or deemphasize others (e.g., living in a high-density Asian area where parents believed their children did not yet experience racial discrimination diffused the need to engage in high racial socialization). Second-generation parents in our sample spoke of their own upbringing as visible minorities and how they intentionally created a different, more diverse experience for their own children. Shifting contexts through travel or relocating to a new city or neighborhood also heightened parents’ awareness of differences in contexts. The findings of our study illustrate what Lau (2010) has argued, namely, that understanding Asian American parenting requires attention not only to the role of heritage culture but also to how the demands of the particular ecology contributes to parenting values, beliefs, practices, and goals that parents adopt.

Second-generation parents in our sample want to pass on the heritage culture, but do not have the same certainty or confidence as their own immigrant parents to do so. For some of them who did not learn their heritage language well or did not develop deep heritage cultural knowledge, their efforts to pass on heritage culture was deliberate, conscious, required planning, and effortful. Our findings with second-generation parents share similarities to Korean women transracial adoptees who did not grow up with heritage cultural socialization from White families and had to make an effort to learn the culture to pass on (Day et al., 2015). Transracial adoptee parents reflected not only on what they wanted to pass on but also on “what they were capable of passing on” (Day et al., 2015, p. 6). For some of our second-generation parents, the lack of deep understanding of their heritage culture was a barrier to being able to pass this along despite their desire and recognition that it was important to do so. Heritage language extinction by the second generation is common in the United States for Asian American families (Rumbaut, Massey, & Bean, 2006). The loss of language and with it, a fundamental feature of heritage culture, is of concern for some of these families.

In addition, one key difference that some of the second-generation parents noticed between themselves and their own first-generation immigrant parents was that in contrast to their parents, they were more open about and initiated conversations on racism, discrimination, and social injustices. That is, they were more actively engaged in racial socialization. Contrary to the stereotype of the silent Asian who does not stir up trouble or fight back if being harassed (Qin, Way, & Mukherjee, 2008), or who is unwilling to discuss difficult topics such as race (Hwang, 2011), these second-generation parents were vocal, upfront, and made strong efforts to push their children to understand racial injustice and inequality. They also provided their children with specific strategies on what to say and how to respond when discrimination happened. In contrast to their immigrant parents and as other research has found (Kim et al., 2014), it was a priority for some second-generation parents to establish an openness in communication with their children, especially regarding difficult topics. Importantly, there were second-generation parents in our study who reported feeling more empowered than their immigrant parents. This shift from feeling “powerless’ to feeling “empowered” is an important finding.

There were several limitations to the study. One was the small sample size that precluded more in-depth examination of specific ethnic groups. Although we acknowledge that there are similarities that cut across ethnic groups (such as being targeted for discrimination), we also recognize that there may be important variations in ethnic and racial socialization across ethnic groups due to the different histories, immigration patterns, and community contexts to which different groups settle (E. Lee, 2015). As noted in reviews of the Asian American psychological literature, there are still far more studies including East Asian populations compared with other Asian subgroups (Kim, Shen, et al., 2015). Notably, although Filipinos are the second largest Asian ethnic group in the United States, we had no Filipino-heritage parents participate in our study. As the demographics of the United States continue to change, researchers will also need to closely consider shifts (such as the sharp increase in number of Bangladeshi Americans; Ramakrishnan & Ahmad, 2014) and devote more attention to groups that have been considered less often.

Another limitation was the self-selected bias of parents who agreed to participate in the study. The sample included parents who were most likely aware of and thoughtful of how their Asian heritage and upbringing contributed to their parenting. Further, the sample was middle to upper-middle class, and all were married. Being from middle to upper-middle class families means that parents had resources available to them that allowed for certain freedoms, such as being able to move to a more ethnically diverse neighborhood of their own choosing. Because SES contributes to parenting with consequences for parent–child relationships (Qin, Chang, Xie, Liu, & Rana, 2017), future research could include a greater diversity of Asian American second-generation parents that would better reflect variations in SES, marital status, and ethnicities.

Future research could also include larger more representative samples to collect survey data on issues of ethnic and racial socialization to paint a picture that may be more generalizable and cover a broader range of parents. Another methodological issue is our use of one focus group versus individual interviews. Focus groups may trigger thoughts and discussions that may not arise in individual interviews. Thus, variation in our data may be partly due to the different type of method used. Nonetheless, our study is one of the few that focus on second-generation Asian American parents and contributes to initial understandings of how their experiences may be informed by and different from their experiences growing up with first-generation immigrant parents. Importantly, our goal was not to generalize to all Asian American second-generation parents, but to provide a window into how various parents are raising their children regarding ethnicity and race. Focusing on U.S.-born Asian Americans is important, as there is a long history of Asian Americans in the United States beyond the second generation, which has been overlooked (E. Lee, 2015). Recognizing generational diversity within the Asian American population moves us beyond the limited picture of Asian Americans as solely immigrants.

Future research could also examine how parents together construct their goals, beliefs, and practices of how to raise their children regarding race and ethnicity. The parents in our sample did not highlight differences between their own and their spouses’ parenting goals and practices regarding ethnic and racial socialization. If conflicts do arise, however, and these differences are not negotiated, a mismatch in the messages received from each parent can be a source of internal tension within the family with negative consequences for their children (Costigan & Dokis, 2006; Liu, Benner, Lau, & Kim, 2009). How parents engage in ethnic and racial socialization together or in opposition to one another would be an interesting line for future research.

Another important direction for future research is to examine how mixed-race couples, a growing population in the United States, parent together. Notably, from 2000 to 2010, mixed-race individuals of Asian and White heritage increased by 87% (Pew Research Center, 2015). A recent ethnographic study by Chang (2016), which included 68 families with one parent of Asian heritage and the other a non-Asian parent, showed discrepancies in some families in which the Asian-heritage parent was aware of the discrimination that their mixed-race child experienced while the White parent was not. Future research could examine how mixed-race couples negotiate racial socialization and whether this task is primarily left to the Asian-heritage parent.

Finally, in the context of the current events happening in the United States, such as the sharp increase in race-related hate crimes (U.S. Department of Justice, 2016), understanding how parents socialize their children to understand these important issues early on will be critical to the development of their children. Chang’s study (2016) showed that more than half of her sample (43 of 68 families) did not talk to their young children about racial issues, despite evidence that their children were recipients of explicit comments about their race. Parental racial socialization starts early, even if parents themselves are not aware of it. Importantly, young children observe, learn, and actively form beliefs about race based on the interactions with their parents, family members, and the world around them (Brown & Bigler, 2005).

Raising socially conscious children is what some second-generation Asian American parents in our sample feel empowered to do. A combination of growing up with an immigrant background, directly experiencing racism and discrimination, being aware of the particular time and place that they are currently living, and wanting their children to grow up differently than they did, have pushed some second-generation parents to confront and prepare their children for racism, celebrate diverse people and perspectives, and pay attention to other important dimensions (e.g., developing a social justice orientation and cultivating diverse friendships) beyond passing along heritage culture to their children. Studies of parental ethnic and racial socialization among Asian American families should continue to look beyond the transmission of heritage culture to include other less studied aspects that may be equally as relevant, pressing, and salient to Asian American families today.

What is the public significance of this article?

Asian American second-generation parents in our study engaged in both reactive and proactive ethnic and racial socialization depending on the place, time, and characteristics of their child. Understanding how Asian American parents raise their children to understand issues of race, ethnicity, and culture will continue to be critical in our increasingly socially diverse world.

Appendix

Focus Group/Interview Questions

1. In general, why do you parent the way that you do? What influences your parenting? For example, what values guide your parenting?

2. Think about how your parents raised you. How is your parenting similar or different from your parents? Probe: “If you could have changed one thing about how your parents raised you, what would it be?”

3. What aspects of your heritage culture did your parents pass on to you? Probes: “Was it important for them to pass on their heritage culture? How did they do that? Did your parents make you speak your heritage language?”

4. What are the most important parenting lessons you learned from your parents? What are the most important parenting lessons that you want to pass onto your children?

5. Are there things about your heritage culture that you want to pass onto your children? If so, what are they? If not, why not? Probes: “What are some ways that you try to pass on your heritage culture to your children? Do you speak your heritage language? Is it important for you that your children speak the language?”

6. Can you recall an instance where you struggled with whether to parent in a more traditional Asian way versus a more American way? (For example, deciding how to respond to disrespectful behavior, selecting activities for your child, settling on a sleeping arrangement, and talking about school grades).

7. Do you and your wife/husband/partner agree on how you parent most of the time? What is his/her cultural background? What are some areas of parenting that you both agree on? What are some areas that you often have different ideas about?

8. Is it important to you that your child says s/he is “Asian” [or specific Asian heritage—e.g, Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese, etc]? Why or why not? If it’s important what are things that you do to encourage that?

9. Do your children talk to you or ask you about discrimination? What would you want your child(ren) to know or do if they were ever unfairly treated due to their ethnicity/race? Has this ever occurred to your child(ren)? If so, please describe what happened and how you and/or your child responded.

10. Do your children ask you to tell them about your heritage culture, or about why they look the way they look (e.g., why is their skin darker than most kids?)? What kinds of questions do they ask and how do you respond?

11. Tell us about your child. What are you most proud of when you think about your child?

12. Anything else we haven’t covered about parenting that you would like to raise or have us talk about?