Gap or Overlap? Parent-Child Acculturation Differences in Mexican Immigrant Families

Abstract

This study explored acculturation differences between Mexican immigrant parents and children and effects on parent-child relationships, using modified analytic inductive analysis of semi-structured interviews with one immigrant parent and one adolescent child from 30 Mexican families from Phoenix, Arizona. Three categories of parent-child acculturation were identified: no differences (n = 4), minor differences (n = 21), and major differences (n = 5). Children affiliated with American culture more than their parents did, but parents and children affiliated similarly with Mexican culture. Cultural differences were typically viewed as inevitable and normal rather than as unfortunate and abnormal. Parents and children described their relationships as close and reported efforts to decrease differences by developing a shared family culture. Parent-child conflict, where it existed, was viewed as generational or developmental rather than cultural. The findings support the new concept of “cultural overlap” to more accurately depict parent-child acculturation in immigrant families.