A Study of the Relationships between Acculturation, Cultural Identity, Family Bonding, and Parent-Child Conflict among the Korean-American Adolescents.

This study examined the relationship of mother-child conflict in immigrant Korean families to their acculturation level, cultural identity, and family bonding, focusing on whether the intensity or frequency of mother-child conflict decreases as the level of acculturation or cultural identity increases. Fifty-two pairs of immigrant Korean American mothers and their children, aged 15 to 18, were interviewed. Twenty-six of the adolescents had been born in Korea and 26 were born in the United States. The intensity of mother-child conflict was significantly related to family bonding as measured by responses to a family bonding scale. The level of acculturation was significantly related to cultural identity, but the relationships among the other variables were not statistically significant. Findings suggest that the frequency of conflict is not related to family bonding, but the intensity of the conflict may be. Findings further suggest that mother-child conflict is not necessarily related to the child's acculturation level or cultural identity, although continued conflict may weaken family bonding. (SLD) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** A Study of the Relationships Between Acculturation, Cultural Identity, Family Bonding, and Parent-Child Conflict Among the Korean-American Adolescents By Chungsoon C. Kim & Irene T. Miura San Jose State University 1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY