EDUC 327 Professor Fruja Final Project: Interview-Based research April Ma 05/08/2012

Identity formation across generations in Chinese immigrant youth Introduction: Since the publication of the new immigrant law in 1965, increasing numbers of Asian immigrants have arrived in the U.S. for various reasons, such as political protection, more opportunities, or simply pursuing the American dream. Among all Asian countries, China has the largest Asian American population group with 3.64 million Chinese Americans in the Unites States according to the Census in 2010. Despite its large population, little attention has been paid to Chinese immigrants and their adaptations in this new land. Studies that examined Chinese immigrants focused mainly on how Chinese families contributed to the educational and occupational success of their children. Even less attention has been paid to the Chinese immigrant children and their developmental stories of growing up in a new country beside their academic successes. Very few studies have been done across different immigrant generations. However, each generation grows up under different social contexts with different challenges and adaptations. This paper uses a literature review and a mini-qualitative interview to discuss the identity formation across generations in Chinese immigrant youth.

As human beings, one question that we always ask ourselves throughout our lifespans and can always get different answers for is who am I? The answers for this question fall into two categories: personal and social. As the name implies, personal identity refers to different combinations of personality traits that are unique to each individual, like outgoing, adventurous, or others, whereas social identity refers to certain aspects of a person that are defined by different social communities like, nations, work classes, gender, or others (Deaux, 2001). Ones identity formation starts around the teenage years with an identity crisis, in which they struggle between the sense of self and their social expectations (Erikson, 1994). It is a developmental stage that every adolescent needs to go through and struggles with. However, it could be particularly challenging for different generations of immigrant children because of the racial and cultural dissonance created by migration in different ways. The question of identifying themselves as American or by their home country origins is a big developmental task that every immigrant strives to figure out. The answers vary from generations and nations based on their exposure to home languages and cultures, their cohesiveness with extended families, the social environment they live in, and the international influence of the home country. This paper addresses each Chinese immigrant generations identity formation in-depth, using a literature review and a mini-qualitative interview. Coinciding with the classic assimilation theory, which states that each new generation tends to assimilate more into the host country and be further away from

their home culture (Alba & Nee, 1997), the result shows that each new Chinese immigrant generation tends to identify themselves as more American than Chinese across generations. Method and Sample: The supporting arguments and data in this paper are collected through a literature review. Since limited studies have been done on the developmental experiences of Chinese immigrant children in the U.S., the research focus is shifted to identity formation in all immigrant children across ethnic groups. Rumbaut discovered 5 factors that shape the ethnic self-identification among immigrant adolescents, which are gender, the process of acculturation, perception of discrimination, location and nationality, and family context (Rumbaut, 1994). Another study done by Phinney and her colleagues with 3 immigrant ethnic groups demonstrates the influence of ethnic language, parents, and ethnic peers on immigrant youths identities (Phinney, Romero, Nava & Huang, 2001). Both results show that the longer immigrant children stay in the U.S., the less likely they identify themselves by their ethnic identities, and the more likely they identify themselves as American. Then there are specific analyses of each immigrant generation on their different social contexts and experiences growing up in the Unites States that contribute to that assimilation trend. Specific factors include the bicultural identity and high geographic ethnic concentration in the 1.5 immigrant generation (Ellis & Goodwin-White, 2006), the generational dissonance (Zhou, 1997) and

the effort in language and cultural maintenances (Luo & Wiseman, 2000) in the second immigrant generation, and the language loss in the third immigrant generation (Alba, Logan, Lutz, & Stults, 2002). In addition to that, a mini-qualitative interview is conducted with four in-depth interviews with different generations of Chinese immigrant youth at Bucknell University, PA as empirical evidence to support the assimilation theory across generations in terms of identity formation. Two of them are 1.5 immigrant generations. One female, Alice, is from the Fujian province of China at the age of 11; and one male, Bob, is from Hong Kong at the age of 8. One interviewer, Carla, is the second immigrant generation with Guangdong origin. Another interviewer, Diane, is the third immigrant generation with Hong Kong origin. The interview questions mostly focus on their personal experiences growing up in the U.S. as Chinese immigrants regarding their language-use at home, communication with extended families, maintenance of cultural rituals, interaction with peers, and the self-identification. The responses from different immigrant generations coincide with the conclusions from the literature review: Alice and Bob identify themselves as Chinese without a doubt, Diane identifies herself as American, and Carla has a hard time figuring out which group she belongs to, but identifies herself as more American than Chinese in the end.

Identity formation in the 1.5 Chinese immigrant generation: The term one-and-a-half immigrant generation was coined by Rumbaut in 1991 to characterize the children who straddle both the old and the new worlds but are fully part of neither (Rumbaut, 1991). Theoretically, they are foreign-born children who enter the U.S. before the age of 18, but it normally excludes children who arrive at preschool age (0-4 years). Limited research has been done on the 1.5 immigrant generation, but there is a consistent conclusion from those countable studies: the 1.5 immigrant generation maintains high degrees of socialization in both the United States and their home countries through high fluency in both languages and the familiarity with both cultures (Park, 1999; Hurh, 1990; Kim, Brenner, Liang, & Asay, 2003). When being asked to make comparisons between the U.S. and their home countries, the 1.5 immigrant generation tends to favor their home languages and cultures (Kim, Brenner, Liang, & Asay, 2003)and identify themselves by their home country origins (Rumbaut, 1994). According to the social identity theory, individual identifies with a certain group when they have strong emotional ties and significant values to their group membership (Abrams, 1992). In the case of Alice and Bob, they establish strong emotional bonds with their home country, China, and show significant values to their Chinese families and friends through their fluency in the Chinese language, cohesiveness with extended families, maintenance of the cultural rituals, and their Chinese friends.

Language wise, coming to the U.S. at the age of 11 and 9, Alice and Bob had already established mature first language skills that could support their daily communications. Both of them use Mandarin or Cantonese as the only language at home because there is no need for them to speak English there. Bob said that he had a hard time adjusting to the English-speaking environment for the first two years in the U.S., but he had never felt the language barrier of speaking Cantonese. Language plays a significant role in ones identity formation. Their fluency in the Chinese language assures their identities as Chinese. Even though they are fluent with English with almost no accent now, they still prefer using Chinese to express their deep emotional feelings. This also implies their attitudes towards friend groups. They said that they can make a deeper and more meaningful friendship with Chinese friends compare to American White friends because of the different cultural values. Culture wise, both of them still maintain certain cultural rituals and celebrations such as the Chinese New Year celebration, which is the biggest and the most important festival in China. Since both Alice and Bob have extended families living in the U.S., they go to their houses and celebrate the Chinese New Year together. For other extended family members who live in China, they give them phone calls for greetings and New Year wishes following the tradition. Alice expressed her desire to keep this celebration and pass it on to her children. Such maintenance of cultural celebrations and the cohesiveness with extended families bonds Alice and Bob tightly to the Chinese community. Therefore, there is no doubt that these two Chinese

1.5 immigrant generations would identify themselves as Chinese, just as Alice said, If someone asks me where I come from, even though I am a citizen now, I will still say that I am from China. There are certainly some cultural values that get blended in the U.S., but I know that I am a Chinese in nature. However, such firm identity got shaky when they went back to China for short visits. Bob said that when he went back to Hong Kong, everyone looked at him as an American. He had a hard time communicating with his friends from elementary school even though he used Cantonese. Alice expressed the same concern. She said, Sometimes, I think I get the best out of the two worlds because I know both cultures and can communicate with people from both countries. But sometimes, I feel like I dont belong to either of them. Identity formation in the 2nd Chinese immigrant generation: The second immigrant generation refers to the U.S. born children of the contemporary first immigrant generation. The second generation sometimes includes foreign-born children arriving in the U.S. between the ages of 0 to 4 because they share many linguistic, cultural, and developmental experiences with U.S. born immigrant children (Zhou & Bankston, 1997). There is more research available on the second immigrant generation regarding the identity formation in various ethnic groups compared to other generations. The self-identity of the second immigrant generation children varies from the ethnicity, the socio-economic status, and the conflicts between

their home cultures with the mainstream American culture (Portes & MacLeod, 1996; Min, 2002). But there is one common characteristic shared among the entire second immigrant generation in current studies: all second immigrant generation children have been through struggles and confusion regarding their ethnic identities during adolescence. Carla from my interview expressed the same struggle. As an artist, she created art work to deal with identity issues. One art work she created during her sophomore year in college was a digital photography with two Carlas. One of them is the Americanized her, and another one is the culturally constructed her. It takes her lots of energy and time to figure out which ethnic group she belongs to more. Carla was sent to language schools during weekends for Cantonese learning until she reached her teenage years. So she has certain Cantonese language skills that can support her basic communications with her parents and extended families, but not enough for deep and meaningful conversations. Disconnections and misunderstandings happened a lot between her parents and her during her teenage years because of the language barriers. But as she grows older, instead of giving up talking with her parents, she started to improve her Cantonese skills in various ways for a better relationship with her parents. Whats more, all her relatives from her fathers side live in Massachusetts. She maintains good relationships with them through frequent visits and phone calls. Because of the cohesiveness with extended families and the influence from her parents, she acknowledges the fact that a big part of herself is culturally constructed. But on the

other hand, being born in the U.S. and being raised up with the American life style, she could hardly see herself establishing a strong emotional tie with the entire Chinese community. She said, I am connected with the Chinese culture only because of the language, but other than that, other traditions and celebrations are through my parents and grandparents. If they dont prepare all those celebrations, I wouldnt do that by myself. Therefore, she followed: As much as I want to consider myself more Chinese, I have to say that I am more American than Chinese. Carla also mentioned one specific challenge that she had to overcome as she identified herself as American, which is the social mirroring effect. Social mirroring means that ones perception of ones self is dependent on the reflection mirrored back to them by others, despite its accuracy (Suarez-Orozco, 2005). In Carlas case, she was identified by others as Chinese based on her outlook, even though she does not consider herself Chinese. She said, Just because of the way I look, I am already been put into the stereotype even if I dont fit into the stereotype. I felt like I am always given this challenge that I have to overcome. I cant help it. This identity is already shaped for me. Identity formation in the 3rd Chinese immigrant generation: The third immigrant generation refers to the U.S. born children with two native born immigrant parents. Compare to previous immigrant generations, the third generation is still an unexplored area. In most research, they are just briefly mentioned as comparisons with the first and second generations based on empirical data. One of

the few studies that specifically addresses the wellbeing of the third generation focuses on the physical wellbeing (Fujimoto, Bergstrom, & Boyko, 1994) instead of their psychological developments. This is presumably because the third immigrant generation is still small, given the origins of the new immigration in the 1960s. Therefore, their social adaptations and overall development are still based on the prediction of the classic assimilation theory, which states that the third or further immigrant generation will eventually be assimilated into the host country in terms of language and culture. Their home languages and cultural values will be lost in the end, as what happened to the early European immigrants (Alba & Nee, 1997). But some scholars argue that assimilation is only specific to certain historical circumstances that characterized mass immigration from Europe but does not, and will not, apply to the post 1965 nonEuropean immigrant groups (Portes & Rumbaut, 1996). However, the truth supports the classic assimilation theory. One study that Alba R. and his colleagues did addressing the loss and preservation of the mother tongue among the grandchildren of contemporary immigrants shows that Anglicization, which is the process of universalizing the use of English, is occurring at roughly the same pace for Asians as it did for the Europeans who arrived in the early twentieth century. The percentages of children speaking only English are incredibly high as 90%-95% (Alba, Logan, Lutz, & Stults, 2002). Since language is a crucial factor in shaping ones identity and cultural values, such big percentages could

lead to the conclusion that the third immigrant generation is being assimilated into mainstream American society and being from their home countries. Diane from my interview is one of them. She is characterized as the third Chinese immigrant generation because both her parents were the born in the United States. When being asked about her identity, she responded, I never considered myself as Chinese. Since I was born here and my parents were born here, I am very Americanized. Language wise, since both her parents are native English speakers and know little Cantonese, English was used as the only language as Diane grew up. Even though she was sent to the Cantonese language weekend school until she was 15 years old by her mother to ensure the communication with her grandparents, she is still not able to have conversations in Cantonese because she has nowhere to practice it, as her mother only speaks limited Cantonese herself. About the communication with her grandparents, Diane said, there may be some communication issues with my grandparents because of the language, but since I only see them several times in a year and they can pretty much understand English, I am not worrying about it. Obviously, she is not close with her grandparents. Such alienation also happens with her relationship with her extended families who live back in China. She has heard her parents talking about them, but has never seen or talked to them in person. So there is no way for her to connect with the Chinese culture.

Conclusion: In conclusion, the Chinese immigrant children have the trend of identifying themselves as more American than Chinese across generations. The mini-qualitative research with 4 interviewees may not be convincing enough to support such conclusion, but there are other studies in the field that have been done on different ethnic groups across generations reveals the same developmental pattern as the Chinese immigrant group, that supports the classic assimilation theory. One of the most common patterns is the language loss across generations. There are only 10% of the third immigrant generation can speak their home languages, whereas the 60% of the 1.5 immigrant generation are fluent with both English and their home languages (Rumbaut, 2004). Such language loss in later immigrant generations implies the low cohesiveness with extended families, the alienation their home cultures, and the disconnection with their home countries. All of them contribute to the assimilation theory which states that the longer immigrant children stay in the United States, the less likely they identify themselves by their ethnic identities, and the more likely they identify themselves as American.

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