The Enculturation Experience of Three Chinese American Adolescents

Semistructured interviews

The first author conducted two one-on-one interviews with each participant (i.e., the three adolescents and each of their respective parents), yielding a total of 18 interviews. Interviews were scheduled at a time and place most convenient to the interviewee and ranged from 45 to 90 minutes. A semistructured interview protocol was developed (see the appendix) and pilot-tested with a separate youth outside of the city and state in which the study was conducted. The interview protocol was subsequently used with all of the adolescents, with parallel questions asked of the parents. Depending on the participant’s linguistic preference, the interviews were conducted in English, Mandarin, or a mixture of both. All of the interviews were audiotaped and transcribed for data analysis. Interviews conducted in Mandarin were transcribed by a Chinese American woman who has a college degree from Taiwan and who teaches at a Chinese school in the United States. The transcriber lived in a city and state away from where the research took place. The first author double-checked the transcripts for accuracy and translated the interviews from Chinese to English to present the study findings.

Photovoice

At the end of the first interview, each participant was given a low-cost digital camera and instructed to take photos that captured his or her experience of enculturation. Follow-up interviews were scheduled to review the pictures. Participants received specific instructions (verbally and also a written reminder note) to take photos of their experience of “being Chinese.” In keeping with previous research that suggested assigning a specific number of photos to encourage participation (Marquis & Manceau, 2007), the participants were provided the following instructions: “Here is a digital camera. Please take 10 photos that capture your experience of being Chinese. Please take five photos within your home and five photos outside of your home.” Participants were asked not to share their photos with their family members, so as to prevent them from influencing each other’s interpretation of enculturation. At the second individual interview, participants were invited to share their photos with the interviewer and discuss how each of the images captured their experience of being Chinese. Across the nine participants (i.e., three adolescents and six parents), a total of 90 pictures were gathered. The photos included food, places, and people that were meaningful to each individual.

Reflexive journal and field notes

The first author maintained a reflexive journal throughout the study. Writing in a journal provided a space to monitor internal researcher experiences, including subjective assumptions, reactions, and thoughts. In addition, field notes were written after each interview. These notes included observations of each participant to provide a rich description of each of the cases.

Tom: “I consider myself American first, then Chinese.”

Tom is 17 years old. He was born and grew up in the community context in which the study was conducted. Both of his parents migrated voluntarily to the United States and had him shortly after arriving. In describing his childhood experiences, Tom and his family talked about his younger years when the family lived in an apartment complex in close vicinity to other Chinese families. There, Tom spent afternoons and weekends with Chinese children who were his age. Over time, however, people in the Chinese community moved. Similarly, as Tom grew older, his family attained greater economic mobility and relocated to a house, and since then, the majority of his neighbors have been primarily non-Latino White. Although his parents have remained connected with other Chinese families, Tom has had minimal interactions with Chinese friends. He remarked that the move affected his sense of community with other Chinese children. For example, prior to sharing his photos at the second interview, Tom prefaced that his pictures were based on his memories of the third and fourth grade. He described himself as being “more Chinese” when he was younger. He also added that his Chinese friends tended to be older than he was while growing up, and as such, many have since left the city and state to attend college, whereas he is still in high school.

Tom distinguished himself from his parents and other Chinese peers when describing his feelings of being Chinese. He stated that both groups of people value closeness and spending time with the family; conversely, he prefers spending time with friends and attaining greater independence and autonomy. In one of his photos, Tom captured an image of his “man cave” to highlight his own space as separate from his family members’ personal spaces (i.e., rooms in the house). Some of his pictures also captured events in the past, such as when he would go to the Asian grocery store with his mother when he was younger. Beyond interacting with his immediate family, Tom does not see the purpose of traveling to his parents’ homeland to visit extended family members. He described himself as feeling bored during these trips, a sentiment that was further supported by his parents when they described him as “uninterested” in his ancestral culture. Tom feels indifferent about Chinese history, and given the option, would choose to visit Europe instead. He distinguished himself from his parents by saying,

I don’t really see the importance of knowing where I come from that much, because I’ve grown up here. So like, I have a tendency to view myself as an American. American first, not Chinese first. I’m probably not as in touch as they would like me to be with my Chinese roots or with my relatives or just, I guess, like family in general.

Michael: “Being different than everyone else.”

Michael is 13 years old. Like Tom’s family, Michael and his family also moved away from a Chinese neighborhood and now reside with neighbors who are primarily non-Latino White. Despite the increased distance, which makes it inconvenient to easily socialize with other Chinese families, Michael’s father has made it a priority that he and his family continue to have social events with fellow Chinese families on the weekends. Michael’s parents will sometimes host dinner parties in their home or attend potlucks at other Chinese families’ homes.

In the interview, Michael reported that he is the only Chinese person in his grade level at his public school. Although he has friends of Asian descent (i.e., Korean and Vietnamese), he distinguished himself from them, saying that they have same ethnic peers to socialize with, whereas Michael does not. In one of his photographs, Michael captured the image of his Saturday Chinese school class to show that, were it not for Chinese school, he would not speak his parents’ native language. Additionally, Michael expressed feeling dissimilar to his Chinese peers despite attending Chinese school on a weekly basis. In a photo that captured one of his Chinese school classmates, Michael expressed that he cannot relate to her or any of the classmates. That is, despite attending Chinese school throughout much of his life, he noted that his peers have always been female or significantly older or younger than him. As such, Michael has never met another Chinese person to whom he felt he could relate, based on a shared age and gender demographic.

In terms of Michael’s self-identification, he defined being Chinese as “being different than everyone else.” He compared himself to classmates at school and noted differences in physical characteristics such as “skin tones.” He also described feeling pressured to have to constantly challenge people’s expectations of what it means to be Chinese. He explained,

They think you should act a specific way if you’re Asian . . . and that’s how I define being Chinese: As being different . . . you always have to have really good grades if you’re Asian or Chinese . . . you don’t always have to live up to those, but you could always act a little different so you know that you are different. You’re not just an American . . . being different is not acting the same way as everyone else does, as every American does.

Anne: “I have both cultures within me.”

Anne is 17 years old and lives in a city that is within driving distance from where Tom and Michael live. Like them, Anne also has very few Chinese peers. In her grade level at school, she has six classmates who are from Chinese-speaking countries. However, none of them are from the same country of origin as her parents. In referring to her Chinese classmates and herself, she lumped them all into the category of being “internationals” despite the fact that the majority of them (including herself) are U.S.-born. Anne shared that if it were not for the Chinese Christian church that she attends, she would feel lonely because of how culturally and racially discrepant her school environment is from her home. Upon meeting Anne and her family, she stated that she responds to two names: her English name, which is what she goes by in the Chinese community, such as at church, and her Chinese name, which is her legal name and the name that she goes by when she is at school with teachers and friends. Anne emphasized that she maintains her Chinese name in the U.S. community because her parents do not want her to lose her original name.

Anne described being Chinese as inheriting a culture and language. She indicated feeling like she belongs to both cultures and adopting them simultaneously. She contrasted that, unlike immigrants such as her parents, she grew up being exposed to the traditions, customs, and cultures associated with both cultures at the same time. Thus, Anne viewed herself as being equally immersed in Chinese and U.S. cultures. She also viewed being Chinese as something she cannot change and something that is part of her identity. In our interview, she frequently referred to her mother’s motto, which is, “You are Chinese, so be Chinese, so speak Chinese.” She also added that she endorses her mother’s definition and lives by it. She explained how she arrived at her understanding of being Chinese by saying,

I feel like I’ve inherited Chinese culture and so I’m adapted to it. . . . I was comparing it to how Chinese immigrants, when they came to the States they had to adapt to the culture. . . . I was born and raised in America, so I have that American culture with me, but I also grew up in a Chinese environment, so that culture is already established in the environment that I was living . . . it’s more like they both came to me at the same time. I can relate to both. I mean I have both cultures within me.

The photos taken by Anne also reflected her desire to further cultivate her understanding of Chinese history and culture. Two of her pictures were of Chinese movies and books that she believed were comparable to American classics. Anne later commented that in the process of taking photos, she became more reflective of what it means to be Chinese and realized there is a “history” and “reason” for Chinese movies and books, beyond entertainment purposes. She specifically noted that she wanted to address aspects of Chinese culture that are generally not given as much attention, so that, “instead of going based on stereotypes, [I] went on, more, the traditional side of Chinese culture.”

Identifying as Chinese

Across all three cases, the adolescents (and their parents) referred to each youth as having a Chinese identity. They simultaneously juxtaposed this identity with that of being American. In line with Tom’s self-identification, both of his parents regarded him as being more American than Chinese. They added that he is “not very Chinese” and that he has demonstrated little interest or desire to know more about the history, country, or culture. In turn, Michael characterized his Chinese identity as feeling out of place among others. Michael stated that being Chinese meant feeling “different than everybody else” in terms of both physical features and the pressure to overachieve and excel. He and both of his parents talked about differences in work ethic between people living in the United States and those living in China. Across family members, there was a unanimous perception that being an immigrant placed Michael at a disadvantage, and for that reason he would need to work harder than others to succeed. Meanwhile, Anne described herself as being simultaneously influenced by the two cultures. Mandarin proficiency was a central aspect of her Chinese identity and was intricately tied to her Christian faith, given that she and her siblings learned Chinese by reading the Bible in Mandarin. For Anne, being Christian was part of her Chinese American identity, whereas for the other two adolescents, neither referred to Christianity as an important facet of their identities, but rather as a social context for interacting with other Chinese families. With regard to Anne and her family, she and both of her parents emphasized the importance of maintaining Mandarin-speaking language skills. All three family members underscored that being Chinese was something that a person cannot change, and therefore they shared a collective value toward the “iron fist” approach, in which Mandarin is the only language that can be spoken at home.

Across the three families, adolescents and their respective parents expressed similar perceptions about adolescent enculturation. All participants described adolescent enculturation based on day-to-day lifestyle and behaviors such as celebrating Chinese holidays, visiting parents’ native countries, and striving to speak Mandarin Chinese. The families also talked about eating Chinese food, and several of the photos from the adolescents and their parents depicted images of Chinese dishes or cooking. Unexpectedly, even though all of the interviews were conducted individually, the adolescents and at least one of their parents recounted identical scenarios to describe how “Chinese” the adolescents were. In Tom’s family, both he and his mother talked at length about his lack of identification with being Chinese. In Michael’s family, the theme of excellence emerged in all of the interviews. With regard to Anne and her family, both mother and daughter recounted examples of Anne’s active use of Mandarin language to retain ties to their native ancestry.

Parental Strictness

For adolescents and their parents, Parental Strictness was a salient theme across all interviews. All of the participants collectively elaborated on the ways in which parental strictness was part of the enculturation experience. Parental strictness entailed control over adolescent activities such as when to go out, with whom, and what activities to engage in. The adolescents reported having little independence from their parents and feeling frustrated with these circumstances. They further delineated strictness into two categories: social and academic. The former refers to not having as much freedom as they wanted, such as not being able to “hang out whenever [we] wanted to,” and the latter refers to parents “checking in” about schoolwork to ensure progress. In contrast, parental strictness was regarded with positive intentions from the parents’ perspectives. Parents used phrases emphasizing their responsibility to attend to the adolescent’s well-being. For example, Tom’s mother talked about the “need to supervise [my children]” because she believed Tom would benefit from having greater structure in his schedule to succeed. Michael’s father also used similar language regarding a need to “provide as much opportunity and support [to give my child] a better future.” Related to this, Anne’s father noted the need to “rule over [my children] . . . for the benefit of them.” Thus, across parent interviews, mothers and fathers alike referred to their strictness as stemming from a desire to maximize their child’s success and well-being. They reported feeling responsible for and wanting their children to “grow up properly, develop well, [and to have] a decent occupation and life.”

The three adolescents differed from their parents’ use of terminologies and attitudes when referring to parental strictness. All of them described their parents as restrictive, controlling, and having high expectations for them to do well. Adolescents used terms such as being “peeved” when referring to parents’ attempts to “restrict,” “push,” and even “control” them. Thus, adolescents and their parents differed in their perceptions of the parenting practices, yet all participants unanimously believed that parental strictness was a salient aspect of enculturation. Although the parents were perceived by the adolescents as strict and as allowing less autonomy than they desired, there was an appreciation and respect for this type of parenting approach from Anne. She specifically recommended that other Chinese parents also “rule with an iron fist” because of its success in maintaining her Mandarin language proficiency. Thus, even across adolescents, parental strictness was not consistently viewed in a negative light.

(Not) Having a Chinese Community

Across the three families, adolescents and their parents emphasized that being Chinese included socializing with other Chinese people. Having access to a Chinese social and cultural community was emphasized by all of the participants in the study, and its absence was profound for the adolescents, especially when they compared it to their parents’ experiences. Adolescents described their parents as being “attached to” and “at home” with their Chinese community. Conversely, the adolescents remarked on the distinct absence of having a Chinese community for themselves and the associated feelings of isolation. When commenting on the fact that he is the only Chinese person in his grade level at school, Michael shared,

It’s lonely, but you get used to it . . . you can’t speak your native language to anybody else . . . you can’t share your family culture with anybody else. . . . I’m the only Chinese person . . . [in] my grade . . . when people, like the Koreans and Vietnamese talk in their native language to each other, I have no one to talk to.

Similarly, Anne underscored her home life as the only environment that provides her with Chinese culture and language:

It’s almost like you live two lives. . . . Whereas at school publicly, you’re pretty much in a White majority community, so the culture is different. But then at home, you still have some Chinese Asian traditional customs that you also follow. It’s completely different . . . your culture at home is completely different than your culture in American society.

As the adolescents experienced a profound lack of Chinese community, their parents’ experiences were almost the opposite, such that they primarily interacted with the Chinese community and had minimal interactions beyond. For example, Tom’s father recounted discomfort in interacting with people outside of the Chinese community and culture:

As a Chinese [person], I think we still have some hard time [engaging] with people from other races. From White, from Black, from other, Hispanic. And so we’re not so comfortable, at least I’m not so comfortable to interact with them. So, sometimes I tell my colleagues . . . I don’t know much about the American culture . . . if I behave strangely or oddly just tell me and I probably just don’t know what’s the right way to do it in your eyes.

The photos taken by parents also captured occasions in which parents celebrated with Chinese friends at parties and social gatherings hosted in their homes as well as outside of their homes. In contrast to the adolescents, who had no pictures of Chinese peers, it was clear that the parents had significantly more access and opportunities to interact with Chinese counterparts, whereas the adolescents had almost no exposure or opportunity to meet people who shared the same ethnic background as them.

Multiple Groups of Comparison

Across all three adolescents and their parents, participants referenced multiple peer groups when comparing the extent to which the adolescents were enculturated. The comparison groups ranged from non–Chinese American adolescents in the United States to cousins and same-aged adolescents living in their ancestral countries, such as in China or other Chinese-speaking countries. All three adolescents referred to multiple reference points to evaluate their own enculturation. Feelings of inadequacy arose from these comparisons, with adolescents feeling deficient in comparison. Michael described feeling like he was “lazy” in contrast to other teenagers in China. He added that his parents likely perceived him to be less academically focused and having poorer work ethic than his counterparts living in their native homeland. This perception was confirmed through interviews with his mother:

When most Chinese people study, they typically want to get the top score, be in first or second place. But . . . sometimes when [my child] comes back from school, he says, “mom” and he tells me how he scored and I tell him he should do better. He tells me, “but there are other people who did worse than me!” So he does not compare himself to the people who score perfectly. Most Chinese kids usually study after-school or learn new things, but here, when the kids get out of school, they play with their classmates, watch some TV, and are much more relaxed in comparison. . . . I just feel like a lot of [his] beliefs are mixed with how American people think . . . sometimes, he will say, “Mom, no, Americans would not do that.”

Similarly, despite efforts to retain the native language, Anne expressed feeling deficient when speaking Mandarin outside of the United States, particularly when she compared herself to counterparts living in Chinese countries.

My language proficiency is pretty good [here] . . . I really don’t want to say I’m the best, I feel like, I’m decent. [But] whenever I go back to China or Asia I really feel like an idiot. In that context, sometimes it’s really hard to try to converse with my cousins even though they speak Chinese.

Thus, from adolescent and parent perspectives, several comparison groups served as reference points to determine the extent to which an adolescent was enculturated. Whereas youths would contrast themselves positively against their non–Chinese American classmates, they and their parents simultaneously engaged in upward comparison to contrast them with Chinese peers living in the United States and in other Asian countries. As a result, the adolescents generally felt that they were striving to be adequate, yet consistently fell short of the standards that were being attributed to their Chinese peers living in the United States and also abroad. Feelings of insufficiency were reflected in Michael’s work ethic and Anne’s Mandarin fluency when compared to their non-American, Chinese counterparts.

Messages to Excel

Adolescents and their parents highlighted the importance of achievement as part of adolescent enculturation. Based on the adolescents’ accounts, being Chinese meant scholastic excellence and this message came from parents as well as from classmates and even teachers. The adolescents described several situations in which they felt pressured to excel. Anne recounted an instance when a fellow Asian American gave her an unsolicited reminder after taking a school test, saying, “you are supposed to do well [on the exam]” due to the expectation that Anne should be high achieving because of her broader Asian American identity. In another instance, Anne gave an example of a time when a teacher assumed that by virtue of being Chinese, Anne would know enough about Chinese culture to teach the class about it:

One time the teacher mentioned Chinese or something and . . . he would ask me what [something Chinese] was like and sometimes I can answer, but sometimes I can’t because even though I look Chinese, I am still an American. I grew up here. . . . So sometimes it’s kind of frustrating that people assume that you know this culture because you look like you’re from that culture.

Although these messages can be described as being consistent with stereotypes, similar messages emphasizing excellence and achievement were also perpetuated at home. For example, parents talked about the struggle of being immigrants in the United States and needing to outperform others to compensate for being an ethnic minority:

As a minority, you are disadvantaged in a lot of ways so, well, that’s why we Chinese emphasize our education. . . . You have [to do] better than the average. Otherwise, you don’t have a chance . . . basically you have to put in additional, extra resources to make that happen because you are at a disadvantage.

In another parent interview, a similar emphasis was placed on the need to work harder than others to succeed in U.S. society. The assumption was that success is attributed to hard work, and consequently, an adolescent’s failure could be attributed to the absence of work ethic:

American people, they don’t face that kind of discrimination. . . . I told my child that you are not supposed to think that you are not as good as other people. [If you fail], it’s because you don’t work hard enough; everything they do is normal, so it’s because you didn’t work harder.

Altogether, the adolescents experienced expectations to overachieve, and they received this consistent message from their school environment, such as from classmates and teachers, as well as from their family context. The pressure to do well was further heightened by their parents’ interpretation that failing to excel meant that their children were not working hard enough to be competitive in the United States.