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Misconduct Among Chinese American Adolescents

The Role of Acculturation, Family Obligation, and Autonomy Expectations

San Francisco State University, ljuang{at}sfsu.edu

Huong H. Nguyen

Brandeis University

This study examined the relation between acculturation and misconduct among Chinese American adolescents. The sample included 309 adolescents (mean age = 14.7 years, SD = 0.71; 54% female), recruited from two high schools in an ethnically diverse, urban city on the West Coast. Findings showed that acculturation (i.e., generational status and U.S. and Chinese cultural involvements) did not predict misconduct. But specific cultural values (i.e., family obligation and autonomy expectations) did. Specifically, youth with stronger family obligation and later autonomy expectations engaged in less misconduct. Such findings suggest that examining specific and developmentally-salient cultural values may be especially helpful in explaining why some Chinese Americans engage in misconduct.

Key Words: acculturation • misconduct • Chinese American adolescents • family obligation

This version was published on July 1, 2009

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 40, No. 4, 649-666 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0022022109335185


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