A social identity approach to ethnic differences in family relationships during adolescence

Abstract

Publisher Summary The surge in research on family relationships during adolescence in the past 25 years has begun to extend to the study of ethnic minority families. The focus on families from different ethnic, generational, and cultural backgrounds needs to continue given the demographic changes taking place in the United States in which ethnic minority children increasingly comprise larger proportions of the American population. The chapter illustrates that understanding ethnic differences in family relationships requires going beyond the traditional emphasis on dyadic relationships and focusing on the extent to which families serve as particularity important and salient social identities for adolescents from ethnic minority backgrounds. In addition to focusing on dyadic relationships, researchers need to consider ways in which the social status of ethnic minority groups may shape the roles families play in children's lives. A social identity approach cannot account for all of the ways in which ethnicity plays a role in family relationships, but such a focus can help to integrate findings that have emerged in recent years as well as generate new and potentially fruitful questions as one move into the next quarter century of research on adolescent development within the family.