Acculturation and Korean‐American Children’s Social and Play Behavior

Abstract

This study examined how acculturation styles are related to Korean immigrant mothers’ parenting and play attitudes and their young children’s social and play behavior. 108 Korean‐American and 52 European‐American mothers completed the Parents as Teacher Inventory and a play questionnaire. Observers recorded children’s social and play behavior during free play activities in their preschool, and teachers rated their social behavior. Korean‐American mothers completed an acculturation measure. Results showed Korean‐American mothers who had an ‘assimilated’ acculturation style, were more accepting and encouraging of children’s creativity and play, and reported more parent‐child play in the home than mothers with an integrated, marginal, or separated acculturation styles. Children of assimilated and integrated mothers engaged in more frequent pretend play and were rated by their teachers as being more difficult. The results suggest there are distinct cultures of family life and childhood that manifest themselves as Korean immigrant families individually adapt to life in the U.S. The findings support the importance of examining cultural differences that exist between people whose ancestry can be traced to the same nationality.