Acculturative Family Distancing, Mother–Daughter Relationship, and Well-Being Among Asian Americans

Abstract

This study examined how mother–daughter connectedness may moderate: (a) the effect of acculturative family distancing (AFD) on psychological well-being (PWB), (b) the effect of mother–daughter conflict on PWB, and (c) the mediation effect of AFD on PWB through mother–daughter conflict. Four hundred and ten Asian American students completed an online survey. Our first hypothesis was not supported; the relation between AFD and PWB was significantly negative for those with higher connectedness but not significant for those with lower connectedness. We found support for the second and third hypotheses, whereby the associations were significantly negative at very low levels of connectedness, significantly positive at very high levels of connectedness, and not statistically significant at low, moderate, or high levels of connectedness. Our findings highlight the protective nature of connectedness in the mother–daughter relationship, which challenges the notion that cultural differences within Asian American families are necessarily associated with negative outcomes.