Chinese Adolescent Immigrants: Factors Related to Psychosocial Adjustment

Abstract

Chinese adolescent immigrants from the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) are a rapidly growing and understudied group of minority youth. This study examined several factors related to the psychosocial adjustment of 113 Chinese youth who had immigrated to the U.S. from the P.R.C. The study was designed to delineate the relationship between psychosocial adjustment and several demographic variables, family functioning variables, English language proficiency, and value orientation (collectivism vs. individualism). Results indicate the following: (1) participants who received higher “family conflict” scores, lower “family organization” scores, and higher “authoritarianism” scores reported lower levels of psychosocial functioning; (2) participants who preferred to use English reported more individual psychosocial adjustment problems than those who preferred to use Chinese; and (3) the relationship between language preference and adjustment was mediated by “value orientation.” Results indicated that Chinese adolescent immigrants who preferred English were less “collectivistic” and that lower collectivism scores were linked to lower levels of psychosocial functioning.