Familism as a Predictor of Parent–Adolescent Relationships and Developmental Outcomes for Adolescents in Armenian American Immigrant Families

Abstract

We investigated associations between familism, parent-adolescent relationships, and developmental outcomes for a sample of 97 Armenian adolescents in immigrant families. Our results suggested that adolescents emphasizing family needs over their own were more likely to report conformity to parents’ wishes, respect for parental authority, and disclosure to parents about activities. Familism was also related to self-esteem in a positive manner, and a negative association was found between familism and self-derogation. Additionally, our results suggested that familism may have indirect associations with self-derogation via more collectivistic parent–adolescent relations. An unexpected finding emerged as conformity to parental expectations was positively associated with self-derogation. This finding undermines the argument that familism benefits adolescents and may point to potential feelings of ambivalence for adolescents from immigrant families trying to balance cultural values of parents with those of mainstream American society.