Multiple contexts, multiple methods: a study of academic and cultural identity among children of immigrant parents

Abstract

Multiple methods were used to examine the academic motivation and cultural identity of a sample of college undergraduates. The children of immigrant parents (CIPs, n = 52) and the children of non-immigrant parents (non-CIPs, n = 42) completed surveys assessing core cultural identity, valuing of cultural accomplishments, academic self-concept, valuing of academics, and feelings of belonging at the university. Survey results revealed that CIP's placed a greater emphasis on their cultural identity than non-CIPs. In addition, core cultural identity was associated with all three of the motivation scales for CIPs, but only with valuing of academics for the non-CIPs. Implicit association tests revealed that CIPs and non-CIPs both associated success with Caucasians more strongly than with Hispanics, a result that was true even for the Hispanic participants in the study. Finally, a sub-group of 11 CIPs were interviewed to gain additional insights regarding the association between cultural identity and academic motivation. The influence of the multiple contexts in which CIPs operate is used to interpret these results.