Puerto Rican adolescents’ visits to the island, familial ethnic socialization, and cultural orientation

Abstract

AbstractFamilial ethnic socialization is an important way in which Latino youth in the United States become oriented toward their culture. Although many Latino adolescents have contact with their familial homelands outside the United States, which may also promote their cultural orientation, extant research has focused on familial ethnic socialization within the U.S. The present study examined visits to the familial homeland as an ethnic socialization process among 105 stateside Puerto Rican adolescents (M = 15.96 years, SD = 1.41; 52% girls). Factor analyses suggested that visits to Puerto Rico and familial ethnic socialization were not part of the same construct. Moreover, path analyses showed that visits to Puerto Rico and familial ethnic socialization were associated with different aspects of Puerto Rican youths’ cultural orientation. Consistent with previous work, increased familial ethnic socialization was associated with greater ethnic identity and overall endorsement of the Latino values of family obligations and respeto. In contrast, more frequent visits to Puerto Rico were associated with greater expected endorsement of family obligations and respeto in challenging daily life situations.