Article
Redeeming Immigrant Parents: How Korean American Emerging Adults Reinterpret Their Childhood
Journal of Adolescent Research
(2010)
Abstract
Korean American youth experience immigration-related parent-child challenges including language barriers, parent-child conflicts, and generational cultural divides. Using grounded theory methods, this article examines the ways in which 18 Korean American college-enrolled emerging adults retrospectively made sense out of their experiences of immigrant family hardships. Of those who narrated childhood hardship, over half narrated positive change in which they reinterpreted their relationship to their parents and redeemed their immigrant parents either through their own maturation or through spirituality. This narrative strategy is consistent with cognitive change in emerging adults’ view of their parents that have been documented in other studies (Arnett, 2004). Only a minority of participants did not narrate positive changes and remained distressed over their relationship to their parents. Findings suggest the possibility that narration of positive change is a culturally salient process by which many Korean American emerging adults come to terms with early family challenges.
Keywords
- emerging adulthood,
- ethnic issues,
- family relationships,
- identity issues,
- immigration issues,
- positive youth development
Disciplines
Publication Date
March, 2010
DOI
10.1177/0743558410361371
Publisher Statement
The final definitive version of this paper has been published in the Journal of Adolescent Research, Volume 25 issue 3, March 2010 published by SAGE Publishing, All right reserved.
To find the full published article follow the link: https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558410361371
Citation Information
Kang, H., Okazaki, S., & Abelmann, N., Kim-Prieto, C., & Lan, S. (2010). Redeeming immigrant parents: How Korean American young adults narrate their childhood. Journal of Adolescent Research, 25, 441-464.