Adolescent Prejudice towards Immigrants: The Role of Parents and the Effect of Adolescent Prejudice on Self-Identity and Coping Styles

Lim, Ji Young; Chung, Grace H.

doi:2012.50.6.1

J. Korean Home Econ. Assoc > Volume 50(6); 2012 > Article

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association 2012;50(6):1-11. doi: https://doi.org/10.6115/khea.2012.50.6.001

Adolescent Prejudice towards Immigrants: The Role of Parents and the Effect of Adolescent Prejudice on Self-Identity and Coping Styles

Ji Young Lim¹, Grace H. Chung²

¹Major in Child and Family Studies·CBA(Center for Beautiful Aging), Kyungpook National University
²Department of Child and Family Studies·Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University

Corresponding Author: Grace H. Chung ,Tel: +82-2-880-1620, Fax: +82-2-873-8517, Email: gracechung@snu.ac.kr

Received: April 16, 2012; Revised: May 8, 2012 Accepted: July 19, 2012.

ABSTRACT

As the immigrant population is rapidly growing in South Korea, it is important for the next generation of Korean adolescents to foster unprejudiced attitudes towards immigrants. This paper thus seeks to shed light on adolescent prejudice towards immigrants, by addressing the following three questions: (1) Does a mother’s prejudice towards immigrants and parenting style influence their adolescent children’s prejudice towards immigrants? (2) Does an adolescent’s prejudice towards immigrants influence his/her self-identity? (3) Does an adolescent’s prejudice towards immigrants influence his/her coping styles? The sample consisted of 288 pairs of Korean adolescents and their mothers. According to hierarchical regression analyses, a mother’s prejudice towards immigrants significantly predicted her adolescent’s prejudice towards immigrants, after taking sociodemographic variables into account, whereas her parenting style did not. In addition, having a low level of prejudice towards immigrants among adolescents predicted high levels of self-identity (e.g. independence, proprioceptive, and mission orientation), and a greater use of positive coping skills (e.g. support-seeking and problem-solving). Overall, results showed that mothers played a significant role in shaping their adolescent’s prejudice towards immigrants. Results also provided evidence that prejudice towards immigrants may interfere with the healthy development of self-identity and coping style during adolescence. In conclusion, this study suggests that multicultural education for adolescents can be more effective, when it is provided in partnership with a parent education program that is designed to raise parental multicultural awareness.

Keywords: adolescents, prejudice towards immigrants, coping style, self-identity, multicultural society