Language and Conflict 1
Running Head: Language Patterns and Intergenerational Conflict
Can We Talk?
Language Patterns and Intergenerational Conflict
In Vietnamese-American Families
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Abstract
This study assessed the role of language patterns, parents’ gender, and conflict in parent-
adolescent interactions as reported by 65 Vietnamese-American college students. The study
tested three hypotheses about the relationship between language patterns – whether reciprocal
(parents and their children speaking Vietnamese or English) or non-reciprocal (parents speaking
Vietnamese and adolescents speaking or responding in English) – and intergenerational conflict
across three topic domains (family expectations, dating and marriage, and education and career).
Contrary to predictions, adolescents reported (1) speaking Vietnamese more than English with
their parents across all three domains, (2) low levels of conflict across all three domains and (3)
no gender differences in conflict levels between adolescents and both parents in either language
pattern across all three domains. Implications for research on culture and communication are
discussed.
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Can We Talk?
Language Patterns and Intergenerational Conflict
In Vietnamese-American Families
Vietnamese Americans are currently the largest group of Southeast Asian immigrants in
the United States (Southeast Asia Action Resource Center, n.d.). The U.S. Census Bureau (U.S.
Census, 2000.) reported a national population growth of Vietnamese Americans from half a
million in 1990 to 1.1 million in 2000 due to immigration and U.S. birth rates. Unlike the
Chinese or Japanese who have been in the United States for many generations, Vietnamese
Americans are a recent immigrant group. The first significant wave of Vietnamese immigration
began with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Most of these immigrants were professionals
and middle class families, including military officers and civilians who had worked closely with
the United States (Poole, 2005). From 1977 to the mid 1980’s, a second wave of Vietnamese
refugees fled Vietnam as a result of the new Communist government’s implementation of
economic, political and agricultural policies. Most of these immigrants were farmers and less
skilled Vietnamese from rural areas (Poole, 2005). From the mid 1980’s to the present, a third
wave of Vietnamese refugees arrived to the U.S. through the Refugee Act of 1980, a law
designed to reduce restrictions on refugee entry to the United States and allow for increase in
government funding of assistance programs for refugees (Povell, 2005). Many of these
immigrants were also farmers and less skilled Vietnamese from rural areas (Poole, 2005).
Although often categorized with other Asian groups, Vietnamese Americans are unique
from other Asian groups in their social history. For example, the Vietnamese refugee experience
and reasons for immigration differ from other recent Asian immigrant groups, such as Koreans,
who left their countries not to escape death, but to seek better opportunities. In contrast,
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Vietnamese refugees, similar to other Southeast Asian groups such as Cambodian, and Laotian
Hmong, fled their homelands because of the unsettled political climate in Southeast Asia during
the 1970’s (Frye, 1995). During the Vietnam War, many Southeast Asians fled for their lives,
often escaping by open sea, hoping to reach for safety in Thailand (Frye, 1995). Survivors spent
long and arduous years in border camps full of violence. Many have suffered from years of war,
separation from family and friends, cultural disruption, experiences of torture, “reeducation
camps”, and escape to refugee camps (Frye, 1995).
Although the Vietnamese are often grouped with other Southeast Asians because of
similar refugee experiences, there are distinct differences in cultural practices, customs, and
family patterns among the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian Hmong (Frye, 1995). For
example, the traditional Vietnamese family unit includes extended family members, while
Cambodian families also include fictive kin, defined as individuals not related but who fit into
the family by circumstances or personal preference. In contrast, Hmong families extend to clan
members. Although past research has compared the impact of immigration on adolescent
development on topics such as language preference and proficiency among children from various
Southeast Asian groups, including Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laos (Rumbaut, 1995, 1997,
2008), this study specifically focused on language and conflict patterns of Vietnamese American
parents and their children.
Among the many social and structural changes felt by individuals during immigration,
one issue that directly affects many immigrant families in the U.S is the impact of English
language acquisition on family dynamics. In many immigrant homes, including Vietnamese,
children typically learn and adopt the English language more rapidly while their parents maintain
the language of origin (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000). Because immigrant adolescents tend to acquire
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English more rapidly than their parents, changes in language patterns and usage could have a
significant influence on the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship (Tseng & Fuligni,
2000). This study investigated how parent-adolescent language patterns in discussions about
family expectation, education and career, and dating and marriage in Vietnamese-American
immigrant families relate to conflict levels in the home. In addition, the role of parents’ gender
was examined to determine whether adolescents reported higher levels of conflict with mothers
or fathers across these three topic domains.
The language used in immigrant families often reflects the various language abilities of
family members (Veltman, 1983). In a sample of East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and
Vietnamese), Filipino, and Latin American (Mexican, Salvadoran, Nicaraguan, and other Central
and South American) adolescents, Tseng and Fuligni (2000) found that in some homes, parents
and adolescents communicated primarily in English whereas in other families, communication
was predominantly in the native language. Within a third group of immigrant families, a pattern
of non-reciprocal languages emerged where parents spoke with their children in the native
language, but the children responded in English. Tseng and Fuligni (2000) also examined how
reciprocal and non-reciprocal language uses in families related to cohesion levels within parent-
adolescent relationships in immigrant families. Their findings indicate that adolescents who
conversed with their parents in their native language reported the highest level of cohesion,
whereas those who spoke non-reciprocal languages with their parents reported more emotional
distance.
Although these findings by Tseng and Fuligni (2000) provide insight into the relationship
between levels of cohesion and dominant language pattern usage between immigrant parents and
their children, three key issues need further attention. First, specific patterns within domains or
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topics of conversation have not been examined. For example, parents and children may switch
between languages depending on the topic of conversation with each speaking in the language
they are more comfortable with and proficient in for topics that are difficult or controversial. In
addition, language patterns could impact the quality of parent-child relationships in immigrant
families not only through feelings of cohesion, but also through feelings of conflict. For
instance, while conversing in a common language can promote feelings of cohesion between
parents and adolescents (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000), speaking in non-reciprocal languages could
bring forth greater misunderstanding and frustration, especially when meanings of words
translate differently in another language. Lastly, the tendency to use reciprocal or non-reciprocal
language patterns may relate to proficiency levels of English for parents and Vietnamese for
adolescents.
Language Loss and Parent-Child Relationship Quality
What happens to immigrant children when the communication tool of their parents differs
from the tool taught to them by mainstream society? As Miller (2002) noted, language connects
children to the social world around them. For immigrant children in the United States, their
social world in the home may contrast significantly with that at school or with peers. Some
immigrant children learn English in school and quickly become comfortable conversing in the
language of the host culture. This proficiency can impact parent-child language patterns as
parents struggle to communicate with their children in the native language. The lack of a strong
common language between parents and children can weaken family structure and result in a loss
of shared beliefs and understandings. Furthermore, when parents and children are not able to
share in genuine conversation on important topics, parents are no longer able to convey family
values (Fillmore, 1991, 1994). In a multi-ethnic interview study of Latino, East and Southeast
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Asian, American Indian, and Arab families, Fillmore (1991) found that immigrant parents
reported feeling helpless as their children became adolescents. Many parents felt that they could
not influence their children against peer pressure or problems in school when they did not share a
proficient common language with their child.
This language barrier can also lead adolescents to feel frustrated and alienated from their
parents, especially when they cannot share their thoughts and concerns with their parents
(Fillmore, 1991, 1994). In one study with Southeast Asian adolescents in Canada, Hyman, Vu,
and Beiser (2000) found that parent-child relationships were strained due to language problems.
Although the first language of the adolescents was that of their parents, many youths quickly
adopted English as their primary language of communication. Some youth born in Canada or
arrived very young never proficiently learned the native language while others quickly lost
proficiency. As a result, conversations occurred in non-reciprocal language patterns, where
parents spoke in the native language while adolescents spoke or responded in English. Many of
these adolescents had difficulties articulating aspects of their school and social lives to their
parents in the native language because much of what happens socially occurs in English. One 15
year-old girl who immigrated to Canada at age 10 and who felt more comfortable responding to
the interview in English stated that
Sometimes I speak to my parents in English. I say things better in English than
Vietnamese, especially when it comes to dating and all that stuff, and sometimes you
can’t put the same thing in both languages. I think I speak Vietnamese most of the time.
Just common things around the house, but then we don’t really go into deep discussions
or anything. I wish that either I could speak Vietnamese better or they could speak
English better so that we can talk. (p. 286).
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Furthermore, Lee (1983) found that parent-adolescent conversations using non-reciprocal
languages are often plagued by repeated difficulties in expressing complex emotions and
concerns. These frustrations and miscommunications across time along with emotional distance
could result in children’s reluctance to discuss personal problems with their parents. Tseng and
Fuligni (2000) also speculate that adolescents who have difficult parent-child relationships may
use English as a way to distance themselves from their parents. For example, parents and
adolescents may switch to the language each is more comfortable with and proficient in for
topics that are difficult or controversial while utilizing reciprocal language for general
conversations.
Although some adolescents may speak reciprocal languages with their parents, Tseng and
Fuligni (2000) found that adolescents who spoke reciprocal English patterns, where both parents
and adolescents converse in English, reported lower levels of cohesion in discussions compared
to those who spoke reciprocal native patterns, where both parents and adolescents converse in
the native language. The researchers posit that although second generation youths and their
parents may use English in conversation if parents could speak English, parents may still lacked
the English proficiency of their children. Because of this, parents may not have the ability to
express their concerns in English or fully appreciate their children’s perspectives on issues
(Tseng & Fuligni, 2000). As a result, adolescents who mutually communicated in the native
language reported the highest level of cohesion in discussion, had the closest relationships with
their mothers, and were most likely to discuss concerns with both parents (Tseng & Fuligni,
2000).
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Tseng and Fuligni’s (2000) findings on language patterns used in immigrant parent-
adolescent communication points to the question of conversation domains in examining family
conflict. Although these researchers investigated the association between language pattern and
relationship quality, the pattern of language use in different topics of conversation needs further
examination. More specially, immigrant parents and adolescents may utilize one language
pattern more frequently than others in the home, but patterns may change depending on the
topic of conversation. In addition, language patterns could impact the quality of parent-
adolescent relationships in immigrant families not only through feelings of cohesion, but also
through feelings of conflict. To illustrate, Chung (2001) found that college-age Chinese,
Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian women reported greater
intergenerational conflict over issues of dating and marriage than their male counterparts
perhaps due to restrictive parental standards for behavior and dating with girls. Furthermore,
Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian adolescents reported greater intergenerational
conflict over family expectations than Japanese adolescents which may relate to Koreans and
Southeast Asians being newer immigrant groups than the Japanese.
Based on previous findings on the negative impact of non-reciprocal language patterns
(Tseng & Fuligni, 2000) and issues of parent-adolescent conflict (Chung, 2001), our first
hypothesis predicted that adolescents would report reciprocal native language patterns for
discussions centered on education and career, and non-reciprocal language patterns for
conversations about family expectations and dating and marriage. Based on these same findings,
our second hypothesis predicted that adolescents would report conflict levels that were reflective
of language patterns, such that topics discussed in a non-reciprocal pattern would be associated
with higher levels of conflict than topics discussed in reciprocal languages.
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Parents’ Gender and Family Communication
Longitudinal findings have indicated that the association between language patterns and
parent-child relationship quality is often established prior to mid-adolescence and remains stable
through late adolescence (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000). Authors (1993) found that father-adolescent
relationships in Chinese, Filipino, European, Mexican, and Vietnamese American immigrant
families were more formal than mother-adolescent or sibling relationships. Further analysis of
the same data revealed that Vietnamese adolescents reported lower levels of self-assertion in
communicating with their fathers than mothers (Authors, 2007) suggesting less open
communication with fathers than with mothers.
Interestingly, Rhee, Chang, and Rhee (2003), found that Asian adolescents reported
greater difficulty in communicating with their fathers than did European American adolescents.
In addition, these Asian adolescents were more cautious in what they said and in expressing their
beliefs to their fathers. Although Asian adolescents reported both parents as not being good
listeners, they felt that their fathers overall were more difficult to communicate with than their
mothers, because of the strong emphasis on the unquestioned authority of fathers in Asian
culture. Based on these studies, one important question is the impact of parents’ gender on
language pattern and intergenerational conflict. For example, do fathers tend to use one type of
pattern more often than mothers, and how does this relate to adolescent conflict levels with each
parent? Our third hypothesis predicted that adolescents would report greater conflict with fathers
than mothers across topics due to more formal communication with fathers (Authors, 1993; Rhee
et al., 2003; Authors, 2007).
In sum, this study evaluated the relationship between language patterns, parents’ gender,
and conflict levels between Vietnamese-American parents and their adolescents with three
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hypotheses. First, based on past findings on the negative impact of non-reciprocal language
patterns (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000) and issues of parent-child conflict (Chung, 2001), it was
predicted that adolescents would report reciprocal native language patterns (both parents and
adolescents speaking native language) for discussions centered on education and career and non-
reciprocal language patterns (parents speaking the native language and adolescents speaking or
responding in English) for conversations about family expectations and dating and marriage.
Second, based on these same findings, it was predicted that adolescents would report conflict
levels that reflected language patterns with topics discussed in a non-reciprocal pattern (parents
speaking Vietnamese and adolescents speaking or responding in English) associated with greater
conflict than topics discussed in reciprocal languages, where parents and adolescents are
speaking the same language whether Vietnamese or English (Chung, 2001; Tseng & Fuligni,
2000). Third, based on previous findings of more formal communication between adolescents
and their fathers than with their mothers (Authors, 1993; Rhee, Chang, and Rhee, 2003; Authors,
2007), it was predicted that adolescents would report greater conflict with fathers than mothers
across topics.
Method
Participants
Participants in this study consisted of 65 Vietnamese-American college students of whom
48 were American-born second-generation and 17 were Vietnamese-born first-generation.
Respondents’ ages ranged from 18 to 28, with a mean of 20.0 years (SD = 2.26). Participants
were recruited from psychology classes and student organizations from two universities in
Northern California. The sample consisted of a greater number of females (n = 33, 56%) than
males (n = 26, 44%). The average age of immigration for the first-generation students was 7.0
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years (SD = 3.64, n = 14) with a range of 2.0 to 12.50. Five first-generation participants did not
report their age of immigration or the information to calculate it.
Procedure
Surveys were individually distributed and collected by researchers. Participants
completed the surveys in a classroom or a quiet available area. The surveys took approximately
20 minutes to complete. Participants who requested to take the surveys home to complete were
allowed to do so.
Measures
Demographics. Demographics questions asked about family background. The first set
of questions asked about the participant while the second half of the survey asked about their
parents. The majority of the questions focused on education level and generational status of
parents and adolescents.
Parent-Child Language. Based on a prior survey (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000), questions
asked about the language adolescents and each of their parents use to communicate in general
and on topics of family expectation, education and career, and dating and marriage. For
example, adolescents were asked, “What language do you speak the most when you talk to your
mother about family expectations?” and “What language does your father speak the most when
he talks to you about family expectations?” Each response was then coded for English or for
native language.
Parent-Adolescent Conflict. Chung’s (2001) modified version of the Intergenerational
Conflict Inventory, called the ICI-Mother-Father (ICI-MF), was used to assess college students’
current relationships with their parents. The ICI was developed to measure the type and severity
of intergenerational conflict between Asian-American adolescents/young adults and their
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parents. Unlike other measures of intergenerational conflict, this survey taps three domains of
potential conflict most relevant to Asian-American families with three subscales: conflict about
family expectations (FE) or culturally related expectations such as following cultural traditions
and learning the ethnic language, education and career (EC), and dating and marriage (DM)
(Chung, 2001). The ICI-MF is identical to the original version except the response ratings are
available separately for mothers and fathers. This 24-item scale is intended for Asian-American
young adults from ages 17 to approximately 30 years or until married. Table 1 lists the items in
each domain.
Participants rated each item between 1 (no conflict over this issue) to 6 (a lot of conflict
over this issue). To calculate the total score for each subscale, responses for the items in each
subscale were averaged. Within each subscale, the ICI’s published reliabilities range from .81 to
.87 (Chung, 2001). For this study, Cronbach’s alpha for the entire scale was acceptable at .92 for
mothers and .91 for fathers, with subscales ranging from .80 to .92 for both mothers and fathers.
Results
In summary, results showed more adolescents using native reciprocal language patterns
compared to other patterns in discussions across the three topic domains. Additionally, no
significant differences were found between reported conflict levels for adolescents using
reciprocal or non-reciprocal language patterns on any of the three topic domains. Lastly, no
significant differences were found between adolescents’ reported levels of conflict between their
fathers and mothers for conversations across the three topic domains
More specifically, the first hypothesis was partially supported because more adolescents
reported using native reciprocal language patterns compared to other patterns in discussions
centered on education and career with mothers (57%, n = 37) and fathers (59%, n = 38).
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Contrary to predictions, however, adolescents also reported using native reciprocal language
patterns more so than non-reciprocal patterns for conversations about family expectations with
mothers (69%, n = 44) and fathers (68%, n = 44). More adolescents also reported using native
reciprocal language patterns than non-reciprocal patterns for conversations about dating and
marriage with mothers (61%, n = 37) and fathers (61%, n = 36). See Table 2 for descriptive
data.
Contrary to the second hypothesis, that non-reciprocal language patterns would be
associated with higher conflict than reciprocal patterns, there were no significant differences
between reported conflict levels for adolescents using the two language patterns on any of the
three topic domains, whether discussing family expectations (t(55) = 0.26, p = .79, n.s.),
education and career (t(50) = 0.63, p = .53, n.s.), or dating and marriage (t(46) = 0.89, p = .38,
n.s.). See Table 3 for descriptive data.
Finally, contrary to the third hypothesis, no significant differences were found between
adolescents’ reported levels of conflict between their fathers and mothers for conversations about
family expectations, education and career, and dating and marriage in both reciprocal (t(102) =
.07, p = .94, n.s , t(100) = .60, p = .55, n.s., and t(93) = .60, p = .55, n.s , respectively) and non-
reciprocal (t(20) = -.74, p = .47, n.s , t(23) = 1.47, p = .16, n.s , and t(20) = 0.32, p = .75, n.s ,
respectively) language group patterns. See Table 4 for descriptive data.
Discussion
In summary, the findings revealed three surprises. First, this sample of mostly second-
generation Vietnamese-American adolescents (74%) reported speaking Vietnamese more than
English with their parents about family expectations, education and career, and dating and
marriage. Secondly, there were no reported differences in levels of conflict across the three topic
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domains. Finally, adolescents reported no differences in conflict levels between themselves and
their mothers and fathers in either language pattern across the three topic domains of
conversation.
As noted, the first hypothesis was partially supported because the majority of adolescents
in this study reported conversing with their parents across all topics not only in reciprocal
languages, but in the reciprocal native language of Vietnamese. It seems that rather than losing
their native language, 81% of the adolescents in this study reported intermediate to advanced
levels of proficiency in speaking Vietnamese. Furthermore, 65% of adolescents indicated
intermediate to advance English proficiency levels for their mothers and 73% for fathers.
Therefore, parents and children could converse on important topics in English, but apparently
chose to discuss them in Vietnamese.
One explanation for this contrary finding may relate to the geographic location of this
study. The Vietnamese-American students in this study were recruited from universities near
San Jose, California, a city with the highest concentration of Vietnamese Americans in the
United States (U.S. Census, 2000). Perhaps living in an ethnically dense area has also provided
greater opportunities for these Vietnamese youth to learn and utilize their native language. Prior
work has indicated that ethnic enclaves may also be quite self-sufficient in providing
infrastructure and resources to support cultural traditions and practices, such as language schools
for children and cultural youth groups to foster a strong sense of community and ethnic pride
(Min, 1990).
To illustrate, an article (Nguyen, 2005) in a Vietnamese magazine discussed the lack of
English fluency in Orange County, California, home of Little Saigon. According to this article,
Little Saigon is virtually self sufficient. The streets are filled with Vietnamese businesses such as
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markets, restaurants, cafes, and shops. People do not need to know any English to interact with
others. Not surprisingly, a 2004 voter survey found that 59% of Vietnamese Americans in that
area (compared to only 25% of non-Vietnamese Asians) had limited English proficiency
(Nguyen, 2005). Perhaps in an ethnically self-sufficient community like Little Saigon, there is
very little need for adults to speak English. In a bilingual sample of Vietnamese high school
youth from Southern California and Florida, Rumbaut (1997) found that only 9.7% of
adolescents spoke English to their parents even though 51.5% reportedly preferred speaking in
English. Although parents and youth in our sample were proficient in both native and English
languages, it seems that parents and adolescents chose to converse in Vietnamese for discussions
on important topics.
The second hypothesis, which tested whether adolescents would report higher levels of
conflict on topics discussed in non-reciprocal patterns than reciprocal patterns, was not
supported. In other words, no significant differences in conflict levels were found between
adolescents who conversed with parents in the same (reciprocal) language or in different (non-
reciprocal) languages across all three topic domains. Although past research (Tseng & Fuligni,
2000) has suggested a relationship between language pattern and parent-adolescent cohesion, the
association between language pattern and conflict may be more complex and needs further
investigation.
In addition, the reported level of conflict was lower for adolescents in this study (M =
2.50) than for in a prior study using the same measure (Chung, 2001; M = 3.67) that was
conducted in Southern California for a subgroup of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian
participants. Possible explanations for the lower conflict levels between adolescents and their
parents found in this study may be related to the structure of Vietnamese families and the high
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density of Vietnamese San Jose, California. In addition, according to Chao and Tseng (2002),
Asian parents tend to emphasize the traditional value of family harmony in the home. Children
are expected to honor and respect their parents to maintain family harmony. Perhaps in an
ethnically dense Vietnamese area like San Jose, these traditional views of family structure and
filial piety are more salient for adolescents because the community is also reinforcing these
family values. The combination of family harmony being emphasized in the home along with
community reinforcement of these teachings may buffer feelings, or at least expressions, of
adolescents’ conflict towards their parents.
In addition, the items from the ICI (Chung, 2001) may reflect potential sources of conflict
between parents and adolescents, but do not tap adolescents’ reactions to these potential sources.
For example, this survey does not clarify whether adolescents would express feelings of conflict
to their parents or whether they would avoid expressing their negative feelings and why. In this
respect, future research could include focus groups to learn how adolescents conceptualize
parent-child conflict as well as how they react to conflict toward their parents and why they react
as such. It would also be useful to collect information about the relative frequency with which
each domain is discussed, since there might be an association between conflict and frequency of
discussion.
Lastly, the third hypothesis was not supported in that adolescents did not report
differences in conflict levels between their mothers and fathers in discussing family expectations,
education and career, and dating and marriage. This finding seems to contradict past studies
which found that Vietnamese adolescents reported lower levels of self-assertion in
communication with their fathers than with their mothers (Authors, 2007) suggesting less open
communication with fathers than with mothers. Although less open communication may
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increase communication frustrations and thus result in greater father-adolescent conflict, youth in
this study reported similarly low levels of conflict in conversations with their mothers as well as
their fathers in conversations about family expectations, education and career, and dating and
marriage. Therefore, open communication may not be related to conflict levels. In fact, in a
study of European-American youth, Authors (1998) found self-assertion and disagreements to be
orthogonal concepts in their study of individuality and connectedness in communication.
To follow-up on our quantitative findings of low conflict levels between Vietnamese
adolescents and their parents, we conducted a focus group with Vietnamese-American college
students in Northern California. The majority of students in the focus group confirmed our
findings of low parent-adolescent conflict as valid for them based on their own personal
experiences with their parents. Participants saw feelings of low conflict with their parents as a
reflection of having earned their parents’ trust by obtaining good grades in school and attending
college. One male Vietnamese college student stated, “My parents….are supportive and they
trust my judgment and trust whatever I do. I probably earned it through the years. I get good
grades and they are like okay, he knows what he’s doing.”
Although many noted that their immigrant parents were unfamiliar with the American
education system and were unable to be resources for specific information about school, most
agreed that their parents gave them support by talking about academic aspirations for and
expectations of their children. One male student explained:
My parents are very supportive, but they don’t have anything to talk about [pertaining to
college], because they don’t understand college level stuff. So they don’t understand
what I have to do. Like orientation and all that stuff, I have to take care myself. And like
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[with] classes and courses, they can say go into this major, but they don’t really know
what I have to do to get into it.
A female student added, “Both my parents want me to major in the medical field. And my mom
just wants me to finish early. She wants me to finish in four years which I need like five years to
finish.” Similar results of high academic aspirations have also been found with immigrant
Mexican-American youth and their parents in prior research (Authors, 1994).
In addition, participants who reported low conflict with their parents also felt that their
parents gave them recognition and acknowledgment for navigating their academic pathway
successfully. As a result, these students believed that their academic achievements served as an
indication to their parents of their good judgment and maturity in making good decisions for the
future. In return, the adolescents felt that their parents rewarded them with further trust,
autonomy and respect. This sense of mutual trust and respect may serve to reduce potential
parent-child conflict during discussions about family expectation, education and career, and
dating and marriage.
Future Directions
Based on preliminary findings with our focus group, it seems that academic success in
Vietnamese-American families may foster parent-adolescent mutual respect, adolescent autonomy, and
family harmony. This in turn, may motivate adolescents to continue achieving academically which
would contribute to a positive student identity for youth. Future research can investigate the relationship
between academic success and family harmony. In addition, researchers can extend the findings from
this study by evaluating acculturation levels of both parents and adolescents along with language
patterns to see how both can impact levels of conflict in conversations about family expectations,
education and career, and dating and marriage.
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Another suggestion for future studies would be to examine the interplay between cohesion and
conflict in parent-adolescent relationships. Rather than being mutually exclusive, the constructs of
cohesion and conflict can consist of ongoing mutual regulation of one another similar to individuality
and connectedness in parent-adolescent communication (Authors, 1998). This bidimensional
perspective may show that parent-adolescent relationships could have high levels of cohesion and
conflict, low levels of both, or high levels of one but low levels of the other. In addition, future studies
can also investigate how cohesion and conflict relate to other patterns of interaction such as individuality
and connectedness (Authors, 1998) or autonomy and relatedness (Kagitcibasi, 2005).
Researchers can also incorporate additional qualitative methods, such as individual interviews or
multiple focus groups, to better understand how adolescents are conceptualizing intergenerational
conflict including reactions to conflict, and culturally appropriate ways to resolve conflict with parents.
It may also be appropriate to differentiate between overt and covert conflict because the formalities of a
hierarchical family structure may make these two types of conflict expression more distinctive in
interactions. Since adolescents also seem to have more formal relationships with their fathers than with
their mothers and siblings (Authors., 1993), researchers can investigate the role mothers and siblings
play in mediating or being a “go-between” to buffer potential conflict with fathers on sensitive issues.
Future research can also examine the reason behind language pattern preferences and
how language preferences can help or hinder cohesion and conflict in family relationships. For
example, what are the reasons for using one language over another in conversation with parents?
In addition, immigrant language research can investigate the different ways in which bilingual
adolescents use language to negotiate with parents and the implications of code-switching in
conversing with different family members. Researchers can also evaluate blended language
patterns, where English and the native language are used in the same sentence, and assess its
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relation to individual identity development. With the increasing number of immigrant families in
the United States and other nations, language and bilingualism have become core concerns for
educators, counselors, and policy makers in economics, immigration, and family welfare.
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Language and Conflict 26
Table 1
Domain and Items for Scoring the ICI-MF
________________________________________________________________________
Domain Items
________________________________________________________________________
Family Expectations (FE) Lack of communication with your parent
Your desire for greater independence and autonomy
Following cultural traditions
Pressure to learn one’s own Asian language
Expectations based on being male or female
Expectations based on birth order
Family relationships being too close
Family relationships being too distant
How much time to spend with the family
How much to help around the house
How much time to help out in the family business
Education and Career (EC) How much time to spend on studying
How much time to spend on recreation
How much time to spend on sports
How much time to spend on practicing music
Importance of academic achievement
Emphasis on success and materialism
Language and Conflict 27
Which school to attend
What to major in college
Which career to pursue
Being compared to others
Dating and Marriage (DM) Whom to date
When to marry
Whom to marry
_____________________________________________________________________
Language and Conflict 28
Table 2
Percentage of Language Patterns
Percentage (N=65)
____________________________________
Overall FE EC DM
________________________________________________________________________
Mothers
Reciprocal
Native 66.7% 68.8% 59.6% 60.7%
English 13.6% 12.5% 15.40% 16.4%
Non Reciprocal
Mother Native/Child English 19.7% 18.8% 27.7% 23.0%
Mother English/Child Native -- -- -- --
Fathers
Reciprocal
Native 61.5% 67.7% 58.5% 61.0%
English 21.5% 16.9% 30.8% 25.4%
Non Reciprocal
Father Native/Child English 12.3% 13.8% 10.8% 13.6%
Father English/Child Native 4.6% 1.5% -- --
Language and Conflict 29
Table 3
Average Scores of Conflict by Language Patterns for Three Domains
Mean Conflict Scores (SD)
________________________________________________
Reciprocal Non-ReciprocalDomain
Overall 2.51 (.84) 2.35 (.92)
Family Expectations 2.41 (.78) 2.33(.90)
Education and Career 2.71(.98) 2.43(1.26)
Dating and Marriage 2.43 (1.43) 1.89 (1.15)
Note: Maximum score = 6
Language and Conflict 30
Table 4
Average Scores of Conflict by Language Pattern and Parent Gender in Three Domains
Mean Scores (S.D)
________________________________________________
Reciprocal Non-Reciprocal
Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers
Overall 2.64 2.42 2.62 2.72(.98) (.87) (.90) (.94)
FE 2.41 2.40 2.59 2.30(.85) (.90) (1.02) (.80)
EC 2.83 2.70 3.18 2.37(1.14) (1.08) (1.30) (1.00)
DM 2.50 2.31 2.50 2.25(1.54) (1.55) (1.76) (1.73)
Note: Maximum score = 6