ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: IDENTITY FORMATION WITHIN INTERRACIAL AND MULTICULTURAL FAMILIES By Meng-Chuan Hsieh                     A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of  Human Development and Family Studies-Doctor of Philosophy 2016         ABSTRACT  ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: IDENTITY FORMATION WITHIN INTERRACIAL AND MULTICULTURAL FAMILIES  By  Meng-Chuan Hsieh  With the increasing number of interracial marriages in the United States, the development of mixed-race adolescents is an important issue for consideration. Two or more different cultures are integrated, providing adolescents with unique experiences that shape their world view. Many scholars have studied the ethnic identity formation and self-esteem of mixed adolescents. However, these studies do not adequately explain the influences of cultures on development. This research paper has three purposes: 1) to apply an ecological framework to understanding how interactions among family members in interracial and multicultural families influence the development of identity formation and self-esteem; 2) to discover whether multi-cultures, including host cultures, influence the psychosocial development; and 3) to provide understanding and self-esteem.  This research used the mixed methods approach because it provides different levels of data and information through which to explore the complicated processes of ethnic identity formation and self-esteem. For the quantitative section, Children of Immigrant Longitudinal Study (CILS) data are used for doing research. The sample size is 1,185. The statistical methods used are as follows: 1) Th-esteem in wave 1 and wave 2; and 2) The multinomial logistical regression ethnic identity formation. For the qualitative section, five college students from Michigan State University were recruited for in-depth multiple case study interviews. The main quantitative findings for self-cant --in wave 2. The results reveal the impact of host American  The main quantitative findings for ethnic identity formation show that foreign language   context and the American societal context, and their relationships to self-esteem and ethnic identity formation in mixed young adults. Mixed children tend to identify themselves as hyphenated Americans, and some struggle for self-identity. The reciprocal interactions between parents and adolescents help adolescents and young adults to be more adaptable and flexible in perceiving their environments.  The findings of the mixed methods approach demonstrate the influences of host American society and family of origin contexts. The findings also indicate that interracial and multi-essential to apply an ecological perspective when conducting research on the development of adolescents and young adults within interracial and multicultural families. Using a mixed methods approach enables more levels of data to be extracted, providing a more holistic view and self-esteem.                                                 Copyright by MENG-CHUAN HSIEH 2016 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS   Writing of this dissertation is a challenging process in my academic life. It reflects the theories and knowledge what I have learned through writing this dissertation.  As an international student, there are many challenges and difficulties for me to study abroad. I really appreciate my advisor, Dr. Lillian Phenice. Dr. Phenice always gives me confidence especially when I feel frustrated. She also provides me support for my life. She always guides me to the proper directions when I have new ideas and learn new knowledge through a lot of discussion. I deeply show my gratitude to Dr. Phenice for her encouragement and support during the processes of pursuing my Ph.D. degree and writing of this dissertation. She is not only my advisor in my academic life but also my mentor in my life. Furthermore, she is my family in the U.S.  I would like to thank my committee members: Dr. Robert Griffore, Dr. Lawrence Schiamberg, and Dr. Ronald Hall. They provide me many beneficial suggestions for this dissertation and research opportunities. Dr. Griffore gives me many useful comments for doing research and being a TA. Through the independent study with Dr. Griffore, I applied the knowledge of Human Ecology in this dissertation. Dr. Schiamberg also provides me plentiful opportunities and experiences for doing research in human development and family studies, and vi he also encourages me in many ways. Dr. Hall provides me opportunities and experiences for doing research in different field which makes me to have various perspectives for this dissertation.  I would like to thank my colleagues in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies: Grace Chee, Wen Wang, and Tzu-Fen Chang. They provide me emotional support and help for my academic life since I came to the United States. I also appreciate my friends, Chi Chang, I-Chien Chen, Wen-Hsin Chen, and Yan-Liang Yu, who provide me support and help in my MSU life.  I would like to show my deepest appreciation for my parents. They provide me the strongest support for my academic life and personal life. They always give me the best advises when I have to make decision. I also appreciate my sisters family for emotional support. I would like to thank my two cousins and their families for helping me adjust to American life. Especially, I would like to show my gratitude to a senior who guides me in many ways since I was young. I especially thank my husband, Wei-Lin Wang and my baby, to provide me support to finish up.     vii TABLE OF CONTENTS   LIST OF TABLES                   x  LIST OF FIGURES                   xi  CHAPTER 1  INTRODUCTION             1    Statement of the Problem           1    Significance and Relevance of the Problem       2    Purposes of the Study            5    Research Questions            6       Research Questions of Quantitative study.       6       Hypothesis             6       Research Questions of Qualitative study.       8    Theoretical Backgrounds           8                Human Ecology.            8       Psychosocial Development Theory.        9  CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW            11    Psychosocial Development: Self-esteem and Ethnic Identity Formation 11    Ethnic Identity Formation within Interracial and Multicultural Families 13    Acculturation and Psychosocial Development       15    Hybrid Cultures and Interracial and Multicultural Families    18    Influences of Family Cohesion on Human Psychosocial Development  21  CHAPTER 3 METHODS              24    Mixed Methods             24    Research Design             25    The First Phase: Quantitative method        27     Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) data.   27       Sample.              27       Main measures of the study.         28       Adolescents ethnic identity.          29      Self-esteem.             29       Controlling variables.           30       Respondents acculturation.          30       Parents ethnic identity.           31       Parents socioeconomic status.         32       Parental acculturation.           32       Within the family.            33     Data analysis for quantitative study.        34    The Second Phase: Qualitative Study         35         Phenomenology.            35       Research design for qualitative study.       36       Sample for Qualitative Study.         37       Data analysis.             37     Trustworthiness.            38   CHAPTER 4 QUANTITATIVE FINDINGS           39    Introduction               39    Imputation               39 viii    Descriptive Statistics            40     Description of adolescents backgrounds and identity formation.  40     Influence of parents backgrounds on a  43 The influences of acculturation within interracial and multicultural families.              45 Cultural practices within interracial and multicultural families.  47    Adolescents Self-esteem within Interracial and Multicultural Families 48     Zero-order correlation of variables.        49 ioeconomic status on adolescents self-esteem in Wave 1.             50 ioeconomic status on adolescents self-esteem  in Wave 2.             55 e Interracial and Multicultural Families                 60    Results of Quantitative Findings          64     Hypothesis 1a.            64     Hypothesis 1b.            65     Hypothesis 1c.            65     Hypothesis 2a.            66     Hypothesis 2b.            67     Hypothesis 2c.            68     Hypothesis 2d.            68     Hypothesis 2e.            69     Hypothesis 3.             69  CHAPTER 5  QUALITATIVE FINDINGS           70    Introduction               70    Multiple Case Study Analysis           71    Semi-structured Interview            73    Description of Participants           76     Introduction.             76     Alice.              77     Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information.      77     Ethnic identity formation.          78     Languages used at home.          79     Parenting within interracial and multicultural family.     80     Family cohesion and Familism.         80     Acculturation.             82     Brianna.              84     Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information.      84     Ethnic identity formation.          84     Languages used at home.          85     Parenting within interracial and multicultural family.     85     Family cohesion and Familism.         86     Acculturation.             87     Carter.              89     Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information.      89     Ethnic identity formation.          89     Languages used at home.          89     Parenting within interracial and multicultural family.     90     Family cohesion and Familism.         91     Acculturation.             93     Doris.              95     Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information.      95 ix     Ethnic identity formation.          95     Languages used at home.          95     Parenting within interracial and multicultural family.     96     Family cohesion and Familism.         97     Acculturation.             98     Fiona.                 99     Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information.      99     Ethnic identity formation.          99     Languages used at home.          99     Parenting within interracial and multicultural family.       100     Family cohesion and Familism.           101     Acculturation.               101 Cross-cases Analysis on Ethnic Identity Formation and Self-esteem with   Interracial and Multicultural Families                          102     The development of ethnic identity and self-esteem of young adults     within interracial and multicultural families.        103     Integration of multiple cultures within interracial and multicultural     families.                            110     The influence of family cohesion and familism on self-esteem and     ethnic identity formation within interracial and multicultural     families.                116     The influences of acculturation on mixed adolescents and young     adults development.              121  CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION                126    Discussion                 126     The influences of host society and family contexts on mixed  adolescents and young adults.           126              Hybrid children and their flexibility on mixed child development.   128 Implications of the Findings             128 Limitation of this Research             130 Summary                 131 Quantitative section.             131 Qualitative findings.             134  APPENDICES                  138 Appendix  A.  Table 9. Percentage Distribution of Missing Values of Study  Variables                 139 Appendix  B.  Table 10. Intercorrelations for Study Variables in Wave 1     141 Appendix  C.   Table 11. Zero-order Intercorrelations for Study Variables in  Wave 2                                                142 Appendix  D.   IRB Approval Letter            143 Appendix  E.   Consent From for Participation in a Research Study      144 Appendix  F.   Interview Questions            148 Appendix   G.   Optional Definitions            152  REFERENCES                  153        x LIST OF TABLES   Table 1.   Percentage Distribution of Indicators with Imputation Used in the Adolescent Backgrounds on Adolescents Identity Formation        41  Table 2.   Percentage Distribution of Indicators with Imputation Used in Parents Backgrounds on Adolescents Identity Formation.                   44  Table 3.   Percentage Distribution of Indicators with Imputation Used in the Acculturation on             46  Table 4.   Percentage Distribution of Indicators with Imputation Used in the Cultural Practices within Interracial Families on y              48  Table 5.   Structural Equation Modeling for Predicting Self-esteem in Wave 1       53  Table 6.   Structural Equation Modeling for Predicting Self-Esteem in Wave 2       57  Table 7.   Multinominal Logistic Regression MEthnic Identity   63  Table 8.   Description of Participants for Qualitative Study       77  Table 9.   Percentage Distribution of Missing Values of Study Variables                139  Table 10.  Zero-order Intercorrelations for Study Variables in Wave 1                141  Table 11.  Zero-order Intercorrelations for Study Variables in Wave 2                142            xi LIST OF FIGURES   Figure 1. Path model for Parents' SES Backgrounds on Adolescent's Self-Esteem in Wave 1 51  Figure 2. SEM for Parents' SES Backgrounds on Adolescent's Self-Esteem with Intervening Variables in Wave 1             52  Figure 3. Path model for Parents' SES Backgrounds on Adolescent's Self-Esteem in Wave 2 55  Figure 4. SEM for Parents' SES Backgrounds on Adolescent's Self-Esteem with Intervening Variables in Wave 2             56              1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem  With the increasing numbers of interracial marriages in the United States, many issues related to interracial marriage have to be considered. Within interracial and multicultural families, parents often come from different cultures resulting in more cultures practiced in their daily lives. Furthermore, these different cultures combine to form a mixture of cultures. Some would call it a ;Considering the influences of different cultures on child development, many researchers have studied identity formation within interracial families and multicultural families. However, these studies do not adequately explain the complicated processes of identity formation in the multicultural context of interracial families and multicultural families. Parents from different cultural backgrounds may transmit more multiple cultures, values, and attitudes to their children. This leads multiracial and multicultural adolescents and young adults to have unique processes of ethnic identity formation. On the other hand, parents may be undergoing the processes of acculturation to the host country and this must also be taken into account.    2 Significance and Relevance of the Problem  Identity formation and self-esteem as topics for research and study are important issues of human development and also critical mental health issues for young adults over their life span. For example, many researchers have noticed that adolescent identity formation is a central developmental task during the adolescence stage with a set of complicated processes (Erikson, 1968). There are plentiful research and studies on identity issues. Some researchers focus on the types of identity, such as cultural identity (Bass & Coleman, 1997; Gonzales-Backen, 2013), gender identity (DuBois, Burk-Braxton, Swenson, Tevendale & Hardesty, 2002; Priess, Lindberg, & Hyde, 2009), and ethnic identity (Gecas, Thomas, & Weigert, 1973; Wakefield & Hudley, 2007). The issues related to identity formation are also emphasized by researchers, especially mental health and identity conflict (Mossakowski, 2003; Priess, Lindberg, & Hyde, 2009; Wakefield & Hudley, 2007), depression, self-esteem and identity crises (Allen, Garriott, Reyes, & Hsieh, 2013; Mandara, Richards, Gaylord-Harden & Ragsdale, 2009; Passmore, Fogarty, Bourke & Baker-Evans, 2005). Recently, scholars have provided evidence to suggest that social context and cultural context play important roles in ethnic identity formation (Hogg & Ridgeway, 2003; Stets & Burke, 2000). These studies are essential for further understanding of ethnic identity. As the number of interracial families in the United States increases, the ethnic  3 psychosocial identity formation of U.S.-born children in interracial families becomes a critical issue. The impact of globalization brings changes in many aspects. These aspects include acculturation, gender roles within the family, as well as parent-child and husband-wife relationships. With the increasing trend of more interracial and multicultural families in the United States, the understanding of how multi-cultures influence child development is necessary. Under the impact of globalization, the world has become more interconnected (McCubbin, McCubbin, Samuels, Zhang, & Sievers, 2013). People come from different countries and have more opportunities to meet and connect to each other. This leads people from different cultural backgrounds to marry and establish their interracial and multicultural families in the U.S. Also, more families from other countries move to the U.S. to pursue higher education or a higher quality of life (McCubbin et. al., 2013). The trend of globalization facilitates more immigration of families and formation of interracial and multicultural families. In this process, there is the interchanging of diverse cultures, attitudes, and family values across many societies (Trask, 2013). The Census Bureau in 2010 reported that the numbers of interracial couples have increased rapidly. This means there is an increase in the predictable numbers of biracial or multicultural children (McCubbin et. al., 2013). Data indicate that from 1970 to 2000, the proportion of children from interracial families increased dramatically, an increase of 4.9% over  4 the past 30 years. This number reflects that more children are being socialized in multicultural contexts and multiethnic environments (Lee, 2010). Therefore, ethnic identity formation of these multiracial children is a topic of great interest.  Ethnic identity formation is highly related to the environment in which people live (Gonales-Backen, 2013). In the article by Gonales-Backens (2013), it was mentioned that multiracial adolescents and young adults are more likely to have unique ethnic experiences which influence their ethnic identity formation. Therefore, she proposed the need for an ecological perspective to guide multiracial identity and to increase our understanding of these unique developmental processes. The multicultural environments of adolescents and young adults should be considered, including family context, family socialization, discrimination, community, and general social climate concerning ethnic identity (Gonales-Backen, 2013). According to Gonales-Backen (2013), the family is an important system for cultural socialization of children. Within interracial families, children learn multiple cultures through interactions with their parents and other family members. Through these processes, parents can transmit their family values and cultural values to their children (Leslie, Smith, Hrapczynski, Riley, 2013; Rollins & Hunter, 2013). Family members may establish their own family cohesion based on their family values and cultures (Barber & Buehler, 1996). Family cohesion is defined as affective qualities of family relationships to bond family members, including support,  5 affection, and helpfulness (Moss, 1974; Olson, Russell, & Sprenkle, 1983). Familism is another indicator for observing the relationships among family members. Familism is viewed as a set of behaviors and attitudes in which family members demonstrate concern about their obligations toward other family members (Heller, 1976). Some studies have mentioned the relationships among ethnic identity, mental health, and family cohesion (Kaur & Kearney, 2013; Wilson & Costantine, 1999). However, these studies do not clarify how family cohesion and familism influence ethnic identity concerning the existence of multi-cultures within the multi-cultural family context. Family cohesion and familism can be important factors when discussing the identity formation of multiracial adolescents.  Therefore, with the growing trend of interracial and multicultural families, identity formation of adolescents and young adults within families has become an important issue in the United States. It is essential to consider the ecological perspective as a research framework for understanding this process.  Purposes of the Study There are three purposes of this research. The first purpose is to apply an ecological framework to understand the processes of how the interactions among family members in interracial and multicultural families influence the development of identity formation and self-esteem. The second purpose is to discover whether the impact of multi-cultures, including  6 host cultures, influence the psychosocial development in adolescents and young adults. The third purpose is to provide understanding of how cohesion within the family influences multiracial adolescents and young adults ethnic identity formation and self-esteem. Research Questions Research Questions of Quantitative study. 1. How do parent original cultural backgrounds influence adolescents' and young adults' ethnic identity formation and self-esteem within interracial and multicultural families?  2. How do parent level of acculturation, family cohesion, and familism influence adolescents' and young adults ethnic' identity formation and self-esteem within their interracial families? 3. Do adolescents' and young adults' ethnic identity formation and self-esteem within multiracial backgrounds change over time? Hypothesis  adolescent and young adult have more tendencies to identify as the ethnic background of his   e adolescent and young adult have more tendencies to identify as the ethnic background of his   7 1c. If parents identify themselves as having multiracial ethnic backgrounds, the adolescent and young adult have more flexible identity formation. If parents identify themselves as having multiracial ethnic backgrounds, the adolescent and young adult will identify with their parents multicultural ethnic backgrounds. 2a. If parents have higher education levels, they practice more American ways of living (host country) and it influences the adolescent and young adult to identify as an American. 2b. If parents have higher socioeconomic status, they practice more American ways of living (host country) and it influences the adolescent and young adult to identify as an American. 2c. If the families have higher levels of family cohesion, the adolescent and young adult will identify with their parents multicultural ethnic backgrounds. If the families have higher levels of familism, the adolescent and young adult will identify with their parents multicultural ethnic backgrounds. 2d. Adolescent English proficiency will enhance adolescents ethnic identity as Americans. 2e. Adolescents foreign language proficiency will enhance adolescents ethnic identity as specific nationalities or hyphenated Americans. 3. -esteem will change over time.    8 Research Questions of Qualitative study. 1. How do parents transmit and maintain their original cultures in their interracial and multicultural families? 2. How does the interracial and multiracial context in which children grow up influence their ethnic identity formation processes and self-esteem? Theoretical Backgrounds Human Ecology. The Ecology of Human Development was developed by Bronfenbrenner (1979). In his theory, there are four systemic levels that make up the social context, including the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. He mentioned that an development is influenced by different levels of systems. The microsystem is the primary system of individuals in the social context. It refers to those patterns of activities, roles, and relations by the developing person in a given face-to-face setting. The mesosystem comprises the linkages and processes taking place between two or more microsystems containing the developing person, such as the relations between family and school. The exosystem encompasses the linkage and processes taking place between two or more settings. For example, for a child, the relations  of the host cultural context, like the laws, rules, and society. Therefore, culture is socially constructed, and it  9 influences individual development through the interactions among different systems. There are reciprocal relationships between individuals and their environment (Bronfenbrenner, 2001).  In this ecological model, human development is defined as an outcome of continuity and changes of biopsychological characteristics of human beings during their lives. There are four properties of the bioecological model: process, person, context, and time (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). The processes producing human development contain the interactions between individuals and the environment, and these are called proximal processes that operate over time (Bronfenbrenner, 2001). In other words, human development takes place through processes of reciprocal interactions between persons, symbols, and objects in their environment (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998; Gonzales-Backen, 2013). As a result, it is essential to apply the human ecological model of development to explain how cultural environments influence  processes between the focal child, parents, and their cultural context over time. To understand how the proximal processes occur in identity formation, it is important to include other theoretical understanding especially Psychosocial Development Theory.  Psychosocial Development Theory. Erikson (1959) believes that human development is a continuous process over the life cycle. Human development is not only influenced by physical development but also by social contexts and cultures. It means that individuals at the same age  10 may develop different behaviors and abilities according to different social contexts (Ashford, Lecroy &Lortie, 2001). Erikson (1959) further states that there are certain developmental goals at different stages. He divides the life cycle into eight developmental stages: infancy, early childhood, play stage, school age, adolescence, young adult, adulthood, and mature age. Individuals have different developmental tasks to accomplish before successfully moving on to the next stage. Erickson (1959) describes that each stage is built on the completion of developmental goals of the earlier stage. Developmental goals completed at each stage can enable the individuals to more successfully adapt to their social contexts (Ashford, Lecroy & Lortie, 2001). However, there are risks associated with each stage and individuals have to try and learn how to overcome these risks.  Adolescence is a critical period of transition from childhood to adulthood. At this stage, individuals may feel confused and troubled as to who am I when they encounter new requirements and expectations from their societies. Individuals need to establish an identity to fit into their social groups and societies (Erikson, 1959; 1968). This research will not sample older adults beyond young adult stage. At this stage, individuals have to develop feelings of contentment and integrity for their later years. At each stage, these developmental goals contain positive and negative aspects.    11 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Psychosocial Development: Self-esteem and Ethnic Identity Formation  Self-esteem and ethnic identity formation are widely applied to studies for understanding adolescents and young adults psychosocial development. Self-esteem is an important concept for an individual to evaluate his or her psychological adjustment. Podesta (2001) suggests that there are three dimensions of self-esteem: feelings about ourselves, how much we like ourselves, and the amount of confidence we have in ourselves. Self-esteem is an inner quality that enables individuals to perceive their life experiences and the feedback from their environments. Rosenberg (1979) developed a scale for individuals to gauge positive or negative feeling toward individuals, which will help them to evaluate their personal feelings of worth. During adolescence and young adulthood, individuals may encounter several developmental tasks or issues from their family and social contexts, such as new social expectations and demands, transitions of roles in family and work, etc. Individuals with lower self-esteem may focus on negative aspects of themselves, which influences them to ignore their own strengths and abilities and to focus on their weaknesses instead (Whelan, Haywood, & Galloway, 2007). On the other hand, higher self-esteem can be a buffer for individuals to deal with stress and struggles and to feel confident about their environments (Sinderman, 1983).  12  Ethnic identity is closely interracial and multicultural families. Ethnic identity refers to the identification with a certain most monoethnic groups, individuals share the same cultures, languages, behaviors, or religions as their parents. However, within interracial and multicultural families, individuals may have unique experiences of ethnic identity formation due to their parents different ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Smith, Stewart & Winter, 2004). Because of globalization, people immigrate to many different places, and people may feel depressed or stressed while encountering cultural shock or conflicts. As Umaña-Taylor & Fine (2004) state, individuals who have positive associations with their ethnic groups may have a clearer understanding of their ethnic identity. Ethnic and cultural identity can serve as a buffer against negative feelings and psychological symptoms (Iturbide, Raffaelli, & Carlo, 2009). Previous studies have examined the relationship between self-esteem and ethnic identity formation (Bracey, Bámaca, & Umaña-Taylor, 2004; Phinney, 1991; Phinney & Chavira, 1992). Ethnic identity can provide a person a sense of belonging to one ethnic group which protects a person against the negative aspects of his or her environment, such as discrimination and stereotypes (Phinney, 1991). Phinney (1991) compiled a review article about the relationships between ethnic identity and self-esteem. When individuals identify themselves as members of  13 one ethnic group, they are more involved in their ethnic group. Within their group, people tend to be interested in probing into more knowledge and information about their ethnicity. This also influences individuals to be more comfortable with people within their ethnic group. Many studies demonstrate that there is indeed a positive relationship between self-esteem and ethnic identity (Brown, 2000; Phinney, 1991; Phinney & Chavira, 1992). Individuals who identify with their ethnic group may exhibit higher self-esteem when figuring out problems and issues in their environment, because ethnic identity provides individuals with positive perspectives on their social contexts (Martinez & Dukes, 1997). Ethnic Identity Formation within Interracial and Multicultural Families Children raised within interracial and multicultural families have unique processes of identity formation, because they practice multiple cultures in their daily lives (Garcia, Lamberty, Jenkins, McAdoo, Crnic, Wasik, & Garcia, 1996). Fewer studies focus on adolescents ethnic identity formation within interracial and multicultural families. As Gonzales-Backen (2013) states, most models of ethnic identity formation are narrow. Multiple ethnic backgrounds and cultures are seldom considered in research. The variables are usually regarded as factors helpful in predicting adolescents and young adults psychological outcomes rather than as point of discussion regarding interactions between a developing person and his or her cultural contexts. As the number of interracial couples grows, the proportion of biracial and  14 multiracial children is increasing. In most situations, it is easy for monoracial adolescents and young adults to decide their ethnicity. However, sometimes it is difficult for biracial and multiracial children to choose one specific or more specific ethnicities while living in the host American society, especially for those interracial children whose parents come from different countries. Therefore, it is important to explore these adolescents and young  processes of ethnic identity formation, which is the focus of this research. In Gonzales-Backens study (2013), human ecology provides a guide to understanding the processes of ethnic identity formation within interracial and multicultural families. According to Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1989), human development occurs within different social and cultural contexts embedded in society, including family context, school, community, pand culture. Adolescents and young adults are influenced by the proximal processes of their significant others, as well as symbols within their microsystem. Bronfenbrenners model (1979) describes the reciprocal relationships between a developing person and his or her social contexts. This means that individuals always modify their attitudes and behaviors to fit into their environments. Their significant others, such as parents and peers, also have their own ecological systems, and imesos. For example, parents may be stressed after work and bring their anxieties back home. These pressures can influence parent-child relationships. Thus, whatever happens to parents may affect  15 their children through proximal processes. Therefore, it is essential to consider proximal processes between a developing person and his or her family and social contexts when doing research on interracial childrens development. Acculturation and Psychosocial Development  It is essential to take the influences of acculturation into account when considering the issues of ethnic identity formation and self-esteem within interracial families. Acculturation refers to a set of processes in which individuals or immigrants adapt to a new cultural context (Berry, 1990). The issue of parents' acculturation is associated with macrosystemic levels, because it is heavily related to which cultures dominate the individuals values and belief systems (Gonzales-Backen, 2013). During the process of acculturation, individuals' original behavioral patterns may change to fit into their host societies (Redfield, Linton, & Herskovits, 1936). Cultures play important roles in shaping individual behaviors especially when they are in environments where they have to cope with multiple cultures in their daily lives. There are some issues about acculturation of immigrants in which researchers are particularly interested: 1) What happens to individuals when they live in a new social context? 2) Do they change their behaviors to fit the new cultural context? 3) What are the continuity issue and changes in their cultural behaviors? How do individuals change their behaviors to adapt to the new context? As Berry (1997)  16 mentions, psychological status, original socio-cultural pattern, and economic status can influence adaptation. Within interracial and multicultural childrens development in many ways. Through the process of socialization, adolescents and young adults develop their ethnic identities, behaviors, and personalities based on the cultures and traditions learned from their parents and other significant adults (Gonzales-Backen, 2013; Salgado de Snyder, Lopez, & Padilla, 2006).   In ethnically diverse societies, people with different cultural backgrounds reside in the same host society. With the varieties of the current social context, individuals have to develop their own strategies to adapt to their host societies. Individuals can still maintain their cultural or ethnic identity and at the same time be involved in the host society through interaction with others in the society. According to Berry (1997), there are four types of acculturation strategies based on cultural maintenance and relationships with the larger society. These four types are integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Integration refers to individuals who can maintain both their own cultural identity as well as relationships with others in the new cultural context. This means that these individuals can integrate the original culture and new culture through interactions with others. In contrast to integration, assimilation means that individuals are more focused on other cultures (such as the host culture) than on maintaining  17 their original culture. Similarly, some people may choose to keep practicing their original culture more than interacting with other cultures. The most extreme acculturation strategy is marginalization. Some individuals do not maintain their original culture, but they also do not involve themselves in other cultures. This often leads them to become isolated in their current society (Berry, 1997).   As some researchers have noted, acculturation is a set of processes, and there are many factors that lead individuals to have different types of acculturation, including gender, socioeconomic status, original ethnic background, values, personality, personal flexibility, social support, and life events (Berry, 1997; Beiser & Hou, 2000; Gonzales, Deardorff, Formoso, Barr, & Barrera, 2006). Beiser, Hou, & Hyman (1999) state that individuals with higher education levels are less stressed in the processes of acculturation. Individuals with higher education usually have better language proficiency, which can help them overcome some challenges. For these individuals, a better education and better language proficiency help them to successfully adapt to the new environment. Cultural origin is another important factor influencing adaptation. Cultural values, family values, social expectations, norms, and customs are learned and passed  process of socialization. These values and norms situation (Berry, Poortinga, Segall, & Dasen, 1992). This leads to different acculturation  18 outcomes. As previous studies indicate, many factors can affect individualmany ways. Hybrid Cultures and Interracial and Multicultural Families  The concept of hybrid cultures is important for doing research on interracial adolescents and young adults psychosocial development. As Phenice, Griffore, & Hsieh (2015) mention, hybridization also pertains to the unique combination of rearing children by blending of different socio-cultural practices and traditions. Living in the host American society, interracial children accept two or more different cultures within their family contexts. Through interactions with their parents, such as cultural practices and foreign language learning, children integrate these different cultures into the new culture and their own world-view to inform how they view their host American society. The process of blending these cultures and traditions influences interracial children, making them a more flexible in their psychosocial development. There are many ways of blending different cultures within interracial and multicultural families. For example, a father and a mother with balanced power can negotiate family affairs with each other (Morrison, Schiff, & Sjoblom, 2008; Pessar & Mahler, 2003; Trask, 2013). Both husbands and wives may practice their various cultures in their daily lives and transmit different values and traditions to their children. Another example is that if one parent has a powerful role within the family, he or she can decide the cultural practices the family follows.  19 Therefore, in order to answer the research questions posed in this research, the length of residence in the United States should be considered. This affects parents' acculturation and how they transmit their cultures to children (Berry, 1997). Both parents come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and then settle in a new social context (U.S. society). For example, an Indian male gets married to a Japanese female, and then they both live in the United States. Both bring their cultures from their family of origins to their transnational family. However, both parents, with their different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, may encounter acculturation challenges in adapting to their host society. Those parents, who have lived in the United States for a longer period of time, may have more opportunities to interact within U.S. culture. Therefore, they may have higher levels of acculturation (Jain & Belsky, 1997). However, some studies have shown different perspectives. Some parents may still maintain their original ways of living and traditions within families no matter how long they have lived in the United States (Berry, 1997). Within interracial families, children have unique ways of being associated to multi-cultures (McCubbin et. al., 2013). Another situation interracial and multicultural families may experience is one in which the  ethnic and cultural backgrounds have adapted to the host society (United States). The family may tend to practice more American ways of living. At least one parent is from the first generation or the second generation (that is, born in the United States). These families participate  20 in the American educational system and are more involved in the American culture. For example, a male from a French immigrant family gets married to a female from a Chinese immigrant family in the United States. Both of them are second generation, since they immigrated when they were children. In their original immigrant families, children still maintain traditional ways of living, including languages, values, festivals, and traditions. After getting married, husbands and wives can practice their original cultures learned from their experience in their immigrant families. This leads children to undergo unique developmental processes due to multiple cultural practices, values, and beliefs within families (Gonzales-Backen, 2013). Adolescents and young adults from these types of interracial and multicultural families are the target sample in this research, which may provide information for further understanding of identity formation within interracial and multiethnic family contexts. In comparison, parents with host culture backgrounds may practice more American ways of living and lead adolescents and young adults to identify themselves as a member of the host societies (Jain & Belsky, 1997; Levchenko & Solheim, 2013). These studies provide the foundation for research into identity formation within interracial families by  cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Also, it is essential to understand the dynamics of how multi-cultures are practiced within multicultural family contexts.  21 Symbolic interactionism provides a research framework for understanding the process of ethnic identity formation, and it emphasizes the interactions between individuals and social contexts at the micro level. Within interracial and multicultural families, parents have different processes of acculturation. This influences parents to use various parenting and cultural practices within their interracial and multicultural families (Phenice, Griffore, & Hsieh, 2015). Influences of Family Cohesion on Human Psychosocial Development Family cohesion is the important component of family relations. Family cohesion refers to emotional bonds or ties among family members. In other words, family cohesion is described as affections between family members to provide support, assistance, and consideration toward each other (Olson, Sprenkle, & Russell, 1979). Family cohesion is also a measurement for examining family function. When a family functions well, it can provide a good environment for child development (Kawash & Kozeluk, 1990). Some researchers think that family cohesion is a part of family solidarity, and there is indeed overlap between cohesion and solidarity. Durkheim (1933) mentioned two types of family solidarity in society: mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. Solidarity is defined as those individuals having common norms, beliefs, and regulations. These shared norms, beliefs, and regulations create a communal consciousness that is helpful for maintaining the stability of a society and family. When communal consciousness is transformed into cohesion among individuals, it is called mechanical solidarity. In other words,  22 mechanical solidarity refers to traditional family cohesion through emotional ties between individuals within the family. Family cohesion is established by internalizing the familys norms and customs, and people can directly connect to each other. As society changed over time, the division of labor became more complicated. Individuals were classified into different groups. People from different groups related to each other through the division of labor. Durkheim explained that these relations, which are similar to different parts of an organism, are called organic solidarity (Katz, Daatland, Lowenstein, Bazo, Anciuz, Herlofson, Mehlhausen Hassoen, & Prilutzky, 2003). From Durkheims perspective, the way of establishing family cohesion may change according to ones society and culture.  Therefore, family cohesion is constructed by family members through interactions within the family (Barber & Buehler, 1996). Family cohesion is usually seen as support for family members. Barbain & Tirado (1984) define family cohesion as shared affection and emotional support between family members. When individuals encounter difficulty, their families are an important system to provide social support. For example, African American single mothers have relied on their families for assistance in raising their children. In Weber & (1985), a highly cohesive family can provide children with more resources for them to adapt to their environment. Their research results imply that open communication among family members can effectively provide children emotional support for them to adapt or overcome their  23 difficulties. This result proves that the concept of an open system is important in the family system theory. It reflects that open communication is helpful for family members to know their familys needs. They can also build cohesion through frequent and open communication, including support and affection within the family (Weber & Foumier, 1985). However, there are not enough studies to prove the relationship between family cohesion and identity formation. There is some evidence to suggest that family cohesion is an indicator of how parents transmit their cultures and values to children (Behnke, MacDermid, Coltrane, Parke, Duffy, & Widaman, 2008). Therefore, it is probable that cohesion can influence identity formation through the processes of socialization.           24 CHAPTER 3 METHODS Mixed Methods  In order to answer the research questions (see pages 7 and 8), a mixed methods approach is used in this research. According to Greene, Caracelli, and Graham (1989), mixed method designs are defined as those that include at least one quantitative method and one qualitative method, where neither type of method is inherent to any particular inquiry paradigm (p.26). In other words, the quantitative method is designed to collect numbers and statistics to explain the relationships among variables, and the qualitative method is designed to collect words for exploration of phenomenon or issues. Most researchers choose one of these two methods according to their research questions. However, for my study it is not thorough enough to use only one method to answer the research questions. Therefore, a mixed methods approach is applied to because this approach is a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches (Tashakkori & Teddie, 1998). As Cresswell & Plano-Clark (2007) mentioned, a mixed methods design involves philosophical assumptions, which provide researchers the directions and guidelines for data collection and analysis.  A mixed methods approach will be used for several reasons. First, it is insufficient to use only qualitative or quantitative methods. There are some secondary datasets that focus on  25 identity formation and interracial marriages. However, there are not enough datasets focusing on the influences of multicultural families on adolescents and young adults' ethnic identity formation. The quantitative method is essential to examine the relationships among interracial families, acculturation of parents, and cultural practices, as well as adolescents' and young adults' ethnic identity formation, and because the data allow us to generalize the patterns of ethnic identity formation within interracial and multicultural families. The qualitative method is essential to further explore the meanings of multicultural contexts within families, and is beneficial for providing possible explanations of initial findings. These phenomenological meanings and detailed understanding of multicultural behaviors within families can be applied in explaining possible patterns of ethnic identity formation in their off springs. Therefore the use of qualitative methods will enhance the findings of a study (Cresswell & Plano-Clark, 2007). Without doubt, the use of a mixed method design is beneficial for doing studies on interracial families and ethnic identity formation of adolescents and young adults. Research Design  The purpose of this research is to understand the patterns of adolescent and young adults' ethnic identity formation within multicultural familial contexts that are embedded in the host American society and its multicultural societal contexts. There is little research evidence in the understanding of how individuals are raised, and the influences of their  26 cultures in shaping the adolescents and young adults' ethnic identity formation. According to the research questions, the explanatory sequential design will be applied in this research. There are two phases in the explanatory sequential design. The first phase is a quantitative study in which data were previously collected from Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) and analyses were used to address the research questions. Then based on the results of the quantitative study, the researcher will collect qualitative data to further explain the initial results of the previous quantitative study (Cresswell & Plano-Clark, 2007).  According to Creswell (2009), there are four steps to be followed in an exploratory sequential design. 1) The first step is to design and to implement the quantitative study. At this step, structure equation modeling will be used to explain the process of how parents cultural backgrounds influence childrens identity formation via the transmission of multi-cultures in the family. 2) The second step is to use these quantitative results to refine the qualitative research questions and to further explain certain significant results and group differences. 3) The third step is to design and implement the qualitative study. The significant quantitative results and unexplained quantitative results will form the foundation for refining the qualitative research questions. IRB approval was obtained prior to data collection. Purposive sampling was used for the selection criteria of the qualitative sample. Semi-structured and open-ended interview questions were developed. The themes from the qualitative data were analyzed. The qualitative  27 results are being used to supplement and further elaborate the results gained from the quantitative findings. 4) The fourth step was to interpret the results from the quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative results and the qualitative results were then summarized. Then the researcher discussed the extents and ways the qualitative results helped to explain the quantitative results (Cresswell, 2009). The researcher will integrate both the quantitative and qualitative results for analyses in the sections, below. The First Phase: Quantitative method Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) data. The total sample size was 5,262 participants. Respondents came from 77 different nationalities, although the sample reflects the most sizable immigrant nationalities in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and San Diego. Three years later, in wave 2, corresponding to the time in which respondents were about to graduate from high school, the first follow-up survey was conducted. Its purpose was to examine the evolution of key adaptation outcomes including language preference and language proficiency, ethnic identity, self-esteem, and academic attainment. Sample. The secondary data used in this research are from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS). The first survey was conducted in 1992, which was to ascertain the baseline information on immigrant families, children's demographic characteristics, language use, self-identities, and academic attainment. This research was designed to study the adaptation  28 processes of United States-born immigrant second generation children with at least one foreign-born parent. The original survey was conducted with large samples of second-generation immigrant children attending the 8th and 9th grades in public and private schools in the metropolitan areas of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale in Florida and San Diego, California.  CILS includes four subsets. Three of them collected collection of childrens data occurred in 1991; wave 2 in 1994; wave 3 in 2006; and parentwere collected in 1994. This present study focuses on childrens data from waves 1 and 2. Respondents were in the 8th grade and 9th grade when they took the first wave survey in 1991. CILS followed a sample of over 5,262 children of immigrant families, with an average age of 14 in 1991. There were fairly equal numbers of male and female respondents for wave 1, 2575 males (48.9%) and 2687 females (51.1%). Because the main focus of this research is to understand adolescents identity within their interracial and multicultural families, only the samples whose parents came from different countries were selected. The samples including at least one parent who came from a foreign country were selected by using SPSS. Finally, the total sample size of this research was 1185. The numbers of males and females were 567 (47.8%) and 618 (52.2%). Main measures of the study. The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) used many existing measures and newly created measures for ethnic identity, socioeconomic status,  29 acculturation, language uses, family cohesion, familism. For this research framework, the researcher will look at: adolescent ethnic identity and self-esteem, parent socioeconomic status, acculturation of parents and adolescents, and family cohesion and familism.  Adolescents ethnic identity. Adolescents ethnic identity is the main focus in this research. There are 59 categories of adolescents ethnic identity within the CILS data. These categories include specific nationalities, hyphenated nationalities and other ethnicity, such as Anglo American, Mexican, Hispanic American, Filipino, Asian American. Considering parents original nationality, these 59 categories were classified into 3 categories, including American, specific nationality, and hyphenated American. According to participants answers, their ethnic identities were classified as American, specific nationality, and hyphenated American.  Self-esteem. In the previous chapter, self-esteem and identity are two aspects of evaluating adolescent mental health. Therefore, self-esteem is another outcome variable of this research. Rosenbergs self-esteem scale was used in CILS dataset in wave 1 and wave 2, and these scales of two waves were applied for further analysis. There are ten items for measuring positive and negative aspects of self-esteem, which included a 4-point Likert scale format. The five positive I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others I feel that I have a number of good qualities I am able to do things as well as most other people, I take a positive attitude toward myself, and On the whole, I am satisfied with myself. The five  30 negative items are All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failureI feel I do not have much to be proud of I wish I could have more respect for myselfI certainly feel useless at timesAt times I think I am no good at all. The five negative items are reversed in valence. Then the scores of five positive items and the reversed five negative items were summed up for further analysis. The range of self-esteem scores are from 0-30. Scores between 15 and 25 are within normal range; and scores below 15 suggest low self-esteem. Controlling variables. There are two controlling variables in this research: gender and age. For the gender, females were set as a reference group (female =0 and male =1). For the age, respondents were asked about their real age. This is a continuous variable and was directly used for further analysis. Respondents acculturation. There are three dimensions of evaluating adolescents acculturation: language, behaviors of American ways of doing things, and attitudes of American ways of living. As Berry (1997) mentioned language is an important indicator of acculturation, especially the language used in the host society. However, other foreign languages used at home may also enhance their identity of another country. Respondents were asked separately about their ability in reading, listening, speaking, and writing in English and other foreign languages. There are four points on the scale of language ability: (1) not at all, (2) not well, (3) well, and (4) very well. Then the scores of each ability were summed up to create two variables of  31 adolescents language proficiency: English proficiency and foreign language proficiency. These two variables assessing acculturation will be used for modeling of self-esteem and adolescent ethnic identity formation. Respondents were asked  There are four points on the scale: (1) all of the time, (2) most of the time, (3) sometimes, and (4) never. This variable was reversed and then applied as an indicator of adolescent acculturation to predict their self-esteem and ethnic identity. Respondents were also asked if they agree or disagree with the statement   There are four points of the scale: (1) agree a lot, (2) agree a little, (3) disagree a little, and (4) disagree a lot. This variable was also reversed and then applied as an indicator of adolescent acculturation to predict their self-esteem and ethnic identity. The CILS dataset provided these variables for both wave 1 and wave 2, and these variables of both waves were applied for explaining the short-term effect and long-term effect on self-esteem.  Parents ethnic identity. There are two variables about parental identity. First, parents separately answered their original nationalities if they were immigrants. These countries were categorized into eight categories according to their countries of origin, such as American, European countries, Asian countries, African countries, Caribbean countries, Central American countries, South American countries, and other English-speaking countries. Second, parents were  32 also asked how they identify themselves, such as Asian, Latino, etc. According to their answers, their ethnic identities were created as a new variable with three categories including American citizenship, the same as country of origin (specific nationality), and not the same as their country of origin (hyphenated American). Parents socioeconomic status. For socioeconomic status, respondents were separately asked about fathers education and economic situation, and mothers education and economic situation. The categories of education are: elementary school or less, middle school or less, some high school, high school graduate, some college or university, college graduate or more. Socioeconomic Index score (SEI) was also used for evaluating parents socioeconomic status. SEI score is calculated from the weighted sum of occupational education and occupational income.  Parental acculturation. There are four variables for evaluating acculturation of parents and adolescents. As mentioned in the previous chapter, there are several indicators of acculturation. First, language proficiency is important indicator for evaluating acculturation. Respondents were asked about their parents English proficiency, including reading ability, listening ability, speaking ability, and writing ability. There are four points on the scale of language ability: (1) not at all, (2) not well, (3) well, and (4) very well. Then the scores of each ability were summed  33 up for further analysis. This variable was only provided in wave 1 and was used for further analysis. Second, respondents were also asked how often their parents prefer American ways of doing things in wave 1 and wave 2. There are four points of respondents agreements: (1) all of the time, (2) most of the time, (3) sometimes, and (4) never. The same variables measured in wave 1 and wave2 were used in the modeling of self-esteem. The variables of both wave 1 and wave 2 were applied for the further analysis. Within the family. Family cohesion and familism are two indicators for explaining adolescents ethnic identity formation. Respondents were asked three items for family cohesion and three items for familism in wave 2. These two scales were developed by the researchers of CILS data. The three items of family cohesion are: family likes spending time together, family members feel close, and family togetherness is important. There are five points of the family cohesion scale: (1) never, (2) once in a while, (3) sometimes, (4) often, and (5) always. The items of familism are: should help relative over friend, serious problems/only relatives can help, and better find job near parents. There are four points of familism scale: (1) agree a lot, (2) agree a little, (3) disagree a little, and (4) disagree a lot. The variable of familism was reversed and used in analysis.  34 Data analysis for quantitative study. In order to answer the research questions of this research, there are two aspects of data analysis on self-esteem: (a) to examine the effects of parents SES on adolescents self-esteem with the factors including adolescents acculturation and parent acculturation in wave 1, (b) to examine the effects of parents SES on adolescents self-esteem with the factors including adolescents acculturation and parent acculturation in wave 2. The aspects of (a) and (b) were conducted by using structural equation analysis (SEM)  self-esteem. The dynamic differences for these three models were compared and discussed in the following chapters. Also, the mediating effects and direct effects were explained later.  Another main focus of this research is adolescents ethnic identity formation. There is one aspect of data analysis on ethnic identity formation: (c) to examine the effects of parents education and socioeconomic status, parents acculturation, adolescents acculturation, family cohesion and familism among the groups who identify themselves as Americans, specific nationalities, and hyphenated Americans. Family cohesion and familism are two important variables of this analysis, and they are only provided in wave 2. As a result, this aspect is only analyzed in wave 2.    35 The Second Phase: Qualitative Study Phenomenology. To carry out the qualitative phase of this research, a phenomenological approach will be applied only as it reflects an understanding of the processes of adolescents' and young adults' ethnic identity formation within interracial and multicultural families. Lived experiences are the main focus in phenomenology, and it can be understood and perceived by values, moods, activities, and feelings (Daly, 2007). Daly (2007) further explained that the linkage of the subjective meanings of individuals and the objective provides individuals with meanings to interpret their environments and objectives. The meanings and interpretations shape their interactions within environments. In other words, phenomenology emphasizes how the lived experiences of individuals are connected together to help us understand the world we live in and develop our perspectives of a worldview (Creswell, 1994). Husserl (1938) addressed that knowledge is achieved from our lived experiences in our daily lives, and refers to the knowledge  (Daly, 2007). Therefore, it is important to understand the communication. Phenomenology is a way to understand the natures of realities through exploration of a phenomenon. Therefore, by including this approach in the qualitative part of this research, this will allow researcher to more fully understand the acculturation and individual identity formation processes that are taking place for individuals.   36 There are two research questions that frame the qualitative method in this research: (a) How do parents transmit and maintain their original cultures in their interracial and multicultural families? (b) How do interracial and multicultural families influence their childrens identity formation processes? Phenomenology can help us focus on adolescents' and young adults' experiences of identity formation within interracial and multicultural families. Also, phenomenology is applied as a research framework to explore the processes of ethnic identity formation through in-depth interviews including interview questions about multiple cultures at  their families and environment contexts.  Research design for qualitative study. In order to understand the process of how family of origin were conducted to follow up with previous quantitative findings. In the CILS dataset, there are no research measures focusing on multicultural families. In order to investigate how multi-cultures merge within the family and influence adolescents and young adultsanalysis are the interracial and multicultural families, including father, mother, and children. Also, a semi-was developed based on the data from the qualitative data resulting from quantitative data.  37 Sample for Qualitative Study. multicultural family contexts, convenience sampling with 5 young adults were recruited to participate in this research (Creswell, 2009). Even though the purpose of this research is to explore adolescents and young adults identity, samples of this research were collected from adults whose age are 18 and older. Several reasons for choosing young adults included. 1) Identity is gradually getting matured in young adulthood, and is a period when the young adult explores the influences of multi-cultures on ethnic identity formation; 2) the first section of this research uses quantitative . Therefore, participants in these qualitative section recruited who had these characteristics: a) At least one of their parents is a first-generational immigrant, b) college students age is 18 and older, c) the cultures of their families of origin are still practiced, d) the ability to understand English and ability to speak English. Before conducting the data collection, IRB approval from Michigan State University was obtained already. Recruitment of participants began after IRB approval was obtained. The target samples were conveniently recruited at Michigan State University via email and leaflets on campus. Participants received incentives of $20 USD gift card after doing their interview. Data analysis. Douglass and Moustakas (1984) developed a systematic method of phenomenological analysis that the researcher followed. They included the exclusion of the  38 contents of the interview that were not relevant to a study. Whereby, only relevant statements and descriptions were discovered through reading the stories and experiences in the transcripts. The statements and descriptions were then interpreted and examined for meanings without researcher bias. These statements and descriptions were bracketed and clustered into meaningful categories for generating temporary expectations. Nvivo were used to generate categories.  Trustworthiness. In order to enhance trustworthiness in this research, there are several steps listed below. These include member checking, thick description, reflexivity, and d a peer to do peer review for checking transcripts and field notes. It is important for the researcher to understand the messages of the participants. Therefore, I asked a peer for assistance to keep biases at a minimum about the findings and data analysis. Transcripts and field notes were checked by the researcher and her peer. One or two transcribers were used in this research to maximize reliability. Finally, the researcher analyzed the findings to identify major themes related back to the original research questions and literature review. Research limitations were addressed in the discussion section.     39 CHAPTER 4 QUANTITATIVE FINDINGS Introduction  There are two domains of results to be introduced, including the analysis of quantitative data and qualitative data in the mixed method study. The results of the quantitative data and qualitative data will be reported separately in this chapter and the next chapter. For the quantitative data, multiple imputations are described first. A Frequency table, descriptive statistics and zero-order correlation provide the initial analysis and description of data followed by structural equation modeling (SEM) of adolescents self-esteem which provides the initial findings of the model comparison and data analysis. Finally, the results of multinominal logistic regression models of adolescents ethnic identity are applied to examine the effects of parents ethnic identity on adolescents ethnic identity. The analysis of the qualitative data is described in the next chapter. Imputation  Answer to questions related to certain sensitive issues, such as income, resulted in missing data, because respondents tend not to answer these types of questions. Missing information may also lead to biased analysis and biased estimation of a population. In some situations, some researchers use the analysis of listwise deletion to perform data analysis. However, this may  40 result in concerns that real information may be ignored (Roth, Switzer, & Switzer, 1999). Some studies have mentioned differences in results between data with listwise deletion and data with imputation (Cox, Mclntosh, Reason, & Terenzini, 2014). To improve the quality of data, researchers have developed several imputation methods, including simple imputation, multiple imputations, and nearest neighbor imputation. Auxiliary variables are usually applied in statistical analysis and in calculating substantive values for missing values (Graham, 2009).  Appendix A presents the percentages of missing values of variables used in the analysis of this research. The percentages of missing variables range from 0.6% to 29.1%. To improve the quality of data analysis, multiple imputations were used. The Monte Carlo method was applied to impute missing values 10 times. SPSS was used to analyze imputation. Descriptive Statistics Description of adolescents backgrounds and identity formation. Table 1 provides the basic information for the participants backgrounds and ethnic identity in wave 1 and wave 2. There are 567 males, comprising 47.8 percent of the sample; and 618 females, comprising 52.2 percent of the sample. A large proportion of the samples consist of longtime residents of the U.S. The number of participants who have lived in the U.S. all their lives is 824, comprising 69.5 percent of the sample. The number of people who have lived in the U.S. for ten years or more is 206, comprising 17.4 of the sample. The number of people who have lived in the U.S. for five to  41 Table 1. Percentage Distribution of Indicators with Imputation Used in the Adolescent Backgrounds on Adolescents Identity Formation.  W1 W2  Variables Total N Percentage /Mean(SD) Total N Percentage/ Mean(SD) Gender     Male 567 (47.8%)   Female 618 (52.2%)   The length of stay in the U.S.      Less than five years 20 (1.7%)    Five to ten years 135 (11.4%)    Ten years or more 206 (17.4%)    All my life 824 (69.5%)   Age 1,185 14.12 (0.83)   English proficiency 1,185 15.43 (1.27) 1,185 15.56 (1.13) Foreign language proficiency 1,185 10.55 (3.21) 1,185 10.70 (3.08) Self-Esteem 1,185 23.62 (5.17) 1,185 24.48 (4.68) Self-identity 1,156 (97.6%) 918 (77.5%) American  311 (26.3%) 111 (9.4%)  Specific nationality 256 (21.6%) 338 (28.5%) Hyphenated Americans 589 (49.7%) 469 (39.6%) ten years is 135, comprising 11.4 percent of participants. About 1.7 percent of the participants reported they have lived less than five years in the U.S. The average age of the sample is 14.12 years, and the standard deviation is 0.83. According to these numbers, most mixed adolescents have lived in the host American society for most of their life. They may be more influenced by the American culture because they have grown up here.  Language is an important factor in the current study because it can help us examine the levels of acculturation of immigrant parents and children (Barry, 1997). Participants of CILS  42 were asked about their English proficiency and foreign language proficiency. The mean score for English proficiency is 15.43, and the standard deviation is 1.27. The mean score for foreign language proficiency is 10.55, and the standard deviation is 3.21. The results show that their language proficiency is influenced by their host country. Their English scores are higher than their foreign language proficiency scores because English is the main language used in the host society. Living in the U.S., adolescents find it hard to learn foreign languages. Mixed adolescents can learn foreign languages through interactions with their parents, but only if their parents are willing to speak foreign languages (the parents native languages) with their children. As a result, the variances in foreign language proficiency are larger than the variances in English proficiency.   Self-esteem measured in wave 1 and wave 2 is the main variable for examining adolescents identity formation. The mean score for self-esteem in wave 1 is 23.62, and the standard deviation is 5.17. The mean score for self-esteem in wave 2 is 24.48, and the standard deviation is 4.68. The results reveal that self-esteem in wave 2 increases with participants age, but there is not a significant difference between the two waves.    ethnic identity is classified into one of 3 categories, including: American, specific nationality, and hyphenated American. In wave 1, there are 2.4% missing values. According to Table 1, the large proportion of participants reported that they are hyphenated Americans in both wave 1 and wave 2. The results reveal that most mixed adolescents have a  43 flexible perspective on their ethnic identities. Mixed adolescents accept both the American culture and the cultures of their parents countries of origin, and it influences these mixed children to identify themselves as both their parents ethnic identity as American. Some participants whose parents come from similar cultures may identify themselves with only one specific nationality in wave 1 and wave 2. For example, an adolescent whose father is from Mexico and mother is from Cuba may identify himself or herself as a Hispanic; or an adolescent whose father is from Japan and mother is from China may identify himself or herself as an Asian. In wave 1, 10.3 percent of the participants whose parents are not Americans report that they identify themselves as Americans. However, the number of participants whose ethnic identity is American decreases a great deal from wave 1 to wave 2. This result displays the changes in ethnic identity formation over time. These fore mentioned three categories provide basic understanding of how adolescents identify themselves overtime. Influence of parents backgrounds on aformation. Table 2 shows information about the participants parents, including educational level, SEI scores, country of origin, and ethnic identity. Most parents have achieved a high school degree of above. Indicating 28.6 percent of the participants report that their fathers have a high school degree; 27.8 percent of participants report that their fathers have a graduate degree; and 26.9 percent report that their fathers  have a college degree or university degree.  Indicating  29.8 percent report that their  44 Table 2. Percentage Distribution of Indicators with Imputation Used in Parents Backgrounds on Adolescents Identity Formation.  Father Mother  Variables Total N Percentage/ Mean(SD) Total N Percentage/ Mean(SD) Level of education      Elementary school or less 16 (1.4%) 36 (3.0%)  Middle school or less 49 (4.1%) 60 (5.1%)  Some high school 120 (10.1%) 139 (11.7%)  High school graduate 339 (28.6%) 353 (29.8%)  Technical or vocational 13 (1.1%) 6 (0.5%)  Some college/ University 319 (26.9%) 304 (25.7%)  College graduate or more 329 (27.8%) 287 (24.2%) SEI score 1,185 38.45(18.70) 1,185 36.30(17.23) Country of origin 1,185  1,185   American 418 (35.3%) 294 (24.8%)  Europe 77 (6.5%) 57 (4.8%)  Asia 119 (10.0%) 259 (21.9%)  Africa 3 (0.3%) 6 (0.5%)  Caribbean 343 (28.9%) 326 (27.5%)  Central America 57 (4.8%) 105 (8.9%)  South America 159 (13.4%) 128 (10.8%)  Other English-speaking country 9 (0.8%) 10 (0.8%) Ethnic identity 1,185  1,185   American 418 (35.3%) 294 (24.8%)  The same as the country of origin 482 (40.7%) 561 (47.3%) Not the as same as the country of origin 285 (24.1%) 330 (27.8%) mothers have a high school degree; 24.2 percent report that their mothers have a graduate degree; and 25.7 percent report that their mothers have a college or university degree. The mean SEI score for fathers is 38.45; and the mean SEI score for mothers is 36.30. The results reveal that the fathers have higher education and higher SEI scores than mothers.  45 For the country of origin, 35.3 percent of participants fathers and 24.8 percent of mothers are Americans. A large proportion of parents are from Caribbean countries. It is interesting that more than 21.9 percent of the participants mothers are from Asia. Another important issue in this research is how parent ethnic identity influences adolescents ethnic identity. There are three categories for parents ethnic identity: American, the same as the country of origin, and not the same as the country of origin. The number of fathers who identify themselves by their original country is 482, comprising 40.7 percent of sample, and the number of fathers who do not identify themselves by their original country is 285, comprising 24.1 percent of the sample. The number of mothers who identify themselves by their original country is 561, comprising 47.3 percent of the sample, and the number of mothers who do not identify themselves by their original country is 330, comprising 27.8 percent of the sample. Compared to fathers, mothers are more likely to identify themselves by their country of origin. The results reveal that most parents tend to identify themselves by their countries of origin. However, some parents do not identify themselves by their countries of origin. These parents may be more open-minded to accept new cultures or information and to adapt to American society well, so their ethnic identity is more fluid than that of other parents.  The influences of acculturation within interracial and multicultural families. Within the  because  46 Table 3.  Percentage Distribution of Indicators with Imputation Used in the Acculturation on Adolescents identity formation.  W1 W2  Variables Total Percentage/ Mean(SD) Total Percentage/ Mean(SD) Parent English proficiency 1,185 13.10 (2.56)   American way of life weaken family       Disagrees a lot 261 (22.0%) 126 (10.6%)  Disagrees a little 434 (36.6%) 432 (36.5%)  Agrees a little 382 (32.2%) 494 (41.7%)  Agrees a lot 108      (9.1%) (9.1%) 133 (11.2%) Adolescent preference for American ways      Never 36 (3.0%) 30 (2.5%)  Sometimes 500 (42.2%) 526 (44.4%)  Most of the time 483 (40.8%) 521 (44.0%)  All the time 166 (14.0%) 108 (9.1%) Parent preference for American ways      Never 79 (6.7%) 67 (5.7%)  Sometimes 567 (47.8%) 585 (49.4%)  Most of the time 422 (35.6%) 445 (37.6%)  All the time 117 (9.9%) 88 (7.4%) parents have a powerful influences on mixed adolescent development in many ways. According to Barry (1997), English proficiency is an important factor to evaluate levels of acculturation. The CILS data provides the information on , there is no separate information for fathers Parent English proficiency is 13.10, and the standard deviation is 2.56.  There are several indexes for understanding acculturation in the CILS data. Participants were also asked about their attitudes toward American ways of living and their preference for  47 American ways of living. In wave 1, 36.3 percent of participants disagree with American ways of living, and the American way of life In wave 2, 41.7 percent of participants agree a little with the statement the American way of life weakens the family, but 36.5 percent disagree with the statement. The results show that participants have various opinions about American ways of living. Additionally, doing things in American ways is another factor for evaluating acculturation. According to the numbers for adolescent preference for American ways, most participants report that they prefer to do things in American ways most of time or sometimes in both wave 1 and wave 2. This result demonstrates that mixed adolescents tend to do things in American ways, and this is the case because most participants have lived in the host American society for a long time and they have become used to living in the United States. Cultural practices within interracial and multicultural families. Table 4 provides information on languages spoken at home, frequency of using languages, family cohesion, and familism. In wave 1 and wave 2, more than half of adolescents report that they speak languages other than English at home. In addition, about 62.8 % of adolescents report that English is the main language spoken with their parents. This result reveals that English is the main language used at home. For most adolescents, English is their preferred language. This result also implies that the main language spoken is influenced by the host society in which they live.  48 Table 4. Percentage Distribution of Indicators with Imputation Used in the Cultural Practices within Interracial Families on Adolescents identity  W1 W2  Variables Total Percentage/Mean(SD) Total Percentage/Mean(SD) Home non-English use frequency      Seldom 155 (13.1%) 168 (14.2%)  From time to time 306 (25.8%) 326 (27.5%)  Often 403 (34.0%) (34.0%) 408 (34.4%)  Always 321 (27.1%) 283 (23.9%) Language respondent used with parents      English 744 (62.8%) 387 (32.7%)  Foreign language 426 (35.9%) 327 (27.6%)  Missing 15 (1.3%) 471 (39.7%) Respondent preferred speaking language      English 996 (84.1%) 604 (51.0%)  Foreign language 170 (14.3%) 125 (10.5%)  Missing 19 (1.6%) 456 (38.5%) Family cohesion   1,185 10.45 (2.74) Familism   1,185 9.68 (1.59) There are two important factors in the current study: family cohesion and familism. These two factors are only measured in wave 2. The mean family cohesion score from three items is 10.45, and the standard deviation is 2.74. The mean familism score from three items is 9.68, and the standard deviation is 1.59. Adolescents Self-esteem within Interracial and Multicultural Families  Because self-esteem is an important factor to examine adolescent development, the main focus of this analysis is to explore whether mixed adolescents self-esteem is influenced by their parents ethnic backgrounds over time. To answer this research question, there are four models  49 for examining the effects of parents backgrounds and factors of acculturation on mixed adolescents self-esteem. A three-step analysis is conducted using M-Plus 7.0. 1) The zero-order intercorrelations of study variables in wave 1 and wave 2 are examined. 2) Two path models are analyzed separately to examine self-esteem in wave 1 and wave 2. 3) Two models of structural equation modeling are conducted to examine the effects of variables on self-esteem in both wave 1 and wave 2. Zero-order correlation of variables. Appendix B represents the intercorrelations for study mic status are related to self-s are associated with adolescents self-esteem. Both adolescent English proficiency and parents English proficiency are associated with predicting adolescents self-esteem. This result reveals English proficiency is related to adolescents self-esteem when living in their host society (the U.S.). Foreign language proficiency is also positively associated with adolescents self-esteem but is not strongly related to other variables. Regarding acculturation, the attitude toward American ways of living is negatively related to adolescents self-esteem.  Appendix C represents the intercorrelations for study variables in wave 2s of education and socioeconomic status are associated with self-esteem. This result shows that s are related to adolescents self-esteem. Regarding language, both  50 adolescents English proficiency and parents English proficiency are significant in predicting adolescents-esteem. ioeconomic status on adolescents self-esteem in Wave 1. Figure 1 represents model 1, which is a path model used to examine the direct effects of parents educational level and SEI score on adolescents self-esteem in wave 1. In model 1, the fathers education, mothers SEI score, and gender have significant effects on adolescents self-esteem. Compared to female adolescents, male adolescents gender has significant effects on self-esteem; the coefficient of gender is 0.058. Compared to monoracial adolescents, gender still plays a critical role in explaining mixed adolescents self-esteem. Males have higher self-esteem than females. Due to the large sample size, this may affect the coefficients of certain variables to be significant. The fathers education has a significant effect on adolescent self-esteem, and the coefficient is 0.087. If the father has higher education, it has positive effects on adolescents self-esteem. The mothers education is not significant, as expected. -esteem. Based on the results of this model, both fathers -esteem, but in different ways.   51 Figure 1. Path model for Parents' SES Backgrounds on Adolescent's Self-Esteem in Wave 1   Figure 2 represents model 2, which is a SEM model for examining the effects of parents backgrounds with intervening variables on self-esteem in wave 1, including adolescents English proficiency, adolescents foreign language proficiency, parental English proficiency, adolescents preference for American ways of living, and adolescents attitude towards American ways of living. Due to the large sample size, this may affect the coefficients of certain variables to be significant.    52 Figure 2. SEM for Parents' SES Backgrounds on Adolescent's Self-Esteem with Intervening Variables in Wave 1   Table 5 represents the results of model 2. The fit of the overall model is acceptable because the CFI is greater than 0.94 (0.967) and the RMSEA is below 0.05 (0.041). As shown in Figure 2, gender is still significant in model 2 with consideration of intervening variables. As mentioned above, males tend to have higher self-esteem scores than females in early adolescence. It is   53 Table 5. Structural Equation Modeling for Predicting Self-esteem in Wave 1  Model 1   Model 2   Predictor variables Unstandardized SE standardized Unstandardized SE standardized Direct effect       Controlling variables        Gender 0.603*   0.297 0.058 0.800**  0.287 0.077  Age 0.122    0.697 0.020 0.205    0.173 0.033 Parents backgrounds        Fathers education 0.278*   0.117 0.087 0.175    0.114 0.055  Fathers SEI score -0.001    0.010 -0.005 -0.002    0.010 -0.009  Mothers education 0.071    0.105 0.024 -0.148    0.111 -0.049  Mothers SEI score 0.023*   0.011 0.076 0.018+   0.011 0.061 Language        English proficiency    0.759*** 0.120 0.185  Foreign language proficiency    0.147**  0.048 0.091  Parents English proficiency    0.250*** 0.066 0.123 Acculturation        Attitudes toward American ways    -0.003    0.251 -0.054  Preference for American ways    -0.308    0.171 -0.019 Parents preference for American ways    -0.132    0.246 -0.014 Indirect effect        English proficiency     0.044**  0.017 0.014  Parents English proficiency    0.056*   0.022 0.017 Total effect      0.031  Fathers education    0.100*** 0.028         Sample size 1,185 1,185 CFI 1 0.967 RMSEA 0 0.041 Note: +p<.10. *p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001  54   SEI score has a marginal -esteem. There are six intervening variables in model 2. Only two variables are significant to self-esteem, including adolescents English proficiency and parents English proficiency. The results illustrate the importance of English proficiency for mixed adolescents self-esteem. In model 1, only the fathers education and mothers SEI score have direct effects on self-esteem, and the indirect effects of the fathers education and mothers SEI score through intervening variables are examined. Only the fathers education has a significant effect on mixed adolescents self-esteem through adolescents English proficiency and parents English proficiency. The results reveal the importance of the fathers education on mixed adolescents self-esteem. In addition, parents English proficiency is significant to predict self-esteem. Higher parents English proficiency may imply that parents may have better acculturation in the host society. It also reveals the importance of English proficiency when living in U.S. society.  55 ioeconomic status on adolescents self-esteem in Wave 2. Figure 3 represents model 3, which is a path model used to examine the direct effects of parents - -esteem. Due to the large sample size, this may affect the coefficients of certain variables to be significant. As adolescents grow up, their self-esteem may be enhanced because they become accustomed to their environment, reflecting a more stable developmental process; the coefficient of age is 0.309. Figure 3. Path model for Parents' SES Backgrounds on Adolescent's Self-Esteem in Wave 2    56 Figure 4. SEM for Parents' SES Backgrounds on Adolescent's Self-Esteem with Intervening Variables in Wave 2   The fathers education has a significant effect on adolescent self-esteem, and the coefficient is 0.269. If the father has higher education, it has positive effects on adolescents self-esteem. Unlike in wave 1, the mothers SEI score is not significant. The mothers education has a significant effect on mixed adolescents self-esteem, and the coefficient is 0.268. This result -esteem. Figure 4   57 Table 6. Structural Equation Modeling for Predicting Self-esteem in Wave 2  Model 1   Model 2   Predictor variables Unstandardized SE standardized Unstandardized SE standardized Direct effect       Controlling variables        Gender   -0.069    0.270 -0.007 0.138    0.266 0.015  Age    0.309*   0.161 0.005 0.308*   0.157 0.005 Parents backgrounds        Fathers education   0.269*   0.120 0.093 0.200+   0.117 0.069  Fathers SEI score    -0.008    0.009 -0.003 -0.007    0.009 -0.027  Mothers education    0.268**  0.111 0.098 0.134    0.112 0.049  Mothers SEI score   -0.002    0.01 -0.008 -0.005    0.010 -0.018 Language        English proficiency    0.831*** 0.140 0.200  Foreign language proficiency    0.206*** 0.045 0.135  Parents English proficiency    0.071    0.064 0.039 Acculturation        Attitudes of American ways    0.441+   0.267 0.067  Preference for American ways    -0.040    0.180 -0.007 Parents preference for American ways    -0.066   0.268 -0.010 Indirect effect from fathers education          English proficiency    0.050*   0.022 0.017  Attitudes of American ways    0.016    0.012 0.006 Indirect effect from mothers education       English proficiency    0.099*** 0.029 0.036 Total effect        Fathers education    0.066**  0.025 0.023 Mothers education    0.099*** 0.029 0.036 Sample size 1,185 1,185 CFI 1 0.969 RMSEA 0 0.043 Note: +p<.10. *p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001  58 represents model 4 which is a SEM model for examining the effects of parents backgrounds with intervening variables on self-esteem in wave 2, including adolescents English proficiency, adolescents foreign language proficiency, parental English proficiency, adolescents preference for American ways of living, and adolescents attitude towards American ways of living. Due to the large sample size, this may affect the coefficients of certain variables to be significant. Table 6 represents the results of model 4. The fit of the overall model is acceptable because the CFI is greater than 0.94 (0.969) and the RMSEA is below 0.05 (0.043). As shown in Figure 4, age is still significant in model 4 with consideration of intervening variables. It is found that adolescents English proficiency and adolescents foreign language play critical intervening roles in model 4. The fathers education and the mothers education have significant effects on adolescents self-esteem in wave 2, and it is important to explore how parents education influences mixed adolescents self-esteem with consideration of intervening variables.  The fathers education has significant effects on adolescents attitudes toward American ways, preference for American ways, English proficiency, parents English proficiency, and parents preference for American ways. According to this result, the fathers education is very important for adolescents to become accustomed to living in the host society (the U.S.). The mothers education also has significant effects on adolescents English proficiency and parents  59 English proficiency. As Berry (1997) mentioned, higher education is beneficial for improving better English proficiency because it is easy for people to communicate with their environment. In addition, it is helpful for parents to communicate with their mixed children in English.   There are six intervening variables in model 4. Adolescents English proficiency and adolescents foreign language proficiency are significant intervening variables when predicting mixed adolescents self-esteem. This result illustrates the importance of languages for mixed adolescents self-esteem. Living in the host American society, better English proficiency is beneficial for mixed adolescents to feel comfortable living here. In addition, foreign languages can provide mixed adolescents with a more flexible perspective on their situation. It influences adolescents to have better self-esteem. According to the results shown in Table 6, parents education influences mixed adolescents self-esteem through two intervening variables, including adolescents English proficiency and adolescents foreign language proficiency.   Additionally, regarding acculturation, adolescentstoward doing things in American ways is marginally significant. It means that adolescents may enhance their self-esteem if they do things in American ways more frequently. Doing things in American ways also means that adolescents adapt to their environment more easily.  There are some differences between model 2 and model 4. In both wave 1 and wave 2, the fathers education has a significant direct effect on adolescents self-esteem. In addition, the  60 fathers education can also indirectly influence adolescents self-esteem through the adolescents English proficiency. In wave 1, the mothers education is not significant for adolescents self-esteem, but it becomes significant on adolescents self-esteem in wave 2. The mothers education can indirectly influence adolescents self-esteem through adolescents English proficiency. In contrast, parent English proficiency is an important intervening variable for predicting  self-esteem in wave 1, but its influence decreases in wave 2. Instead, adolescents foreign language proficiency becomes important in wave 2. Adolescents Ethnic Identity within Interracial and Multicultural Families The main focus of the current study is to explore how adolescents identify themselves. Table 7 represents the results of the multinominal logistic regression model in wave 2, including the parents educational levels, language used, parents levels of acculturation, family cohesion, familism, adolescents self-esteem and parent identity. These factors are hypothesized to influence adolescents ethnic identity formation. The adolescents were classified into one of three groups based on their ethnic identity: Americans, specific nationalities, and hyphenated Americans. In this model, the group of hyphenated Americans was set as a reference group. In this multinominal logistic regression model, it is important to explore the differences among three groups with different ethnic identity, such as Americans, specific nationalities, and hyphenated Americans. The value of -2L2 is 2164.87, and the value of pseudo R2 is 0.172.  61  Compared to the hyphenated American group, the factors of gender, mothersadolescents, fathers ethnic identity (not the same as his country of origin/ hyphenated Americans) and mothers ethnic identity (not the same as her country of origin/ hyphenated Americans) are significant in the American group. First, gender is significant, with coefficient is -0.515. This means that females are less likely to identify themselves as Americans than males. Regarding s show that the can positively influence adolescents to identify themselves as Americans.  Mothers usually are primary caregivers and may have more interactions with their children, and their perspectives on the environment can influence adolescents to perceive their environment and to influence their ethnic identity. In addition, higher education helps people have better acculturation because it is easier for them to adapt to the host American society. Regarding the language, better English proficiency is beneficial for adolescents to adapt to their host American society. Adolescents with better English proficiency are more likely to identify themselves as Americans than as hyphenated Americans. According to strong effects on adolescent ethnic identity formation, which fits the hypothesis of the current study. If fathers or mothers do not identify themselves by their country of origin, they may be flexible enough to accept the American cultures of their host society and become more acculturated. For example, if the father is not an American and does not identify himself with his  62 country of origin, he may be influenced by the host American society and have a flexible perspective of his ethnic identity. This influences adolescents to accept more flexible ethnic identity perspectives on their developmental processes.  In comparison of hyphenated American group with specific nationality group, adolescentrigin, and this influences mixed of origin.   63 Table 7. Multinominal Logistic Regression Model ty  American Specific Nationality Valuables Estimate Exp(B) lower upper Estimate Exp(B) lower upper Age 0.043    1.044 0.802 1.359 -0.110    1.261 0.739 1.085 Gender (female) -0.355    0.701 0.453 1.086 0.025    1.025 0.749 1.403  -0.058    0.944 0.811 1.099 -0.036    0.964 0.866 1.074  0.052    1.054 0.901 1.232 0.051    1.052 0.940 1.177 wave 2 0.089    1.094 0.875 1.366 0.053    1.055 0.922 1.207  0.008    1.008 0.937 1.085 0.136*** 1.145 1.085 1.208 Parent English proficiency 0.083    1.087 0.979 1.206 0.001    1.001 0.933 1.073 Family cohesion 0.033    1.034 0.958 1.116 0.007    1.007 0.953 1.064 Familism 0.007    1.008 0.885 1.147 -0.044    0.957 0.873 1.048 Self-esteem in wave 2 0.036    1.037 0.988 1.088 0.036    1.037 0.988 1.088 country of origin) 0.588*   1.801 1.015 3.196 1.796*** 6.028 4.007 9.068  1.341*** 3.824 2.151 6.800 1.891*** 6.627 4.176 10.517  0.674*   1.962 1.023 3.765 0.766*** 2.152 1.421 3.259  1.242*** 1.034 1.802 6.658 0.947*** 2.578 1.614 4.120 Intercept -6.988** -3.098 -2L2 1578.28 Pseudo R2 0.192 Sample size 918 Note: Reference group is hyphenated. *p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001  64 As mentioned before, parents whose ethnic identities are not the same as their countries of origin, may have more flexible perspectives on ethnic identity formation. This may influence mixed adolescents to not necessarily identify themselves as Americans or hyphenated Americans. Regardless of how parents identify themselves, the adolescents still identif families of origin. Results of Quantitative Findings  The hypotheses of the research questions are examined in this quantitative study section. Each research question of the quantitative study is examined for support or non-support of the hypotheses. Hypothesis 1a. background, the adolescent and young adult have more tendencies to identify as the ethnic  Hypothesis 1a is supported by the results of the multinominal regression models in Table 7. In comparison with the hyphenated American group, adolescents in the specific groups tend to identify themselves with their fathers country of origin if their father ethnic identities are the same as their country of origin. Also, adolescents in the American group tend to identify themselves with Americans if their fathers identify themselves with hyphenated Americans or Americans.  65 Hypothesis 1b. If the mother background, the adolescent and young adult have more tendencies to identify as the ethnic  Hypothesis 1b is supported by the results of the multinominal regression models in Table 7. In comparison with the hyphenated American group, adolescents in the specific groups tend to identify themselves with their mothers country of origin if the mother ethnic identities are the same as their country of origin. Also, adolescents in the American group tend to identify themselves with Americans if their mothers identify themselves with hyphenated Americans. Hypothesis 1c. If parents identify themselves as having multiracial ethnic backgrounds, the adolescent and young adult have more flexible identity formation. If parents identify themselves as having multiracial ethnic backgrounds, the adolescent and young adult will identify with their  According to the results in Table 7, a fathers ethnic identity as a hyphenated American and a mothers ethnic identity as a hyphenated American are significant factors for adolescents to identify themselves with either Americans or specific nationalities. The results reveal that parents multiple ethnic identities can lead mixed adolescents to have more flexible ethnic identities.  66 Hypothesis 2a. If parents have higher education levels, they practice more American ways of living (host country) and it influences the adolescent and young adult to identify as an American. In wave 1, the fathers education is significant for predicting adolescents self-esteem. The fathers education has positive effects on adolescents English proficiency and parents English proficiency, but the fathers education does not have effects on adolescents attitudes toward American ways of living, adolescents preference for American ways of living, and parents preference for American ways of living. The fathers education has significant effects on adolescents self-esteem through the influences of adolescents English proficiency and parents English proficiency. The mothers education is not significant for adolescents self-esteem. The mothers education has effects on adolescents preference for American ways of living and adolescents English proficiency. But the mothers education does not have any influence on adolescents self-esteem through adolescents English proficiency and adolescents preference for American ways of living.  In wave 2, the fathers education is significant for predicting adolescents self-esteem. The fathers education has positive effects on adolescents English proficiency, parents English proficiency, adolescents preference for American ways of living, parents preference for American ways of living, and adolescents attitudes toward American ways of living. The  67 fathers education has significant effects on adolescents self-esteem through the influence of adolescents English proficiency. The mothers education is significant for adolescents self-esteem. The mothers education has effects on adolescents English proficiency and parents English proficiency. The mothers education has the influence on adolescents self-esteem through adolescents English proficiency. Hypothesis 2b. If parents have higher socioeconomic status, they may practice more American ways of living (host country). It can influence the adolescent and young adult to self-identify more as an American. In wave 1, the fathSEI score is not -esteem. The fSEI score does not have any effects on adolproficiency, adolescents foreign language proficiency, , adolescents attitudes toward American ways of living, adolescents preferences for American ways of living, and parents preferences for American ways of living. As a result, the fathers SEI score does not have any effect on adolescents self-esteem through the influences of the factors above. The mSEI score is significan-esteem. The mSEI score has effects on foreign language proficiency and parent preferences for American ways of living. But the s SEI score elf-esteem through foreign language proficiency or parent preferences for American ways of living.  68 In wave 2, the SEI score is not significant for predic-esteem. The fSEI score has a positive effect  attitudes toward American ways of living. As a result, the fathers SEI score has no effect on self-esteem through adolescents attitudes toward American ways of living. The motSEI score is not significant for predicting  self-esteem. The mSEI score has an effect on adolescents foreign language proficiency. The mSEI score has no -esteem foreign language proficiency. Hypothesis 2c. If the families have higher levels of family cohesion, the adolescent and thnic backgrounds. If the families multicultural ethnic backgrounds. According to the results of the multinominal regression model in Table 7, family cohesion and familism are not significant in both the American group and the specific nationality group. The results do not fit hypothesis 2c.   Hypothesis 2d. as Americans.   According to the results in Table 7, adolescents English proficiency is not significant for adolescents to identify themselves with Americans.   69  Hypothesis 2e. identity as specific nationalities or hyphenated Americans. Adolescents foreign language proficiency is significant for adolescents to identify themselves with specific nationalities (their parents country of origin).  Hypothesis 3. -esteem will change over time. According to Table 5 and Table 6, the results reveal that adolescents self-esteem is influenced by different factors in wave 1 and wave 2. The fathers education is significant for predicting adolescents self-esteem in both wave 1 and wave 2. The mothers SEI score is significant only in wave 1 and the mothers education is significant only in wave 2. In wave 1 and wave 2, the fathers education influences adolescents self-esteem through adolescents English proficiency. The fathers education influences adolescents self-esteem through parents English proficiency only in wave 1. In wave 1, adolescents English proficiency, adolescents foreign language proficiency, parents English proficiency, and adolescents attitude toward American ways of living are significant for adolescents self-esteem. In wave 2, adolescents English proficiency and adolescents foreign language proficiency are significant for adolescents self-esteem. The factors that influence adolescents self-esteem change between wave 1 and wave 2.    70 CHAPTER 5 QUALITATIVE FINDINGS Introduction The qualitative section of my study investigated the impacts of interracial and multicultural and self-esteem in the United States (host society). The initial findings of the quantitative section of this research provided a general  and self-esteem over time. However, this general understanding is not enough to probe in-depth into the processes of how adolescents and young adults form their ethnic identity from an integrated relationship of mixed cultures within their multicultural families. The qualitative study is essential as it explores more factors of how adolescents and young adults perceive their host society and their familial contexts which are then influenced by various cultures because of their unique interracial and multicultural family backgrounds. Participants were recruited from Michigan State University campus during the spring and summer semester in 2015. The qualitative section of this research concern covers two research questions: 1) How do parents transmit and maintain their original cultures in their interracial and multicultural families? 2) How does the interracial and multiracial context in which children grow up influence the processes of identity formation and self-esteem?   71 Multiple Case Study Analysis In order to answer these two research questions and to integrate the initial findings of the quantitative study, a multiple case study analysis was concluded for the qualitative study. Based on the quantitative results of this research, there are three important findings: 1) pareeducation have -esteem through better language proficiency, 2) -esteem and ethnic identity -through the influences of language proficiencyfindings imply the influences for adaptation within a host society (the United States) and their -esteem and ethnic identity formation. The quantitative dataset (CILS) in this research revealed that the cultural backgrounds of participants are various. In order to explore the complicated processes of mixing mutiple cultures, multiple cases are ethnic identity and self-esteem are influenced by the social context and familial context where they live and by the interaction with their environments.  72 Multiple case study analysis is applied to research in various fields. It referred to how the researcher collects data from individuals with their unique story and their social contexts (Stake, 2006). There are definitely some reasons for doing research by using a multiple case study analysis. The cases of this research are similar in some is of the first generation of immigrants. These participants also have unique multicultural experiences living in the U.S. society (host society). The selection of cases is also important. In order to focus on the unique process of ethnic identity formation of mixed young adults from the interview and observation, fewer cases were selected for in-depth interviews. As previously mentioned, ethnically mixed adolescents and young adults have unique processes concerning their ethnic identity formation, and these adolescents and young adults have unique experiences as it occurs in certain situations embedded in the social contexts of this host society.  As Stake (2006) mentioned, qualitative understanding of a case requires experiencing the activity of the case as it occurs in its contexts and in its particular situation (Stake, 2006). The situation is expected to shape his or her activity, as well as the experiences and the interpretation of the activity. Therefore, the researcher has to choose to study each well as choosing the case. Previous studies of aformation and self-esteem were generally studied from the perspectives that independence is encouraged as well as other Western values (Hoare, 1991). The unique developmental processes  73 of mixed children within interracial and multicultural families should be studied with consideration of their unique situations within cultural and familial contexts throughout their life span. In other words, the dynamic situation and contexts can shape an of activity and behaviors overtime. As a result, the multiple case study is beneficial for us to further explore more individual experiences about identity formation and self-esteem across adolescence to young adulthood by studying their specific situations and contexts (Stake, 2006). The results of the quantitative study provide us with a statistical understanding of how adolescents identify themselves in ethnicity and how they see themselves over time. The qualitative research design and interview questions were designed based on these quantitative results.  Semi-structured Interview  As mentioned above, the interview questions were designed based on the findings of the quantitative study which used the secondary dataset Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study. A semi-structured interview was designed as a way to encourage participants to tell their story and thoughts throughout the interview (McCraken, 1988). As McCraken (1988) mentioned, the semi-structured interview is beneficial for the researcher to gather data to further answer research questions concerning explanation of quantitative findings. Therefore as a researcher, I  74 led participants to answer the interview questions and encouraged participants to explore more unique experiences about their processes of ethnic identity formation and self-esteem.    A semi-structured interview questionnaire was developed. These questions are open-ended which allowed participants to have ample opportunities to share their thoughts and experiences. There were five sections in this questionnaire, including demographic information, language use, parenting styles, family cohesion, familism, and acculturation. Based on the quantitative results, it was found that language proficiency and acculturation played important roles in influencing -esteem and ethnic identity. But the family cohesion and familism did not play the mediating roles as the researcher expected. As a result, it is essential to focus on exploring -esteem and ethnic identity formation through language used and the impact of acculturation within the familial context. Also, it is important to understand why family cohesion and familism are not quantitatively significant as was expected. In the demographic section, participants wthey were asked about the reason why they identify themselves with a certain ethnic group. In the language section, the researcher focused on how languages used at home influence these -esteem. Participants were asked about the  75 foreign languages used at home, frequency of using these foreign languages of their parents, and their ability of using foreign languages. More importantly, they were also asked about their thoughts of how the foreign languages influence their self-esteem and ethnic identity during their developmental processes. Another focus of this research was to explore the processes of integrating different cultural aspects and activity within interracial and multicultural families. The assumption is that cultural differences can be reflected by parenting styles. In other words, parents can integrate their original cultures and American cultures into their parenting styles through negotiations and interactions among family members. Participants were asked about parenting styles within his or her family, and they were asked about the differences by comparing the parenting styles within his or her family and other American families in general.  In the section of family cohesion and familism, the researcher focused on the reasons why family cohesion and familism were not significant as we expected in the quantitative findings. Family cohesion and familism are two dimensions for evaluating closeness among family members within a family. Participants were asked about their emotional bound to other family members and to the core of their family values. Participants were asked if their family values were s and what are still maintained and what family values are integrated forming family values unique to  76 their family and to the nature of their interracial and multicultural family context. Participants also expressed their thoughts and feelings about how family cohesion and familism influenced their ethnic identity and self-esteem. The last section of interview focused on acculturation. Participants were asked if his or her parents (especially the parents who were the immigrant) preferred American ways of living or their original ways of living. Participants were also asked what kinds of family of origin cultural values and behaviors and American cultural activities and values were practiced within their interracial and multicultural family. This section is helpful for us to explore the processes of how different cultures are combined within interracial and . The section explored how the levels of d -esteem and ethnic identity formation. Finally, participants are encouraged to share their thoughts of being a mixed child in the American society and how they and their parents adjusting to this host society. All participants signed the consent form and agreed to have their stories edited for my dissertation.  Description of Participants Introduction. Table 8 represents the characteristics of five participants, including their pseudo names, age, fathers and mothers education, fathers and mothers country of origin, and the languages they used in their daily life.  77 Table 8. Description of Participants for Qualitative Study    Education Country of Origin Pseudo Name Age Gender Father Mother Father Mother Alice 19 Female Bachelor Bachelor United States China  Brianna 18 Female Bachelor Ph.D. Russia United States (Polish & German) Carter 19 Male Master Master Pakistan United States  Doris 20 Female MBA Bachelor United States (Dutch & German) Hispanic Fiona 18 Female Bachelor Master United States China   Alice. Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information. Alice was the first interviewed for this research. She is an undergraduate student at Michigan State University. The interview was conducted in the library at Michigan State University. She is nineteen-years old. Her father is an American, and her mother is Chinese from Shanghai, Mainland China. Her father went to China to learn Chinese and met her mother in Shanghai. She was born in China, but they moved back to the United States after she was born. They have lived in the United States for 19 years until Alice entered Michigan State University. The parents now live in Shanghai with her two younger s degree.   78 Ethnic identity formation. As a mixed child, Alice has grown up in an interracial family. In an interracial and multicultural family, it was easy for Alice to be exposed to both cultures. It broadened her perspectives of different cultures because her parents do incorporate both cultures into their activities and celebrations within their family. However, there are times when she struggles with her ethnic identityas totally American or Chinese. But she thinks that she might strongly identify as an American because she is growing up in the United States. During her adult developmental years, she accepted more American cultural ways than Chinese cultural ways which included languages use and learning and being educated in the U.S., etc. The community around her was Americans. For example, the relatives she saw were Americans. This meant that she communicated and interacted with people and environment embedded in an American social context. The words she said when dealing with her ethnic perspectives from both sides more, it also made it so that I never really fully fit into one what makes it a struggle was the response from the people of her environment, like in her neighborhood of community was in the United States. She felt that being a mixed child did make her struggle with her identity  79 a little bit especially in her middle school years. Everything is confusing for her. She thought that mixed children try to find a community within each other.  Languages used at home.  at home. Besides However, her mom was too busy to keep speaking in Chinese to her since she was two years old. Fortunately, the rest of to Chinese and Chinese cultures because they are living in Shanghai. Her sisters can still learn English and Chinese while attending an international school in Shanghai. For Alice, English is a primary language used in her daily life because of her U.S. environment where cultural background had a large influence on her learning a foreign language. She is taking a Chinese course on campus at Michigan State Universityinfluence provided her with a foundation for learning Chinese. Now she is able to have a short conversation and easily communicate with people in China. She also believes that learning Chinese helps her identify her with it connects with more of the Chinese culture. The Chinese instructor also incorporates some Chinese cultures into the Her mattitude, being able to communicate with Ali the Chinese language influence Alice to identify as a Chinese American.  80 Parenting within interracial and multicultural family. There are differences for parenting in  more relaxed and understandable to little bit like a Tiger mom who tends to control her concerning her opinions of parenting styles, they balance each other out in different waysunderstandable about oto be more independent. Even Alice notice the differences in parenting styles between father and mother, Alice still shows her comprehensive attitudes toward different parenting styles within her interracial family. Family cohesion and Familism. her family members. She mentioned that she felt much closer especially when they lived in India before and are living in China. She thought that the emotional bound became closer because she was alone and all she had was the family. Now Alice contacted with her family by Skype once a parenting style. In her family, everyone knows everything that happens  81 mother tends to share news with every family member because she thinks that it is good to communicate so decisions can be made. Alice thinks that their family cohesion is strong.   Alice thinks that she is much closer to her father because her father and she have similar ways of thinking. She believes that there are differences between her parents concerning showing their emotions to children. Alice mentioned that her mother still struggles with trying to see her as an equal as she is getting older. She still wants to hang on to the idea of parental authority. But  issue of equality with his children because it is a part of his American to their children in different ways, Alice thinks that forming an emotional bound within an interracial and multicultural family is essential.   Familism with a strong focus on religion parents want their children to be good Christians and to follow Christian values. Alice believes converted her mother over to church. But interestingly, her mother now is a more dedicated Christian than her father. Alice thinks that her mother is strong about everything in the family, so adopted many of Christian beliefs because that's what her parents were teaching her. Now it is integrated in the way that she acts and behaves.   82  Alice thinks that family cohesion definitely influences how she identifies herself. She thinks that the core values were transmitted to her and be her parents. The closeness of the family has provided her with a broad perspective for perceiving this host society (U.S. society). For example, being a mixed child makes her easier to connect with people for diverse ethnic backgrounds even when she was in the international school, which included Qween kids, Chinese kids, and American kids.  The process provides her with a more flexible attitude to connect with people and with multiple cultures around her. It also gives her more different perspectives on more things that people have in their cultures. Acculturation. her mother may have some issues of acculturation because she is the first generational immigrant. Her mother has been living in the U.S. for sixteen years. each other in Chinese. W and mother talk to each other in Chinese about their children especially if they did not want their children to understand what is being discussed. Besides language, the preference for American life style is an important father, their quality of life improved in China, and her mother lives away from her family of origin. There are both good and bad things to her, she told to Alice. She likes being closer to her family of origin 83 family of origin in China. For her mother, there are the conveniences in China and America, including subways and grocery stores. But the United States is a more relaxing environment for her.  the American holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween, etc. They also celebrate Chinese festivals, like the Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival. She applied how they celebrate the Chinese New Year. They put up -is a red envelop with money which means that children can grow up healthy. Besides celebrating festivals, they They have rice and stir fried vegetables for their meals. Of course, her mother would also cook American meals for celebrating American festivals, like turkey for Thanksgiving.   definitely helped her mother to adapt to the American culture more. It was essential for her mother to get a better understanding of how to live in the American culture when she was raising with the American cultures as she is married to Abecame acculturated to the American cultures from social events  84 children to help her.  Brianna. Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information. Brianna is an undergraduate student at Michigan State University. She is 18-years-old. The interview was conducted in the library at Michigan State University. Her father came from Russia in 1991. He was an illegal immigrant in the United States when he arrived here. He defected from Russia during the Cold War with a immigrated in the United States. Her mother is a mixed child with Polish and German heritage. Both of her parents have higher educational degree. Her father has a bachelor degree at the University of Toledo, and her mother has a Ph.D. degree in Russian from University of Michigan. d with her mother. She is frequently in contact with her father.  Ethnic identity formation. Like other participants, Brianna also has a hyphenated ethnic identity as a Russian American. Her mother family celebrates a lot of American tradition. Her father is the first generation immigrant, and he keeps a lot Russian traditionsRussian 85 and Russian culture as she grows up. Unlike other participants, Brianna does not have struggles on ethnic identity issue. It seems that she feels comfortable living in this host society and adapting to this environment easily. Languages used at home. Because their parents are divorced, they still speak in Russian when her father comes to visit them. Brianna said that she can understand a lot of Russian but cannot speak it as much. She went to Russia when she was younger. At that time, she could speak Russian fluently. Over time is losing her ability to speak Russian. Because her mother is teaching Russian in college, she also pushes parents, however, does not speak Polish with Brianna. Brianna thinks that learning Russian makes her perceive differences about cultures which is helpful to her to observe things in different perspectives. She also thinks that her multiple ethnic and cultural backgrounds make her more open-minded to diverse cultures. Parenting styles.  now primary caregiver, and her mother pushes her harder than her father. Her  86 mother, her father does not care about her school performances. As a Buddhist, he just wants Brianna to be a good person. Brianna does not know if these differences of parenting style come s of origin, or living experiences. Living as an having nothing. Brianna thinks that her mother probably had this mindset from being immigrants and not having a lot compared to her father. Alsoresulted in their different parenting styles. Because of living with her mother, Brianna is much more influenced by her mother. But now she is growing up, she also tries to see things from her pectives. She has explored Buddhism, and she is getting closer to her father. Family cohesion and familism. Brianna thinks that she is closer to her mother than her father because she lives with her mother and is away from her father. She mentioned that her mother and grandparents are very supportive. She knows that her mother is always there for her. for Brianna in different ways. He usually gives Brianna money to show his care. However, Brianna thinks it is material. As a result, Brianna thinks that she has strong emotional bounds with her mother but weak emotional bounds with her father. Brianna also mentioned the changes of emotional bound with her father and mother over time. She was closer to her father when she was younger. They would never fight  87 because they were never together long enough to fight. She is close to him with respect. For Brianna, she feels that she is much closer to her parents than other people she knows. Some people would say that she and her mother are like friends. She thinks this good relationship between she and her mother may be influenced by the American culture. Brianna also described that she is more accepting of many things because she is a person with diverse background and she has close emotional ties with each of her parents. These help her to be a nicer person and have a good life.  For Brianna, the definition of a family is because that she can see her family members and relatives regularly, like father, mother, and grandparents. Family members are supportive to each not sure if the cocy. Brianna mentioned that her family always needs support and they are willing to give support. During interactions with her father and mother, she realizes that two separate cultures have an effect on her developmental processes.  Acculturation. Brianna mentioned that her father can speak English pretty well. But Brianna is not sure if he can understand her very well because she thinks that his English speaking ability  88 translator. Brianna thinks that her father does not like American ways of living as much because he does not like America that much. However, he has not been back to Russia since he came to the U.S. He likes the freedom in the United States but has not gotten used to communicating with people here.    most American holidays. For New Year, each one in is symbolic of wishing  always makes Pelmani dumplings and Russian burgers for meal. She also has an environment for Brianna to contact Russian cultures. It also influences Brianna to identify herself more as a Russian American rather than a Polish American. As Brianna mentioned she does not know much about her Polish heritage. In their family, there are less cultural practices from her mother side to be practiced. Through the cultural pd her ethnic identity formation and self-esteem. She is proud to be a Russian, and she likes to share her cultures with her friends.    89 Carter. Ethnic backgrounds and personal information. Carter is an undergraduate student who majors in engineering at Michigan State University. He is 19-years-old. We had the interview in the MSU library. It took about 45 minutes. Cartermother is a Caucasian American. Carter18-year-old. Carter an American cultured Pakistani because he has lived in the United States for 36 years. He said that he was more influenced by the American culture than his Pakistani background. His father came to the United States for an education, and both of Carterreceived master degrees. Ethnic identity formation. Carter identifies himself as a Pakistani American because he is biologically half-Pakistani. He mentioned that he has connections to cultures overseas. He has been to Pakistan twice in his life. Their family celebrates American holidays, and they still have the traditional Pakistani food and have a lot of Pakistani faction. However, for Carter, it is hard for him to only be tied very young makes him not to be attached himself to any one culture.  Language used at home. In Carters family, Spanish is mainly used at home. Actually, both of Carters parents are multilingual. Carters father can speak three languages, including English, Urdu, and Japanese; and Carters mother can speak English, Spanish, and German. As a result,  90 Carters parents encourage Carter and his brother to learn more languages. Carter would say that he is proficient in learning Spanish. He can understand Spanish well but not speak it fluently. He is also interested in learning other languages, such as Chinese.   Carter thinks that learning languages definitely enhances himself. It also helps him to realize that he is not close to any particular cultures. In other words, learning languages makes him separate from certain stereotypes of his own culture or any culture. It is also beneficial for him to see things from the other points of view. Talking to other people can also broaden his perspective to accept more different cultures and makes him more open-minded. Parenting style within family. Carter mentioned that there are definitely different parenting styles on both sides. But he thinks that both parenting styles are authoritative. His parents would set some rules but not require them to be followed. They would say: That is the rule, and that is the reason why I have this rule. Carter and his brother can easily follow the rules by understanding the reasons. In their family, his parents focus on their childrens studies and work their habits. Carter also thinks that he and his parents have mutual respect for each other.  Carters parents are open to each other and to negotiate on how to raise Carter and his brother. For example, Carters father did not encourage his sons to date when they were studying because he believed that it might affect their grades. However, Carters mother did not have the same opinion. She did not want to have any control on her children as they should be able to  91 make decision on their own. Carters parents had arguments when they had differences in opinions on parenting. In his opinion, his father is more controlling and demanding, and he focuses more on childrens academic achievement. Carter actually prefers his mothers parenting style because she focuses on the child, including giving directions to a child. He thinks that it would be better to have a mixture of both fathers and mothers styles within their family. Carter mentioned the cultural differences between  parenting styles and his pa parenting style. He thinks that most American parenting is either authoritarian or passive. Very little children within the U.S. can their question parental authority and talk back and forth. These authoritative parents even control their  homework, sports, or activities. There is no freedom for child to develop himself or herself and to learn on their own. Carter believes that his fathers parenting style is related to conservative Muslim cultures. Carters father does not want his sons to date when they are still young. Carters mother grew in a liberal white home, and she holds different opinions from his father especially on childrens friendship issue. Even though Carter thinks that it would be good to mix their parent styles, they are still different. Carter thinks that his  different parenting styles make him more neutral about his ethnic identity and self-esteem. Family Cohesion and familism. Carter thinks that there is strong emotional bonding among his family members. It is important for family members to keep in contact at all times. When  92 Carter and his brother left home and went to college, his father told them to be in contact with the family every two weeks. Also, his father also asked Carter to keep contact with his brother frequently because they were not in the same college. The emotional bounds within his family are positive. Carters father came to the United States for work and to pursue a better life for his family. He spent all his lifetime working hard, and Carter thinks that his father may have some feelings of guilt; because he did not have enough time to spend with Carter and his brother. This situation makes Carter feel strongly attached to his father. But Carter also mentioned that he is closest to his mother because she was always at home to take care of Carter and his brother.    Carter thinks that the way his parents show their family cohesion is related to how he learned about their original cultures. His fathers culture is very family-oriented. Carter remembered that all family members and relatives may live together in one house in Pakistan. Compared to Pakistan culture, American culture is more individualistic. Carters mother values her children and family, but it is on a personal level rather than a family-oriented level. As a result, Carter thinks that family cohesion can enhance his personal identity much but not necessarily for his cultural identity. Carter feels being loved during their daily life even though his parents do not say they love him directly. He still appreciates his parents when they show their love to him and his brother.  93  Carter defines a family as the people who are closest to you and support you in your life. Also, family members can even be friends who are always with you and support you. The core family value in his family is progress and support. Their family members constantly try to push each other forward. They tend to share information about each other within the family. But Carter mentioned that his father also values mutual respect, respecting parents, and closeness. These values influence his father to try to keep in contact with his family in other areas and to go back to visit his family in Pakistan. Different from Carters father, his mother values living comfortably and enjoyably within a family.   Carter agrees that familism and family values influence his development processes, including his self-esteem and ethnic identity formation. Carter sees how his parents interact. He found that his mother tries to be neutral about family issues because she believes that her husband and she are both working and making decisions together for their family. This shows Carter the importance of communication within the family.   Acculturation. Carters father is a Pakistani who lived in the United States for 36 years, and he definitely identifies himself as a Pakistani. Carter thinks that his father can find positive things of both American ways of living and Pakistani ways of living. Both of Carters parents enjoy Pakistani ways of living. They especially like to be much closer to their families and have more support. It also contributes to their family cohesion within his family.   94  In Carters family, they still celebrate the Christian holidays, Thanksgiving, and Easter. Occasionally, they practice Ramadan which is related to Pakistani Islamic culture. Carters father grew up and was raised Muslim, but he is not much religious at all. Carters father has a fairly high level of acculturation. He still prefers some of his older traditions, but he also enjoys speaking English and living in the relaxed atmosphere of the U.S. society.   Carter believes that his fathers acculturation influenced his development a lot. Carter thinks that father is influenced by his mother because his mother is always open-minded to most things. These things also lead him to have a better self-esteem and strong identity. Carter also shared that casual racism was difficult for him. He generally does not view race as a factor to influence his life. He tries not to look at a person with some stereotypes. However, there was a lot of fear in the media after 911. This happened when he was five. But there have been some terrorist jokes and casual racist things happened to him when he was in high school. People would  are X race, like you are Arabian. As a result, it made him confused and hurtful. He talked to his parents, and he felt comfortable with talking to them. This made Carter and his parents become closer with each other. Even though it was a hard time for his self-esteem and ethnic identity for a while, now he is confident of who he is, and those events such as discrimination do not necessarily influence him a lot.   95 Doris. Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information. Doris is an undergraduate student at Michigan State University. She is 20 years-old. Her father is a European American with German and Dutch ethnicity, and he has a MBA degree. Her mother is from Mexico, and she moved to the United States 25 years ago. She has a bachelor degree. Now she is an American citizen, and she holds dual citizenship. One is American, and the other is Mexican.  Ethnic identity formation. Doris was born in the United States, and she strongly identifies herself with half-European and half-Hispanic. She thought that she was an American, but she also thought that she had strong ties to Mexico. The reason why she identifies herself more with her mothers ethnicity is because people judge her ethnicity by her physical appearance. At this point, she usually answered these people: I am Mexican. Doris also struggled with her ethnic identity when she was young. Her friends said some stereotypes about Hispanics, and it made her not to reveal to other that she was a half-Hispanic at that point. But now she is more confident to say that she is Hispanic American because she understands more about her mothers culture as growing up. Languages at home. Within her interracial family, English is main language used in their daily life. When Doris was a little child, Doriss mother used to speak to her in Spanish, and Doris could also speak Spanish with her. As Doris grew up, her mother stopped speaking in  96 Spanish with her. Even though Doris wants to be bilingual, she just has basic knowledge of Spanish at this point. She had taken Spanish classes to supplement her knowledge of Spanish, but it was a basic Spanish class. Doris thought that speaking Spanish could make her have more ties to her mothers family in Mexico and Texas. Because she could not communicate with her relatives with fluent Spanish when she visited them in Mexico and Texas, it was hard for her to get closer to them. She believed that learning Spanish was helpful for her to know more about her Hispanic background because she could have better communication with people.  Parenting styles within interracial and multicultural family. Doris thought that her parents had different parenting styles due to their cultural backgrounds. Doriss father follows the American parenting style and American punishments. Doriss mother grew up on a farm in Mexico, and she was raised by her grandparents. As a result, Doriss mothers parenting style is very traditional. Compared to Doriss mother, Doriss father was more flexible and open to hearing childrens situations and then made decisions based on the childrens situations. But Doriss mother had a stubborn parenting style. Her mother was a disciplinarian. She told Doris and her brother There are the rules, stick to them. She tended to not discuss childrens situations with children. Doris found that different parenting styles were related to her parents life experiences and how they were raised.  Doris thought that both parenting style together was a good mix.   97 Traditional gender roles were practiced in Doriss family. Doris was asked to learn to dance and to do more feminine things, and Doriss brother was asked to do sports and to do more masculine things in their daily lives. Doris thought that it might be related to the Hispanic culture. Doris and her brother did not practice the traditional gender roles much as they grew up. They developed their interests and then did what they wanted to do rather than following traditional gender roles. Her parents were not pushing her to choose certain career. She mentioned that individuality was valued in the United States but family and collectivism were valued in Mexico. She understands these differences but tends to be her own person. It influenced her to be open-minded to her development. Family cohesion and familism. Doris thought that her family was close, and they liked to get together and to do family activities. Doriss family comes to East Lansing every couple of weeks and then have a dinner together. Doris also goes back home every few weeks. She also feels that her family provides her with a lot of support, such as financial support and advice as needed. Doriss father tends to provide Doris with material support or financial support, and Doriss mother likes to provide moral support to Doris, especially advices. Doris thought that these differences for different support could be related to her parents cultures. Doris thought that the family cohesion in her family was family-oriented because their family members were bonded tightly. s mother brought many family values from her culture and then stuck to  98 them very well. However, she is more lenient than she used to be because she has adapted to American culture. But Doriss mothers values and advice sometimes had negative effects on Doris development. Doris was overweight when she was a little girl. Her mother was upset about her weight. Doris felt that she disappointed her mother, and she was so scared.  Doriss definition of familism is that all family members live together and do frequent family activities for a long period. And in her family, honesty is the most important family value. Her parents do not want Doris and her brother to get into troubles. Doris thought that the family values in her family were different from her peers. She mentioned that some American families valued material things much more than her family. She also described that her father transmitted their family values by giving his children some books about morals that were related to their family values. These family values influenced Doris to value personal relationships with her friends and to be an emotional person.  Acculturation. Doriss mother has lived in the United States for 25 years, but she still keeps certain Hispanic ways of living. She likes to cook Mexican food, and Doriss family like these traditional Mexican food. In Doriss opinion, her mother is definitely adapted to American cultures in many ways, such as her outlook. Not only was Doriss mother influenced by the American culture, but Doriss father was also influenced to be more leisure-time-focused. Doris explained that Mexicans place emphasis on vacation and leisure time, and this value influenced  99 Doriss father to have more vacation. Doriss mother still maintains some Hispanic culture within the family. She still reads and uses the Bible written in Spanish.  Fiona. Ethnic backgrounds and Personal Information. Fiona is 18-year-old undergraduate student at Michigan State University (MSU). This interview was conducted in the MSU main library. Her father is Caucasian American, while her mother is Chinese. Her mother came to the United States to get her master degree where sMichigan to start a family.  Ethnic identity formation. Fiona sees herself as biracial, but identifies herself more as an Asian if she had to choose between being Caucasian or Asian. While she does not see herself as  Languages at home. darin, Chinese regularly to her neither Fiona nor her brother ever learned Chinese systematically. When Fiona was young, she did not enjoy attending Chinese school. However, recently, she is interested in learning Chinese and started taking a couple Chinese classes on campus. Her main reason for learning Chinese  100 Chinese is important to Fiona because it makes her feel like she belongs somewhere. Learning Chinese language and the Chinese culture also gives her pride. Parenting styles within interracial and multicultural family. Fiona believes her parents discipline in the same manner. When they married, they discussed very clearly how they wanted e family American culture, she does not require her children to follow the Chinese traditional values or behaviors, such as filial piety, respecting elderly, etc. Fiona finds that her parents apply more American-style parenting. There main difference between her mowith her children, but expects that her children not to talk back or respond back immediately  which would make her mother feel disrespectful.  For that reason, Fiona does not feel a close bond with her mother unlike other American children. She believes that this is because her mother does not like her children to talk back. She feels that this hinders their communication with one another. Being respectful to her parents  101 forces her to not share her thoughts or opinion with her mother. She tends to talk to her father even if it is more about girl talk.  Family cohesion and familism. Fiona defines family cohesion as showing love and saying, Her father and mother show their affection by asking their needs and opinions. For example, her mother usually prepares their favorite foods, and her father usually asks them about their lives. n. Fiona believes that they have a good balance of communication within their family. It is also beneficial for all family members to understand each other. Fiona believes that the closeness between her and her mother influences her to identify herself morfeels that she has a stronger emotional bound with her mother rather than the rest of the family members. However, this does not mean that they are best friends. There is still a hierarchy between Fiona and her mother.  Acculturation. Fiona feels that her mother is much acculturated to the US. Her mother decided that she was going to assimilate herself into American culture when she came to the United States. She quickly became fluent in English and got a job because of her desire to do so.  102 Although she wants to integrate into the American culture, she still watches Chinese TV show at celebrate Chinese festivals, such as Moon festival and LuChinese cultures and has a deep understanding and appreciation of the Chinese culture. He knows how to interact with other mother is American acculturated, she likes her children to be involved in Chinese culture, such as learning Chinese, watching Chinese TV program, or practicing Chinese activities. However, . Sometimes, Fionas mother feels offended. Cross-cases Analysis on Ethnic Identity Formation and Self-esteem with Interracial and Multicultural Families  The multiple cases study enables us to explore similarity and differences between cases with a holistic understanding of each case and their contexts (Yin, 2003). In this part, the themes were generated for answering two major research questions: 1) How do parents transmit and maintain their original cultures in their interracial and multicultural families? 2) How does the interracial and multiracial context in which children grow up influence their identity formation  103 processes and self-esteem? Besides answering these two research questions, it is also important to connect the results of quantitative study to the findings of qualitative study and then to integrate these findings. Therefore, there are two sub research interests of this qualitative study: 1) To further explain the results of quantitative study which are not easily explained in the quantitative study, 2) To explore the results of quantitative study which are not significant in the previous analysis. A multiple case study enables the researcher to explore differences within and between cases. Comparisons were drawn for further understanding of how young adults develop their self-esteem and ethnic identity formation within their interracial and multicultural families. Also, comparisons are essential for the researcher to make clear statements for explaining differences and similarity across cases and then to explore more stories for future research.  The development of ethnic identity and self-esteem of young adults within interracial and multicultural families.  More flexible perspectives on young adults ethnic identity and self-esteem. According to the interviews, all six participants mentioned that they have hyphenated ethnic identity, such as Chinese-American, Russian-American, Pakistani-American, and European-Hispanic. Hyphenated ethnic identity refers to those people who identify themselves with multiple nationalities or ethnicities. For those mixed young adults, they have unique developmental processes because they accept American cultures and American ways of living in this host  104 society and have access to other foreign cultures which are from their parents original countries at the same time. Therefore, these mixed young adults would primarily identify themselves as Americans because they live in the United States and accept education, cultures, and other welfare here. Being an American is a natural thing for them. But these mixed young adults also partially identify themselves with their parents countries of origin because they have ties to their parents countries of origin. As Doris mentioned: eople ask me, I tell them that I'm half-Hispanic, half-European, so I said I identify with both very strongly. I know that I'm American, but I like having different. A lot time, people ask me like, "Are you--think I look Asian, but it leads me to explain that, "No, I'm not Asian, but I'm actually   According to Doris statements, it is important for mixed children to build their ethnic identity because of ties to the host society and the ties to other countries. For these mixed children, American cultures are easily around them to influence their thoughts and behaviors. It easily influences them to identify themselves as American because they live here. However, it is also important to consider other cultural influences which are transmitted from their parents and  105 practiced through their daily lives. As Doris mentioned, Mexican culture is so different from American culture. This influences her to strongly identify herself as a Hispanic American. Carters statement also reveals this situation.  to say I'm half Pakistani because biologically I am. But a lot of the culture I had pretty much a connection to because it's overseas. I've been to Pakistan twice in my life, and we celebrate holidays here, and we still have the food, we still have a lot of their familiar faction, but it's hard because I'm not as close to it. And also we've-- my family has traveled since I was very young all over   s ecological theory (1979, 1989), mixed children accept American cultures through education, life styles, and languages from their mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem environment. But they also have connection to other environmental systems through the cultural practices within their microsystems and mesosystem, such as families and school. Besides cultures, mixed young adults also perceive their environment and adjust their psychological well-being and ethnic identity formation depending on the response from their environments through the proximal interactions between themselves, parents, and their contexts. Both Alice and Doris have mentioned that they were asked about their ethnicities because of their physical appearances.   106 Alice said that Americans saw her as a Chinese but her Chinese relatives saw her as an American. Alice mentioned that she established her ethnic identity from peoples responses and then adjusted her feelings about who she was. Through these processes, it also led her to struggle during her adolescent years. This example reveals the proximal processes between mixed children and that their social and familial contexts have powerful influences on their developmental processes. Mixed young adults may adjust their ethnic identities through the reciprocal interactions with their host society and parents country of origin.  Because these mixed young adults have multicultural backgrounds, most participants described that accepting various cultures from their host society and familial contexts make them more flexible in their perspective. As Alice described, It just gives me more perspective on different things that people have in their cultures, and whereas someone else might think that-- I don't know, I can't think of a specific example. That something they do is strange whereas I might consider the different perspective that they have and the different things that they do or grew up with that would have them do that. Another important influence on mixed adolescents and young adults development is the community. Participants described that it is so important to find a community other mixed  107 children. It makes him or her feel more comfortable and have more sense of belongingness. Definitely, it may enhance their ethnic identity of being a hyphenated nationality. Negative Effects of being a mixed child on ethnic identity and self-esteem. Even though multicultural backgrounds and interracial families provide mixed young adults a more flexible perspective on their developmental processes, participants still mentioned that there are some negative effects of being a mixed child on their self-esteem and ethnic identity. As Doris said, tell people as much. And I think over the years I've become a lot more comfortable with my background. People would make really rude jokes, not knowing that I was Mexican. They would say stuff about Mexican people in front of me. They obviously weren't doing it to offend me, but it offended me because I thought they didn't know. I'm still Mexican at the end of the day. It was something that I wasn't really comfortable telling people just because some people have very strong opinions about Mexican people here, with the immigration laws and whatever. But it wasn't something that I really wanted to share with people. And growing up, I'm definitely way more proud of it now. And it's something that I do tell people when they ask, or something-- even though I tell people when they don't ask. Because I think it gives me-- everyone here is primarily European or white. It's a big part of America. And it gives me something to stand out. And I've really valued  108 standing out recently. In the last, probably six to seven years, it's been important to me to not be like everyone else. Whereas when I was little, I really wanted to be just like everyone else. I'm really happy that my mom is Hispanic, and it's definitely something I share with people now. Whereas opposed to when I was younger, I was kind of ashamed   According to Doriss statement, it demonstrates that the stereotypes of Hispanic may influence how younger mixed children perceive peoples responses on their multicultural backgrounds. And it may lead mixed children to have confusion of their ethnic identity and self-esteem. In this situation, mixed children sometimes do not know how to figure out this issue because they live in this host society and are mostly like American children. Like other adolescents, mixed adolescents may also want to seek identity and positive feedback from their peers, family, community, and their host society to improve their self-esteem and identity in many ways (Erikson, 1968). The negative responses about their parents ethnicity and their multicultural backgrounds from their peers and host society may result in their confusion of ethnic identity during their early developmental period (Marcia, 1980). As children grow up, some mixed children may become comfortable because their relationship with their environments may reinforce the positive perception of their parents and later be their societal environment especially through accepting information and cultures from their familial contexts  109 (Brofenbrenner, 1989). It makes them have more flexible perspectives on both sides. However, some mixed children may struggle during their developmental years. As Alice mentioned, her physical appearance was often judged by people around, but this did not tell her as much as whom she was. Americans saw her as a Chinese, but Chinese regarded her as an American. It sometimes makes her feel confused as to who she was. The stereotype of being a Chinese made her a little confused. But for her, she accepted herself as part Chinese. She said that she can be both side, either an American or a Chinese.  perspectives from both sides more, it also made it so that I never really fully fit into one category - which was kind of weird, and it was something. I don't want to say "struggled with," because it didn't really cause any real issues for me. But, I guess it made me struggle with my identity, because when I'd be  with my identity a little bit in my middle school stage when everything is confusing, and    110 Integration of multiple cultures within interracial and multicultural families. One purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how parents transmit to their children and maintain their original cultures within their family. It is essential to understand how family members integrate multiple cultures into their daily lives and how they practice these cultures. Then it is also important to discover how these multiple cultures influence mixed young adults ethnic identity formation and self-esteem as they grow up.  Multiple cultures practiced within interracial and multicultural families. Most participants mentioned that they practice two cultures or multiple cultures at home. Living in the United States, American culture is mainly practiced within their families. Alices family practices American culture in their daily life but also celebrates Chinese festivals every year. Fionas family has similar situations. Her family mainly practices the ways of the American culture, yet celebrates some Chinese festivals, as well as eat Chinese food in their daily life. Briannas family practices American culture and Russian culture in their daily life, especially Russian food, but they are not familiar with the ways of the Polish culture. Carters family mainly practices American culture in their daily life, but they are in contact with the Pakistani culture, especially when they travel back to Pakistan. Doriss family prefers American culture in their daily life. According to participants statements, we can find the influences of the host American society on interracial and multicultural families. Because these interracial and multicultural families live in  111 the U.S., they mainly practice the ways of the American culture. Hence, they mainly speak English at home, and they celebrate most important festivals in the United States. Even though these families still practice other cultures beside the American culture, there are different levels of practicing other cultures within these interracial and multicultural families according to question why there are differences in families and what are the reasons that account for these differences. There are several examples for this situation according to participants answers. The first one example is about parents acculturation. As Fiona mentioned her mother made efforts to adapt to the American culture since she decided to live in the United States. Her mother tried to speak English rather than Chinese with her children because it was helpful for her to improve her own English proficiency. She also believed that practicing the American culture made her more involved in this host society. Compared to Alices family, Fionas mother is more acculturated. These differences lead Alice and Fiona to have different perceptions of their ethnic identity and self-esteem. Doriss mother also had a higher level of acculturation. She has many native friends in the United States, and she has become used to living in the American ways. It seems that she looks like an American if you do not know her background. But Doriss mother still enjoys going grocery shopping at the Mexican markets. She is a Catholic, and she still has a bible written in Spanish. She practices the American culture in her daily life with her family, but still  112 has some traditional Hispanic ways of living in other ways. But these Hispanic ways of living are not the dominant culture in Doriss family. Another example is from Carter. His father finds good sides of both cultures, so it is easy for him to practice the American ways at home. He would not ask his family to practice the Pakistani culture at home when they are in the United States. But when they went back to Pakistan, his father would explain the traditional Pakistani culture to Carter and his brother, and then asked them to follow the Pakistani culture there. But Carters father usually explains the Pakistani culture to his children, so Carter knows the acceptable norms and behaviors of the Pakistani people well. Carter had another kind of experience of cultural sharing. He was always prompted to be part of the Pakistani culture. He wore Pakistani clothes and participated in their family meeting when he went back to Pakistan. His mother also shares some American traditional culture when they celebrate American festival. It is natural for him to accept both cultures from his father and from his mother and share with other people. Although these participants mentioned that the American ways are the dominant culture within their interracial and multicultural families, some participants also pointed out that they were strongly influenced by their parents original cultures because of cultural sharing. For example, Alices father (an American) was teaching English to a person from his church. And  113 then he converted Alices mother over to Christianity. But as time went by, Alices mother became a strong Christian.  Cultural learning and integration of multiple cultures. Living in interracial and multicultural families, participants also described how they learned about other cultures in the United States. As stated in the section above, participants can learn their parents cultures through cultural practice at home from their parents and with their interactions with relatives when they visit the parents country of origin. Most participants said that the efficient way of learning other culture is by learning the foreign language (especially those of their parents languages). Learning a language can be helpful not only for being involved in other cultures but also for enhancing ones ethnic identity as well as influencing their self-esteem. As Carter said: I think that learning a language definitely enhances me as a person. Just learning various languages, because it helps me setting aside that I don't have any particular culture. It helps me separate myself from certain stereotypes of my culture, or of any culture. It helps me see other people's points of view in that when you learn a language, you can talk to other people. And you can see: when you learn a language, you usually learn some of the culture and some of their background. So it really helps me to keep my mind open  114  Within interracial and multicultural families, integration of multiple cultures is a gradual and slow process. Immigrant parents usually have adaptation issue when living in the United States. Sometimes, it is difficult for them to easily understand the American culture, and some of them would choose to maintain their traditional ways of living. But as time goes by, immigrant parents may find the way to adapt to the American society and then immerse their original cultures into the American culture within their family as then transmit that to their children. Alice and Fiona have similar experiences to help their Chinese mothers adapt to the American ways. During these processes of integrating multiple cultures, families may find a way to balance their multiple cultures. It influenced these mixed adolescents and young adults to have open-minds to see their cultural backgrounds.  kids definitely helped her adapt to the American culture more, because she gets a better understanding of how we grow up in the American culture. Anything that she's confused, she's more integrated into it because of being married to my dad and having to go with him to these social events and meeting his family and all that kind of thing and then celebrating the holidays, learning to cook the American foods and all that kind of thing. She did it for our family. If she didn't have my dad and us to do those for, she wouldn't be as likely to fully immerse her into the American culture as much. When not just Chinese moving to America, but like anyone moving anywhere-- if they're with  115 someone else with their culture, they're less likely to try to adapt the culture and they form their own little bubble. So being an interracial couple, definitely forces people in general, but my mom specifically to adapt more culture (Alice). The influences of understanding multiple cultures on self-esteem and ethnic identity formation. As described above, all participants have experiences of living in a familial context with multiple cultures. There are two questions in this section: a) How do these mixed young adults understand these different cultures? b) How do their understanding of multiple cultures influence their self-esteem and ethnic identity formation? These two questions are essential for us to explore how multiple cultures within the familial context influence mixed adolescents and young adults development.   Most participants can perceive cultural differences by observing their nearby environments, such as school, community, and family. Alice mentioned that she has to be very observant and insightful to anything that questions her cultural differences. Her parents sometimes would not directly give her an answer to her questions. She learned to figure out her issues and questions by herself. She thought that this process made her become a person that is good at taking on the other persons perspective. Carter shared an example of parenting style. He found that most American parents generally are authoritarian or passive rather than authoritative. He found that some of his friends do not have the freedom because their parents have strong control on them.  116 And some of his friends can do anything they want. These experiences influenced him to accept a broad perspective concerning the different parenting styles of his parents. He knows how to balance these differences and fit into his parent expectation. The influence of family cohesion and familism on self-esteem and ethnic identity formation within interracial and multicultural families.  Different forms of family cohesion within interracial and multicultural families. There are different forms of family cohesion. Participants were asked about the definition about family cohesion, most of them came up with the emotional bonding within their families. First, family cohesion refers to a feeling of worrying and caring about each other. Within these families, all family members know everything that is going on with everyone. Within these families, everyones business is related to each other because all family members care about each other. It is also important for one family member to make decisions that are acceptable by most of the family. Second, closeness is another form of family cohesion. Some families like to get together and have many family activities. It can improve affection among family members when all family members engage in activities together, such as having dinner, going on picnics, seeing a movie, etc. The third form of family cohesion is support for each other. Carter defines family cohesion as people being close to their family members and support their family members throughout the life cycle. Actually, most participants mentioned that they have encountered some  117 difficult issues, like hard work in school, confusion of their identity, parenting issue, etc. It is essential to have a supportive family when trying to figure out their own issues. For example, Alice is staying alone in the United States and pursuing her degree, and sometimes she may have a difficult time living alone. Keeping in contact with her family energizes her to figure out her own issue. Another example is from Elizabeth. She tends to discuss her personal concerns with her mother and sisters to get some advices from her family members. According to participants definitions of family cohesion, there is no big difference for family cohesion between most American families and interracial families. However, some participants believe that the different forms of family cohesion are related to their parents original cultures. Alices and Fionas mothers are from mainland China, and both of them think that the way for the Chinese to show their love and care is by monitoring their childrens lives and by keeping in contact with their children at all times. Doris also thinks that the family cohesion within her family is important and family-oriented and believes this may be related to the Hispanic culture.   All participants in the qualitative study believe that family cohesion within their interracial families is positive, and it creates a strong a emotional bound with their parents. The emotional bounds can also lead them to more fully identify themselves as members of  country of origin. All participants also believe that strong family cohesion is positive for mixed adolescents and young adults development.   118 ot so much but in terms of personal identity, very much. Just because I went to school in a small town, and I didn't realize how common it was for either children's parents to be divorced or for parents not to tell their kids that they are proud of them and they love them. Like I grew up and barely a day went by, I wouldn't say, we're proud of you, you're working hard, we appreciate that and that I was loved. And I knew that every day. It didn't matter if brought home a D on my report card, which I thankfully never did, I knew I could do that and not feel like they would call me stupid or they would say, "Okay, figure out what you did wrong. Do better next time." And so I think it's really helped me have a more confident personal identity in my abilities. (Carter)  According to Carters statement, it is important for an adolescent or a young adult to have support or encouragement from their parents. It leads mixed children to easily adjust to their environment and figure out their personal issue. Then it can enhance their self-esteem. And family cohesion also enhances mixed childrens abilities in their development during adolescence and young adulthood. Familism provides mixed adolescents and young adults the norms and rules for development. Family cohesion can reflect the emotional bonding among family members, and familism is another way to reflect family values of a family. Within interracial and multicultural  119 families, familism represents family of origin values and beliefs concerning familism. Participants were asked about their family values and familism. Carter mentioned that the family values within his family are respecting parents, mutual respect, and a cohesive family. As mentioned before, Carters father emphasizes family gathering, and it is a traditional family value in Pakistani culture (Muslim culture). In Doris family, both of her parents agree that honesty is the core family value. Doris parents do not want their children to get in trouble. Because Doris parents usually talk to them about their family value, Doris and her brother know that lying will make their parents upset. There are some differences in family values. Some families focus on family gathering and collectivism, and some families focus on personality and individualism. It may be related to cultural traditions and values that are part of the foundation of cultures.   -oriented. Back in Pakistan, there's a house, it has three floors, and each portion of the family has a floor. My uncle and his wife and children have one floor for living. And they all live together, and they have meals every night as a whole family. Clearly, he values family very much. My mother values family quite a lot as well, but she did not grow up very well. Her famfamily very much. On a personal level, she loves them, but she doesn't like them. She  120 values us, and I can tell that she likes us to stay together and she likes to have meals at home, but it's not quite as a call every couple weeks and like my father. (Carter)  Participants were also asked about their opinions about general American family values. Some participants think that many American families emphasize the importance of material things. It means that American parents tend to give their children better material things if they need or want. It also reflects the importance American parents put on children themselves and to listen to them. For Hispanic and Chinese families, the benefits of the whole family and family gathering may be more important that the individual and they are more family-oriented.  Some participants also mentioned that religion is important for them in their daily lives. Participants and their families have some religious core values that they believe in. Alices parents taught Alice and her sisters morals from Christianity. She thinks that these morals have become integrated in the way that she behaves and acts. Most participants also mentioned that their parents want to transmit these family values and morals related to their original cultures to their mixed children through family activities and communication within their interracial and multicultural families. As Doris described: o me and my brother. Definitely, we would read books that had morals in them.  121 Familism and family values can provide a family the norms and rules for family function. According to participants answer, we can find that mixed adolescents and young adults thoughts and behaviors are influenced by family values and morals. The question here: Are mixed adolescents and young adults development influenced by family values and morals? Based on participants answers, it seems that mixed adolescents and young adults behaviors are influenced by family values. However, family values and morals do not influence mixed adolescents and young adults ethnic identity formation in the quantitative study as the researcher expected. These results are partially corresponding to what we found in the quantitative study in previous chapter. The influences of acculturation on mixed adolescents and young adults development. At least one of the participants parents is an immigrant from different countries, including Mainland China, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, and Jamaica. Most participants parents have higher levels of education, and we suppose that they may have higher levels of acculturation for living in the United States because they may have better English proficiency and can easily get information (Berry, 1997).  Their immigrant experiences and tie to their country of origin. When immigrant parents moved to the United States, in the beginning, they might felt alone and all they had were their families. It may lead these immigrant parents to be more dependent on their family members and  122 to get closer with their families. Some parents may be more conservative about changing their original ways of living. Most of them may still maintain their original ways of living in the beginning as they moved to the United States. Each parent may have different ties to their country of origin, and it may result in different levels of acculturation. As Alice mentioned about her mother:   poor. Then when she and my dad came back to the US, they started out poor. And now that she's back in China, moving to China gave them a big promotion, and she has an even higher lifestyle now. So to compare them is hard, because there she's just living so differently. I have asked her about it, and she says that there are good and bad things about both places. She likes being closer to her family, and to see them. Her parents are getting older, and all of her sisters are there. That's probably another reason why my family is closer is it's also very important to her. She likes being able to speak Chinese and English, because it gives her an edge in China. She likes the convenience of subways and all of that, but at the same   Alices mother has a strong tie to her original family in China. But when she moved to the United States, she became used to living in America. Her strong ties make her see both good and bad sides of American ways of living and Chinese ways of living. Alices family helped Alices  123 mother acculturated to the American culture. Better English proficiency also made Alices mother easily understand the American culture. As a result, she could practice both American ways of living and Chinese ways of living in her daily life. Even though some immigrant parents have higher levels of acculturation, there are some participants parents who do not like American ways of living. Brianna said that her father does not like America very much even though he has not been back to Russia for a long time. It seems that it is difficult for him to get used living in the United States. He can easily communicate with people by speaking English, but his English proficiency is not as good as expected. Sometimes, it seems that he could not understand Brianna very well. For Briannas father, he likes freedom in the United States but he thinks that Americans are not as familiar as Russian for him. In sum, the perspectives on Americans and American culture may result in different levels of acculturation. Also, the ties to immigrant parents countries of origin can also influence their levels of acculturation. For example, these immigrants may have various ways of living, like holding on to the original ways of living, as well as both American ways of living and other ways of living. Fionas mother and Alices mother are both from Mainland China. Fiona mentioned that her mother tried her best to get used to the American ways of living, and she tends to speak English with her children most time rather than speaking Chinese. It is a little different from Alices mother.   124 Integration of new life styles and cultures from mixed children within interracial and multicultural families. The processes of integration of different life styles sometimes are difficult especially for the immigrant parents from different cultures. Most participants mentioned that their parents are willing to learn American culture even though sometimes it is hard for them to change their original ways of living. Through the interview, most participants mentioned how their parents learn to adapt to the American culture through the interactions with their mixed children. Alice said: er adapt to the American culture more, because she gets a better understanding of how we grow up in the American culture. Anything that she's confused, she's more integrated into it because of being married to my dad and having to go with him to these social events and meeting his family and all that kind of thing and then celebrating the holidays, learning to cook the American foods and all that kind of thing. She did it for our family. If she didn't have my dad and us to do that, she wouldn't be as likely to fully immerse herself into the American culture as much. When not just Chinese moving to America, but like anyone moving anywhere. If they're with someone else with their culture, they're less likely to try to adapt the culture and they form their own little bubble. So being an interracial couple, definitely forces people in general, but   125 Doris also has the similar experience: We try to help where we can. It's kind of like a sticky area because we don't want to offend her and be like, "You should know this after living here for almost 25 years now." But I just feel like there's some things that she'll never quite understand the way I would, just because I was born here, and this is my whole life, pretty much. Same if I went to Mexico, and there's probably just some things about the culture I would never fully understand. She still really doesn't understand how the schooling system here works, because it's different over there. She, I think-- we went to high school here, but she had prep school, college prep school, so she doesn't really get the schooling system. But again, for the most part, she votes for president, she votes in local government. So she's very much a part of the American culture anyway.         126 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION  The following sections summarize, discuss, and draw conclusions about the findings provided in the previous chapters. The implications of the findings and the limitations of this research are also discussed.  Discussion The influences of host society and family contexts on mixed adolescents and young adults. As previous research studies have found, parents play an important role in child development. Within interracial and multicultural families, identity development can be facilitated through on-going connections with parents (Bowlby, 1988). This statement shows that adolescents and young adults ethnic identity formation is a dynamic process with their parents. Different from adolescents without interracial and multicultural backgrounds, the processes of mixed adolescents and young adults ethnic identity formation and self-esteem are more unique and complicated. According to our findings, mixed adolescents and young adults development is influenced by their gender, age, English proficiency, foreign language proficiency, parents ethnic identity, parents education, and preference for American ways. Mixed adolescents and young adults may have better developmental outcomes such as better English proficiency and foreign language proficiency because living in the United States, their better English proficiency makes  127 mixed adolescents and young adults feel comfortable and confident to interact with their environments. Considering that their parents are from other cultural backgrounds, better English proficiency is also  acculturation (Berry, 1997). In both quantitative and qualitative findings, mixed children have better self-esteem and more confidence about their ethnic identity. From the perspective of ecological model (PPCT model), parents acculturation and mixed child development are highly related. Even though some studies also noticed the effects of parents acculturation on interracial childrens development (Umana-Taylor & Fine, 2004), they did not consider the reciprocal processes between parents and mixed children within their family context under the influences of this host society (American society).   Another focus of this research is the relationship between self-esteem and ethnic identity formation. Mixed adolescents and young adults have unique developmental processes, and some of them may have struggles during earlier years into their adolescence. As the participants mentioned, they encounter certain issues which may not happen to adolescents without multicultural backgrounds, like where they belong in terms of ethnicity, discrimination, and acculturation. These struggles are important developmental tasks for mixed adolescents because they may encounter misunderstanding and discrimination about their parents cultures. It leads mixed adolescents and young adults to be confused about their ethnic identity. As Marcia (1980) described that adolescents may have identity crises during this period, there are fewer studies  128 that focus on the struggles of mixed adolescents and young adults with a perspective on hybrid culture (Phenice, Griffore, and Hsieh, 2015). Hybrid children and their flexibility on mixed child development. Literature has found that all adolescents, regardless of how they identity ethnically, undergo similar identity formation processes (Hoare, 1991). However, the compositions of interracial and multicultural families are varied, and therefore it is essential to explore the developmental process of adolescents and young adults with the consideration of different cultures. In this research, it is found that mixed children accept both their parents cultures at the same time which can be very different from each other. As Phenice, Griffore, and Hsieh (2015) stated, through the influences of the host society, children can mix these dissimilar cultures into a hybrid culture which can manifest more flexibility in their psycho-social development. For these mixed children, hybrid culture provides them a flexible perspective to perceive their environments. They can easily go back and forth to see things from a different cultural perspective that makes them more open-minded to their psycho-social development. However, not many studies about ethnic identity formation and self-esteem take hybrid culture into account while doing research on mixed childrens development. It can be a new trend for future research.  Implications of the Findings  According to the findings of this research, the ecological perspective and mixed methods  129 should be taken into account while doing research on mixed child development within interracial and multicultural families. Ethnic identity formation takes place through proximal processes with complex reciprocal interaction between mixed children and their parents, people, and peers within their host society (Brofenbrenner & Morris, 1998). However, some previous studies which focused on mixed children did not consider the influence of reciprocal interactions between the developing person and their contexts (Gecas, 1971; Seidmen, Allen, Aber, Mitchell, & Feinman, 1994). These studies emphasized the influences of environmental factors and parents on mixed childrens development, such as peers, community, and school. However, the issues they encountered are more complicated than expected, such as discrimination and misunderstanding of cultures. Moreover, the reciprocal processes between mixed children and parents may not be easily observed in a study that is designed as quantitative study. Doing in-depth interviews can provide us more information about mixed childrens experiences for future studies. We also have to consider the influences of their parents different cultures on mixed childrens development. The contexts of a host society and interracial families provide mixed children with several sets of values, and any of these value systems may have various effects on mixed childrens ethnic identity formation and their psychological well-being. The culture of the host society (American society) and the culture from parents country of origin become a hybrid culture for mixed children to develop their own world view for perceiving their  130 environments. Therefore, hybrid culture should be considered in future research of mixed childrens development by the application of the ecological perspective.   Furthermore, studying dyads can be a direction for doing future research. As mentioned above, mixed children develop their ethnic identity and self-esteem through the proximal processes between themselves and parents within the interracial and multicultural family context. Therefore, it would be better to observe both mixed child and parents and to see their interactions within their interracial and multicultural families. Then the researcher can have a full picture of how mixed children build their hybrid culture through the proximal processes with their parents within the interracial and multicultural context. Due to the limitations of recruitment and secondary data, it is difficult to do a dyadic study. The dyadic study is beneficial for exploring more details and information for the foundation of knowledge of mixed childrens development. Limitations of this Research  Considering that the mixed methods is applied in this research, there are some limitations. First, the measurements of certain concepts cannot correspond to the definitions of concepts defined by participants. In the quantitative study, family cohesion was not a significant factor for predicting adolescents self-esteem and ethnic identity. However, in the qualitative study, most participants reported that family cohesion was important for supporting their self-esteem and identifying with their parents. After these qualitative findings, the researcher checked the  131 discrepancy of the results. There are only three items of family cohesion scale in the secondary data Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS). The definitions of family cohesion defined by participants are varied which cannot be fully covered by the scale of family cohesion. This can lead the results to not be correctly interpreted. Second, there are fewer secondary data which focus on mixed children, even CILS used in this research was designed for child development of a general immigrant population rather than mixed children. Therefore, some concepts applied in this research cannot be directly measured or used for data analysis over time. For example, parent English proficiency was not measured separately in CILS questionnaire. So it is hard to know whether the influence of fathers or mothers English proficiency is more crucial for mixed childrens development. Also, the scales of family cohesion and familism were only measured in wave 2, and it is hard to observe the effects over time. Third, the characteristics of participants recruited for the qualitative study were not balanced to infer the population of mixed children. There were 6 participants, one was male and the other six participants were females. For example, as previous studies revealed, there might be some gender effects on adolescents and young adults self-esteem and identity formation. However, it was difficult to examine this gender effect.  Summary  Quantitative section. According to the quantitative study, mixed childrens self-esteem  132 improved from wave 1 to wave 2 in their adolescence years which is supported by the hypothesis. Previous studies revealed s self-esteem changes over time with consideration of their social context, familial context, school performance, and other personal traits (-Jarmoc, 2007). -esteem is similar to the trajectories of monoracial American adolescents (Collishaw, Maughan, Goodman, & Pickles, 2004). Considering the short-term effects on mixed adolescents self-esteem, parents education is a powerful factor that influences adolescents development. Within the interracial and multicultural families, childrens development is still influenced by parents education without considering their cultural backgrounds. Language is an important factor for improving adolescents self-esteem. For some mixed adolescents, better English proficiency is beneficial for them to improve their self-esteem. Also, fathers education and mothers education can positively influence mixed adolescents self-esteem through adolescents English proficiency and parents English proficiency. It also reveals that better English proficiency makes adolescents feel confident living in the host American society. Even though fathers education and mothers education can positively influence adolescents and parent acculturation on adolescents self-esteem in wave 2, it is not supported that adolescents ethnic identity formation are affected by parents education.  There are three categories of adolescents ethnic identity in this research, including  133 American, hyphenated American, and specific nationality (with fathers side or mothers side). Considering the effects of the host society, a large proportion of adolescents in the CILS reported that they were hyphenated Americans and Americans rather than specific nationality over time. For these mixed adolescents, American cultures are the main culture that they accept in their daily life, including their schools and family. Some of them were born as American citizens, and they would think that they were absolutely Americans. Some of them have opportunities to accept more foreign cultures from their parents within their interracial and multicultural families, and it made them have more flexible perspectives on their situations of being a mixed child. Different from the findings of adolescents self-esteem, parent education does not play an important role in adolescents ethnic identity formation. But parents still have their influences on mixed adolescents ethnic identity formation. Actually, no matter how their mother or their farther identify themselves with their country of origin, the mixed adolescents are influenced by their parents ethnic identity. For mixed adolescents who identify themselves as an American, their parents who do not identify themselves with their country of origin have more effects on childrens ethnic identity formation. For mixed adolescents who identify themselves with a specific nationality, father and mother who identify themselves with country of origin have more effects on childrens ethnic identity. Also, for mixed adolescents whose ethnic identity with a specific nationality, foreign language proficiency is a critical factor for ethnic identity formation.  134 These findings reveal that parents ethnic identity has a powerful influence on mixed childrens identity formation.  In the quantitative section, it is important to explore that father and mother may have different influences on mixed adolescents ethnic identity formation in this research. Males tend to identify themselves with their fathers country of origin. Mixed adolescents who identify themselves with their fathers country of origin, the influences of family cohesion and familism have slightly positive effects on ethnic identity formation. However, mixed adolescents who identify with their mothers country of origin do not reveal the influences of family cohesion and familism on their ethnic identity formation. We can also find that there is a relationship between adolescents self-esteem and their ethnic identity formation. Adolescents self-esteem have slightly negative effects on adolescents ethnic identity formation especially when they identify themselves with their mothers country of origin. According to these findings, fathers have a powerful influence on child development through the family contexts within interracial and multicultural families. However, family cohesion and familism are not significant as expected in the quantitative section.  Qualitative findings. The findings have revealed information that can to the quantitative data to create a holistic understanding of mixed child development. First, most participants mentioned that they were hyphenated Americans. Some participants identify themselves with  135 their father or mother because they accepted the multi-cultures within their family contexts; and some participants choose their ethnic identity because they are biologically related to their father  This finding can explain the quantitative finding of why family contextual factors and parents backgrounds are powerful factors to influence mixed adolescents and young  ethnic identity formation in the quantitative study. Also, the influences of host society (American society) are important for mixed child development. Mixed adolescents and young adults have unique processes through proximal process with people in their multicultural contexts and host society, and these processes make mixed adolescents and young adults have more flexible perspectives on their development, ethnic identity formation, and perception of their environments. Throughout the qualitative interviews, it was found that there are some negative effects on mixed  and young adults self-esteem and ethnic identity formation. Through the interactions with their family contexts and host society, mixed adolescents and young adults may struggle with their identity formation during their earlier years. For example, they may be judged by their physical appearances, and they may encounter some discrimination issues. These perceptions sometimes make them uncomfortable about these encounters. Even though they have these struggles during their earlier developmental periods, most participants mentioned that they feel better especially when they have a greater understanding of their parents cultures, their host society, and other people.  136  Another important focus is how a family integrates multi-cultures into their interracial and multicultural family and then transmits this to their children. Living in this host society, most interracial and multicultural families mainly practice American cultures in their daily lives (with occasional celebration of their families of origin or food that they eat. English speaking is mainly used in their daily lives, and they also celebrate most important American festivals. The interviews revealed the dominant role within the family of practicing other cultures within the interracial and multicultural family. Mother is usually the main caregiver within the family, and most of them have power to decide how to practice what cultural norms and behaviors in their daily lives. However, the processes of practicing multi-cultures within the family are highly related to parents acculturation. If parents are less acculturated and they are the dominant role in the family, they tend to practice more cultures of their country of origin than American culture at home.   The findings reveal that there is a strong relationship between family contexts and host society on mixed childrens development. Parents play critical roles in mixed adolescents and young adults development through proximal processes. Family cohesion and familism do not show their importance on mixed adolescents ethnic identity formation in the quantitative study, this may be due to how family cohesion and familism are measured and defined in the quantitative study. But in the qualitative study, participants mentioned that family cohesion and  137 familism were important influences in their development. The differences of family cohesion and familism can reveal the influences of family contexts on mixed adolescent and young adult development. Finally, it is believed that mixed children can build their own world view to perceive their environments through learning cultures from both their host society and family contexts. This is also an important implication for future studies focusing on hybrid children who are the products of the influences of interracial and multicultural family and society.  A mixed methods approach is beneficial for us to explore mixed adolescents and young adults ethnic identity formation and self-esteem. By using a phonological approach within a qualitative study, data reveal insights that were different from those measured by the quantitative study. It is difficult for exploring the cultural influences on mixed adolescents and young adults self-esteem and ethnic identity formation in the quantitative models. For example, mixed adolescents and young adults have struggles with their processes of ethnic identity formation. The qualitative approach can provide the researcher a different way to probe into these struggling and complicated processes. It can also provide profound explanations for substituting quantitative findings. Therefore the researcher was able to obtain a more holistic view of what takes place in the development of self-esteem and ethnic identity formation.    138       APPENDICES         139 Appendix A.  Table 9. Percentage Distribution of Missing Values of Study Variables  W1 W2 Variable Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Language      English proficiency  speaking 8 0.7% 259 21.9% English proficiency  understanding 8 0.7% 258 21.8% English proficiency  reading 8 0.7% 258 21.8% English proficiency  writing 8 0.7% 258 21.8%  Foreign language  speaking 227 19.2% 448 37.8%  Foreign language  understanding 228 19.2% 448 37.8%  Foreign language reading 230 19.4% 448 37.8%  Foreign language  writing 231 19.5% 448 37.8% Parents backgrounds     Fathers education 168 14.2%   Fathers SEI score 241 20.3%   Mothers education 103 8.7%   Mothers SEI score 350 29.5%   Acculturation      Adolescents attitude toward American ways 25 2.1% 264 22.3%  Adolescents preference for American ways 7 0.6% 270 22.8%  Parents preference for American ways 9 0.8% 268 22.6% Adolescents self-esteem      I am a person of worth 12 1.0% 260 21.9%  I have a number of good qualities 11 0.9% 259 21.9%  Im inclined to feel failure 14 1.2% 262 22.1%  I do thing as well as other people 8 0.7% 260 21.9%  I do not have much to be proud of 15 1.3% 259 21.9%  I take a positive attitude toward myself 17 1.4% 260 21.9%  I am satisfied with myself 15 1.3% 261 22.0%  I wish I had more respect for myself 15 1.3% 262 22.1%  I certainly feel useless at times 13 1.1% 262 22.1%  At times I think I am no good at all 9 0.8% 262 22.1% Family Cohesion      Family likes spend time together   260 21.9%   140 Table 9.   W1 W2 Variable Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage  Family members feel close   259 21.9% Family togetherness important   261 22.0% Familism      Should help relative over friend   263 22.2%  Serious problems/only relatives can help   261 22.0%  Better find job near parents   260 21.9%             141 Appendix B.  Table 10. Zero-order Intercorrelations for Study Variables in Wave 1 Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1.Self-esteem in w1 -             2.Gender .062 -            3.Age .007 .078 -           4. Fathers level of education 0127 -.006 -.097 -          5.Fathers SEI .084 .061 -.117 .500 -         6.Mothers level of education .105 .000 -.115 .529 .332 -        7.Mothers SEI .123 .043 -.092 .427 .480 .526 -       8.English proficiency in w1 .219 -.036 -.064 .179 .113 .211 .121 -      9.Foreign language proficiency in w1 .071 -.045 .064 .030 .007 .021 .100 -.036 -     10.Parents English proficiency .162 -.044 -.159 .343 -.039 -.072 .293 .298 -.198 -    11. Attitudes of American ways w1 -.065 .024 .041 -.076 .058 .119 -.056 -.070 .029 -.048 -   12.Preferences of American ways w1 .016 .068 -.018 .082 .073 .086 .103 .154 -.208 .106 -.223 -  13.Parent preference of American w1 0.18 .044 .014 .089 .238 .471 .036 .150 -.258 .200 -.145 .596 - Note: Coefficient in italic are not significant at p=.05 (N=1,185)       142 Appendix C.  Table 11. Zero-order Intercorrelations for Study Variables in Wave 2  Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1.Self-esteem in w2 -             2.Gender -.006 -            3.Age .038 .078 -           4. Fathers level of education .120 -.006 -.097 -          5.Fathers SEI .036 .061 -.117 .500 -         6.Mothers level of education .126 .000 -.115 .529 .332 -        7.Mothers SEI .063 .043 -.092 .427 .480 .526 -       8.English proficiency in w2 .224 -.068 -.056 .167 .081 .208 .097 -      9.Foreign language proficiency in w2 .097 -.068 .052 -.009 -.016 .009 .078 -.062 -     10.Parents English proficiency .102 -.044 -.159 .343 .238 .471 .293 -.275 -.231 -    11. Attitudes of American ways w2 -.014 .016 .003 -.034 .060 .032 .030 -.004 .063 -.023 -   12.Preferences of American ways w2 .035 .056 .013 .139 .106 .086 .047 .105 -.251 .103 -.246 -  13.Parent preference of American w2 .069 .045 .013 .106 .061 .078 .027 .132 -.287 .217 -.200 .596 - Note: Coefficient in italic are not significant at p=.05 (N=1,185)     143 Appendix D.  IRB Approval Letter   144 Appendix E.  Consent Form for Participation in a Research Study Michigan State University   Ecological Perspective: Identity Formation within Interracial and Multicultural Families   Description of the research and your participation Dear participant,             I am a doctoral student in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. I would like to invite you to participate in a research project about your experiences of identity formation within your interracial and multicultural families. The main focus of this research is to explore the influences of multi-interracial and multicultural families. You will not directly benefit from your participation in this research. However, your participation in this research may contribute to the understanding of child development within interracial and multicultural families. You will be interviewed once for 30 minutes to 40 minutes. An additional interview of the same length may be added if it is necessary. All interviews will be conducted by me. Participation is voluntary, you may choose not to participate at all, or you may refuse to answer certain questions or discontinue your participation at any time without consequence. To show my appreciation for your participation, I will provide you with a $20 gift card for use at Amazon website. There is very minimal risk involved in this research. You might experience some unhappy memories in responding to the interview questions. A list of local resources will be offered that you may refer to if you feel the need to do so.  145 Your confidentiality will be protected by using a pseudonym for your name and assigning you a confidential identification number. A hard copy of your transcript for of the interview will be given only to you. You will be able to make any changes that you want. You also have the right to withdraw from the study at any time with no penalty. The records and data will be stored ected by researcher. Only the researcher can have access to the data and records. Your confidentiality will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. You will be able to keep the $20 gift card. Your responses will be kept confidential. This research will be shared with my dissertation committee and other appropriate members of the Michigan State University community. I appreciate your giving time to this research, which will help me learn more about the influences of multi-cultures and family cohesion on child development within interracial and multicultural families.   Contact information If you have any questions or concerns about this research, please feel free to contact Meng-Chuan Hsieh (the primary researcher) at 517-348-4881. The mailing address is Department of Human Development and Family Studies, 552 W. Circle Drive, 7 Human Ecology Building, East Lansing, MI 48824. Alternatively, you may also reach me by e-mail at: hsiehme4@msu.edu. You can also contact Lillian Phenice (committee chairperson) at 517-432-2265. You can also contact her by email: lphenice@msu.edu. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a research participant, please contact the Michigan State University Institutional Review Board at 517-355-1855. If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research participant, and would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register a complaint about this  146 research, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program at517-355-2180, Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 408 W. Circle Drive, Room 207 Olds Hall, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824.  Thank you, Meng-Chuan Hsieh, M.A.    Consent I have read this consent form and have been given the opportunity to ask questions. I give my consent to participate in this research.     Date:_________________   I understand that the interview will be recorded, and I give my consent to record my interview in this research.   ______  Date:_________________   A copy of this consent form should be given to you.                 147 Debriefing Message THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN IN THIS RESEARCH! If after responding to the previous questions on your thoughts and feelings you are experiencing significant distress, the following mental health resources are available to you:   LOCAL RESOURCES MSU Counseling Center   207 Student Services Building   SSB branch phone: 355-8270  Counseling services available by appointment. Services are free for enrolled MSU students.    MSU Psychological Clinic 316 Physics Rd. East Lansing, MI 48824 Business Phone: 355-9564 Counseling services available by appointment. Services fees are based on a sliding scale based on income.   Listening Ear Crisis Intervention Center 1017 E. Grand River, East Lansing, MI 44423 24-hour Crisis Hotline: 337-1717 Business phone: 337-1728 Crisis hotline available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Also offers referral services for counseling.  ONLINE RESOURCES American Psychological Association Visit http://locator.apa.org/ to find a psychologist near you.       148 Appendix F.  Interview Questions Research Questions identity formation within interracial and multicultural families?  and young adults' identity formation within their interracial families? 3. How do adolescents' and young adults' identity formation within multiracial backgrounds change over time? 4. How do parents transmit and maintain their original cultures in their interracial and multicultural families? 5. How does the interracial and multiracial context in which children grow up influence their identity formation processes?  Demographic information 1. How old are you? Gender?   2. What is your fathers origin of cultural/ ethnic background? How does your father view his ethnic identity? What is your mothers origin of cultural/ ethnic background? How does your mother view her ethnic identity?   3. How do you define yourself as the origin of ethnic/ cultural background? Why? Do you think that your origin of ethnic background is similar to fathers or mothers origin of ethnic background?  4. What is your fathers level of education? What is your mothers level of education?   5. Language: A. Within your family, what is the foreign languages you and your family members usually speaking?  B. How is your ability of speaking this foreign language? C. Do you think that your ability of speaking foreign language influence your identity as a _______? How? D. Do you have any opportunity to speak this foreign language with other people outside  149 family?  6. Parenting styles: A. How is the parenting style within your family? B.  Do you think is the parenting style different from most American parenting style you know? C. Do your father and mother have any different opinions (conflicts and arguments) for their parenting? D. How do you think the influences of this kind of parenting style on your developmental processes and identity formation? E. Do you feel comfortable or uncomfortable because of parenting style within the family? How? Why?  7. Family cohesion: A. Is there any emotional bonding that family members have toward one another within your family? B. Could you describe that emotional bonding? How does it look like? How do your family members care about each other? C. How do you feel about this emotional bonding among family members? D. How would you describe the level of the emotional bonding? Strong or weak? Why? E. How does the emotional bonding among family members change over time (your developmental process)? F. Do you think it is essential to have such emotional bonding within the family? G. Do you think the emotional bonding within your family is different from Americans families you know? H. How do you think the influences of your fathers cultures and mothers cultures on the emotional bonding within your family?  I. Do they do something to contribute more emotional bonding within the family? J. How do you think the emotional bonding influence your identity formation and self-esteem?   Familism: A. How do you define a family? Is there any rules or norms should a family have? Take example? B. Are there any family values within your family? What is the core value of your family? C. What are your fathers family values? What are your mothers family values? What are  150 your family values? D. What are the differences between your family values and American family values? E. What the family values are related to your fathers cultures? What the family values are s cultures? F. What is the core family value which your father wants to transmit to you the most? How does he interact with you and let you know the importance? G. What is the core family value which your mother wants to transmit to you the most? How does she interact with you and let you know the importance? H. Do you think that the family values influence your identity formation and self-esteem? Why?  I. How does the familism influence your identity formation and self-esteem?  8. Acculturation: A. What is the main language your father usually using at home? What is the main language your mother using at home? B. Does your father prefer American ways of living? In what ways? Does your mother prefer American ways of living? In what ways? C. What are the cultural ways of living with fathers cultures still practiced within your family? What are the cultural ways of living with your mothers cultures still practiced within your family? D. How do you think the level of acculturation of your father? How do you think the level of acculturation of your mother? E. How do you think the influences of level of acculturation of your father on your identity formation and self-esteem? How do you think the influences of level of acculturation of your mother on your identity formation and self-esteem? F. How do you feel if you and your friends, colleagues, or neighbors have different concepts of family cohesion, family values and parenting styles?        151 Self-esteem I am a person of worth I have a number of good qualities I'm inclined to feel I'm a failure I do things as well as other people I do not have much to be proud of I take a positive attitude toward myself I am satisfied with myself I wish I had more respect for myself I certainly feel useless at times At times I think I am no good at all Family cohesion Family likes spend time together Family members feel close Family togetherness important Familism Should help relative over friend Serious problems/only relatives can help Better find job near parents      152 Appendix G.  Optional Definitions Family cohesion: Family cohesion has been defined as the emotional bonding that family members have toward one another. Familism: Familism refers to core values of a family type which emphasizes commitment to the family as a unit. Acculturation: Acculturation explains the process of cultural change and psychological change that results following meeting between cultures. Integration: The individual maintains his or her own cultural identity while at the same time becomes a participant in the host culture. Assimilation: The individual gives up his or her own cultural identity and becomes absorbed into host culture. Separation: The individual maintains his or her own cultural identity and rejects involvement with the host culture. Marginalization: The individual does not identify with or participate in either his or her own culture or the host culture.       153       REFERENCES         154 REFERENCES   Adams, B. N. (1980). 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