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Language and Conflict 1

Running Head: Language Patterns and Intergenerational Conflict

Can We Talk?

Language Patterns and Intergenerational Conflict

In Vietnamese-American Families


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Abstract

This study assessed the role of language patterns, parents’ gender, and conflict in parent-

adolescent interactions as reported by 65 Vietnamese-American college students. The study

tested three hypotheses about the relationship between language patterns – whether reciprocal

(parents and their children speaking Vietnamese or English) or non-reciprocal (parents speaking

Vietnamese and adolescents speaking or responding in English) – and intergenerational conflict

across three topic domains (family expectations, dating and marriage, and education and career).

Contrary to predictions, adolescents reported (1) speaking Vietnamese more than English with

their parents across all three domains, (2) low levels of conflict across all three domains and (3)

no gender differences in conflict levels between adolescents and both parents in either language

pattern across all three domains. Implications for research on culture and communication are

discussed.


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Can We Talk?

Language Patterns and Intergenerational Conflict

In Vietnamese-American Families

Vietnamese Americans are currently the largest group of Southeast Asian immigrants in

the United States (Southeast Asia Action Resource Center, n.d.). The U.S. Census Bureau (U.S.

Census, 2000.) reported a national population growth of Vietnamese Americans from half a

million in 1990 to 1.1 million in 2000 due to immigration and U.S. birth rates. Unlike the

Chinese or Japanese who have been in the United States for many generations, Vietnamese

Americans are a recent immigrant group. The first significant wave of Vietnamese immigration

began with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Most of these immigrants were professionals

and middle class families, including military officers and civilians who had worked closely with

the United States (Poole, 2005). From 1977 to the mid 1980’s, a second wave of Vietnamese

refugees fled Vietnam as a result of the new Communist government’s implementation of

economic, political and agricultural policies. Most of these immigrants were farmers and less

skilled Vietnamese from rural areas (Poole, 2005). From the mid 1980’s to the present, a third

wave of Vietnamese refugees arrived to the U.S. through the Refugee Act of 1980, a law

designed to reduce restrictions on refugee entry to the United States and allow for increase in

government funding of assistance programs for refugees (Povell, 2005). Many of these

immigrants were also farmers and less skilled Vietnamese from rural areas (Poole, 2005).

Although often categorized with other Asian groups, Vietnamese Americans are unique

from other Asian groups in their social history. For example, the Vietnamese refugee experience

and reasons for immigration differ from other recent Asian immigrant groups, such as Koreans,

who left their countries not to escape death, but to seek better opportunities. In contrast,


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Vietnamese refugees, similar to other Southeast Asian groups such as Cambodian, and Laotian

Hmong, fled their homelands because of the unsettled political climate in Southeast Asia during

the 1970’s (Frye, 1995). During the Vietnam War, many Southeast Asians fled for their lives,

often escaping by open sea, hoping to reach for safety in Thailand (Frye, 1995). Survivors spent

long and arduous years in border camps full of violence. Many have suffered from years of war,

separation from family and friends, cultural disruption, experiences of torture, “reeducation

camps”, and escape to refugee camps (Frye, 1995).

Although the Vietnamese are often grouped with other Southeast Asians because of

similar refugee experiences, there are distinct differences in cultural practices, customs, and

family patterns among the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian Hmong (Frye, 1995). For

example, the traditional Vietnamese family unit includes extended family members, while

Cambodian families also include fictive kin, defined as individuals not related but who fit into

the family by circumstances or personal preference. In contrast, Hmong families extend to clan

members. Although past research has compared the impact of immigration on adolescent

development on topics such as language preference and proficiency among children from various

Southeast Asian groups, including Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laos (Rumbaut, 1995, 1997,

2008), this study specifically focused on language and conflict patterns of Vietnamese American

parents and their children.

Among the many social and structural changes felt by individuals during immigration,

one issue that directly affects many immigrant families in the U.S is the impact of English

language acquisition on family dynamics. In many immigrant homes, including Vietnamese,

children typically learn and adopt the English language more rapidly while their parents maintain

the language of origin (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000). Because immigrant adolescents tend to acquire


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English more rapidly than their parents, changes in language patterns and usage could have a

significant influence on the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship (Tseng & Fuligni,

2000). This study investigated how parent-adolescent language patterns in discussions about

family expectation, education and career, and dating and marriage in Vietnamese-American

immigrant families relate to conflict levels in the home. In addition, the role of parents’ gender

was examined to determine whether adolescents reported higher levels of conflict with mothers

or fathers across these three topic domains.

The language used in immigrant families often reflects the various language abilities of

family members (Veltman, 1983). In a sample of East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and

Vietnamese), Filipino, and Latin American (Mexican, Salvadoran, Nicaraguan, and other Central

and South American) adolescents, Tseng and Fuligni (2000) found that in some homes, parents

and adolescents communicated primarily in English whereas in other families, communication

was predominantly in the native language. Within a third group of immigrant families, a pattern

of non-reciprocal languages emerged where parents spoke with their children in the native

language, but the children responded in English. Tseng and Fuligni (2000) also examined how

reciprocal and non-reciprocal language uses in families related to cohesion levels within parent-

adolescent relationships in immigrant families. Their findings indicate that adolescents who

conversed with their parents in their native language reported the highest level of cohesion,

whereas those who spoke non-reciprocal languages with their parents reported more emotional

distance.

Although these findings by Tseng and Fuligni (2000) provide insight into the relationship

between levels of cohesion and dominant language pattern usage between immigrant parents and

their children, three key issues need further attention. First, specific patterns within domains or


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topics of conversation have not been examined. For example, parents and children may switch

between languages depending on the topic of conversation with each speaking in the language

they are more comfortable with and proficient in for topics that are difficult or controversial. In

addition, language patterns could impact the quality of parent-child relationships in immigrant

families not only through feelings of cohesion, but also through feelings of conflict. For

instance, while conversing in a common language can promote feelings of cohesion between

parents and adolescents (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000), speaking in non-reciprocal languages could

bring forth greater misunderstanding and frustration, especially when meanings of words

translate differently in another language. Lastly, the tendency to use reciprocal or non-reciprocal

language patterns may relate to proficiency levels of English for parents and Vietnamese for

adolescents.

Language Loss and Parent-Child Relationship Quality

What happens to immigrant children when the communication tool of their parents differs

from the tool taught to them by mainstream society? As Miller (2002) noted, language connects

children to the social world around them. For immigrant children in the United States, their

social world in the home may contrast significantly with that at school or with peers. Some

immigrant children learn English in school and quickly become comfortable conversing in the

language of the host culture. This proficiency can impact parent-child language patterns as

parents struggle to communicate with their children in the native language. The lack of a strong

common language between parents and children can weaken family structure and result in a loss

of shared beliefs and understandings. Furthermore, when parents and children are not able to

share in genuine conversation on important topics, parents are no longer able to convey family

values (Fillmore, 1991, 1994). In a multi-ethnic interview study of Latino, East and Southeast


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Asian, American Indian, and Arab families, Fillmore (1991) found that immigrant parents

reported feeling helpless as their children became adolescents. Many parents felt that they could

not influence their children against peer pressure or problems in school when they did not share a

proficient common language with their child.

This language barrier can also lead adolescents to feel frustrated and alienated from their

parents, especially when they cannot share their thoughts and concerns with their parents

(Fillmore, 1991, 1994). In one study with Southeast Asian adolescents in Canada, Hyman, Vu,

and Beiser (2000) found that parent-child relationships were strained due to language problems.

Although the first language of the adolescents was that of their parents, many youths quickly

adopted English as their primary language of communication. Some youth born in Canada or

arrived very young never proficiently learned the native language while others quickly lost

proficiency. As a result, conversations occurred in non-reciprocal language patterns, where

parents spoke in the native language while adolescents spoke or responded in English. Many of

these adolescents had difficulties articulating aspects of their school and social lives to their

parents in the native language because much of what happens socially occurs in English. One 15

year-old girl who immigrated to Canada at age 10 and who felt more comfortable responding to

the interview in English stated that

Sometimes I speak to my parents in English. I say things better in English than

Vietnamese, especially when it comes to dating and all that stuff, and sometimes you

can’t put the same thing in both languages. I think I speak Vietnamese most of the time.

Just common things around the house, but then we don’t really go into deep discussions

or anything. I wish that either I could speak Vietnamese better or they could speak

English better so that we can talk. (p. 286).


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Furthermore, Lee (1983) found that parent-adolescent conversations using non-reciprocal

languages are often plagued by repeated difficulties in expressing complex emotions and

concerns. These frustrations and miscommunications across time along with emotional distance

could result in children’s reluctance to discuss personal problems with their parents. Tseng and

Fuligni (2000) also speculate that adolescents who have difficult parent-child relationships may

use English as a way to distance themselves from their parents. For example, parents and

adolescents may switch to the language each is more comfortable with and proficient in for

topics that are difficult or controversial while utilizing reciprocal language for general

conversations.

Although some adolescents may speak reciprocal languages with their parents, Tseng and

Fuligni (2000) found that adolescents who spoke reciprocal English patterns, where both parents

and adolescents converse in English, reported lower levels of cohesion in discussions compared

to those who spoke reciprocal native patterns, where both parents and adolescents converse in

the native language. The researchers posit that although second generation youths and their

parents may use English in conversation if parents could speak English, parents may still lacked

the English proficiency of their children. Because of this, parents may not have the ability to

express their concerns in English or fully appreciate their children’s perspectives on issues

(Tseng & Fuligni, 2000). As a result, adolescents who mutually communicated in the native

language reported the highest level of cohesion in discussion, had the closest relationships with

their mothers, and were most likely to discuss concerns with both parents (Tseng & Fuligni,

2000).


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Tseng and Fuligni’s (2000) findings on language patterns used in immigrant parent-

adolescent communication points to the question of conversation domains in examining family

conflict. Although these researchers investigated the association between language pattern and

relationship quality, the pattern of language use in different topics of conversation needs further

examination. More specially, immigrant parents and adolescents may utilize one language

pattern more frequently than others in the home, but patterns may change depending on the

topic of conversation. In addition, language patterns could impact the quality of parent-

adolescent relationships in immigrant families not only through feelings of cohesion, but also

through feelings of conflict. To illustrate, Chung (2001) found that college-age Chinese,

Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian women reported greater

intergenerational conflict over issues of dating and marriage than their male counterparts

perhaps due to restrictive parental standards for behavior and dating with girls. Furthermore,

Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian adolescents reported greater intergenerational

conflict over family expectations than Japanese adolescents which may relate to Koreans and

Southeast Asians being newer immigrant groups than the Japanese.

Based on previous findings on the negative impact of non-reciprocal language patterns

(Tseng & Fuligni, 2000) and issues of parent-adolescent conflict (Chung, 2001), our first

hypothesis predicted that adolescents would report reciprocal native language patterns for

discussions centered on education and career, and non-reciprocal language patterns for

conversations about family expectations and dating and marriage. Based on these same findings,

our second hypothesis predicted that adolescents would report conflict levels that were reflective

of language patterns, such that topics discussed in a non-reciprocal pattern would be associated

with higher levels of conflict than topics discussed in reciprocal languages.


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Parents’ Gender and Family Communication

Longitudinal findings have indicated that the association between language patterns and

parent-child relationship quality is often established prior to mid-adolescence and remains stable

through late adolescence (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000). Authors (1993) found that father-adolescent

relationships in Chinese, Filipino, European, Mexican, and Vietnamese American immigrant

families were more formal than mother-adolescent or sibling relationships. Further analysis of

the same data revealed that Vietnamese adolescents reported lower levels of self-assertion in

communicating with their fathers than mothers (Authors, 2007) suggesting less open

communication with fathers than with mothers.

Interestingly, Rhee, Chang, and Rhee (2003), found that Asian adolescents reported

greater difficulty in communicating with their fathers than did European American adolescents.

In addition, these Asian adolescents were more cautious in what they said and in expressing their

beliefs to their fathers. Although Asian adolescents reported both parents as not being good

listeners, they felt that their fathers overall were more difficult to communicate with than their

mothers, because of the strong emphasis on the unquestioned authority of fathers in Asian

culture. Based on these studies, one important question is the impact of parents’ gender on

language pattern and intergenerational conflict. For example, do fathers tend to use one type of

pattern more often than mothers, and how does this relate to adolescent conflict levels with each

parent? Our third hypothesis predicted that adolescents would report greater conflict with fathers

than mothers across topics due to more formal communication with fathers (Authors, 1993; Rhee

et al., 2003; Authors, 2007).

In sum, this study evaluated the relationship between language patterns, parents’ gender,

and conflict levels between Vietnamese-American parents and their adolescents with three


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hypotheses. First, based on past findings on the negative impact of non-reciprocal language

patterns (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000) and issues of parent-child conflict (Chung, 2001), it was

predicted that adolescents would report reciprocal native language patterns (both parents and

adolescents speaking native language) for discussions centered on education and career and non-

reciprocal language patterns (parents speaking the native language and adolescents speaking or

responding in English) for conversations about family expectations and dating and marriage.

Second, based on these same findings, it was predicted that adolescents would report conflict

levels that reflected language patterns with topics discussed in a non-reciprocal pattern (parents

speaking Vietnamese and adolescents speaking or responding in English) associated with greater

conflict than topics discussed in reciprocal languages, where parents and adolescents are

speaking the same language whether Vietnamese or English (Chung, 2001; Tseng & Fuligni,

2000). Third, based on previous findings of more formal communication between adolescents

and their fathers than with their mothers (Authors, 1993; Rhee, Chang, and Rhee, 2003; Authors,

2007), it was predicted that adolescents would report greater conflict with fathers than mothers

across topics.

Method

Participants

Participants in this study consisted of 65 Vietnamese-American college students of whom

48 were American-born second-generation and 17 were Vietnamese-born first-generation.

Respondents’ ages ranged from 18 to 28, with a mean of 20.0 years (SD = 2.26). Participants

were recruited from psychology classes and student organizations from two universities in

Northern California. The sample consisted of a greater number of females (n = 33, 56%) than

males (n = 26, 44%). The average age of immigration for the first-generation students was 7.0


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years (SD = 3.64, n = 14) with a range of 2.0 to 12.50. Five first-generation participants did not

report their age of immigration or the information to calculate it.

Procedure

Surveys were individually distributed and collected by researchers. Participants

completed the surveys in a classroom or a quiet available area. The surveys took approximately

20 minutes to complete. Participants who requested to take the surveys home to complete were

allowed to do so.

Measures

Demographics. Demographics questions asked about family background. The first set

of questions asked about the participant while the second half of the survey asked about their

parents. The majority of the questions focused on education level and generational status of

parents and adolescents.

Parent-Child Language. Based on a prior survey (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000), questions

asked about the language adolescents and each of their parents use to communicate in general

and on topics of family expectation, education and career, and dating and marriage. For

example, adolescents were asked, “What language do you speak the most when you talk to your

mother about family expectations?” and “What language does your father speak the most when

he talks to you about family expectations?” Each response was then coded for English or for

native language.

Parent-Adolescent Conflict. Chung’s (2001) modified version of the Intergenerational

Conflict Inventory, called the ICI-Mother-Father (ICI-MF), was used to assess college students’

current relationships with their parents. The ICI was developed to measure the type and severity

of intergenerational conflict between Asian-American adolescents/young adults and their


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parents. Unlike other measures of intergenerational conflict, this survey taps three domains of

potential conflict most relevant to Asian-American families with three subscales: conflict about

family expectations (FE) or culturally related expectations such as following cultural traditions

and learning the ethnic language, education and career (EC), and dating and marriage (DM)

(Chung, 2001). The ICI-MF is identical to the original version except the response ratings are

available separately for mothers and fathers. This 24-item scale is intended for Asian-American

young adults from ages 17 to approximately 30 years or until married. Table 1 lists the items in

each domain.

Participants rated each item between 1 (no conflict over this issue) to 6 (a lot of conflict

over this issue). To calculate the total score for each subscale, responses for the items in each

subscale were averaged. Within each subscale, the ICI’s published reliabilities range from .81 to

.87 (Chung, 2001). For this study, Cronbach’s alpha for the entire scale was acceptable at .92 for

mothers and .91 for fathers, with subscales ranging from .80 to .92 for both mothers and fathers.

Results

In summary, results showed more adolescents using native reciprocal language patterns

compared to other patterns in discussions across the three topic domains. Additionally, no

significant differences were found between reported conflict levels for adolescents using

reciprocal or non-reciprocal language patterns on any of the three topic domains. Lastly, no

significant differences were found between adolescents’ reported levels of conflict between their

fathers and mothers for conversations across the three topic domains

More specifically, the first hypothesis was partially supported because more adolescents

reported using native reciprocal language patterns compared to other patterns in discussions

centered on education and career with mothers (57%, n = 37) and fathers (59%, n = 38).


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Contrary to predictions, however, adolescents also reported using native reciprocal language

patterns more so than non-reciprocal patterns for conversations about family expectations with

mothers (69%, n = 44) and fathers (68%, n = 44). More adolescents also reported using native

reciprocal language patterns than non-reciprocal patterns for conversations about dating and

marriage with mothers (61%, n = 37) and fathers (61%, n = 36). See Table 2 for descriptive

data.

Contrary to the second hypothesis, that non-reciprocal language patterns would be

associated with higher conflict than reciprocal patterns, there were no significant differences

between reported conflict levels for adolescents using the two language patterns on any of the

three topic domains, whether discussing family expectations (t(55) = 0.26, p = .79, n.s.),

education and career (t(50) = 0.63, p = .53, n.s.), or dating and marriage (t(46) = 0.89, p = .38,

n.s.). See Table 3 for descriptive data.

Finally, contrary to the third hypothesis, no significant differences were found between

adolescents’ reported levels of conflict between their fathers and mothers for conversations about

family expectations, education and career, and dating and marriage in both reciprocal (t(102) =

.07, p = .94, n.s , t(100) = .60, p = .55, n.s., and t(93) = .60, p = .55, n.s , respectively) and non-

reciprocal (t(20) = -.74, p = .47, n.s , t(23) = 1.47, p = .16, n.s , and t(20) = 0.32, p = .75, n.s ,

respectively) language group patterns. See Table 4 for descriptive data.

Discussion

In summary, the findings revealed three surprises. First, this sample of mostly second-

generation Vietnamese-American adolescents (74%) reported speaking Vietnamese more than

English with their parents about family expectations, education and career, and dating and

marriage. Secondly, there were no reported differences in levels of conflict across the three topic


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domains. Finally, adolescents reported no differences in conflict levels between themselves and

their mothers and fathers in either language pattern across the three topic domains of

conversation.

As noted, the first hypothesis was partially supported because the majority of adolescents

in this study reported conversing with their parents across all topics not only in reciprocal

languages, but in the reciprocal native language of Vietnamese. It seems that rather than losing

their native language, 81% of the adolescents in this study reported intermediate to advanced

levels of proficiency in speaking Vietnamese. Furthermore, 65% of adolescents indicated

intermediate to advance English proficiency levels for their mothers and 73% for fathers.

Therefore, parents and children could converse on important topics in English, but apparently

chose to discuss them in Vietnamese.

One explanation for this contrary finding may relate to the geographic location of this

study. The Vietnamese-American students in this study were recruited from universities near

San Jose, California, a city with the highest concentration of Vietnamese Americans in the

United States (U.S. Census, 2000). Perhaps living in an ethnically dense area has also provided

greater opportunities for these Vietnamese youth to learn and utilize their native language. Prior

work has indicated that ethnic enclaves may also be quite self-sufficient in providing

infrastructure and resources to support cultural traditions and practices, such as language schools

for children and cultural youth groups to foster a strong sense of community and ethnic pride

(Min, 1990).

To illustrate, an article (Nguyen, 2005) in a Vietnamese magazine discussed the lack of

English fluency in Orange County, California, home of Little Saigon. According to this article,

Little Saigon is virtually self sufficient. The streets are filled with Vietnamese businesses such as


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markets, restaurants, cafes, and shops. People do not need to know any English to interact with

others. Not surprisingly, a 2004 voter survey found that 59% of Vietnamese Americans in that

area (compared to only 25% of non-Vietnamese Asians) had limited English proficiency

(Nguyen, 2005). Perhaps in an ethnically self-sufficient community like Little Saigon, there is

very little need for adults to speak English. In a bilingual sample of Vietnamese high school

youth from Southern California and Florida, Rumbaut (1997) found that only 9.7% of

adolescents spoke English to their parents even though 51.5% reportedly preferred speaking in

English. Although parents and youth in our sample were proficient in both native and English

languages, it seems that parents and adolescents chose to converse in Vietnamese for discussions

on important topics.

The second hypothesis, which tested whether adolescents would report higher levels of

conflict on topics discussed in non-reciprocal patterns than reciprocal patterns, was not

supported. In other words, no significant differences in conflict levels were found between

adolescents who conversed with parents in the same (reciprocal) language or in different (non-

reciprocal) languages across all three topic domains. Although past research (Tseng & Fuligni,

2000) has suggested a relationship between language pattern and parent-adolescent cohesion, the

association between language pattern and conflict may be more complex and needs further

investigation.

In addition, the reported level of conflict was lower for adolescents in this study (M =

2.50) than for in a prior study using the same measure (Chung, 2001; M = 3.67) that was

conducted in Southern California for a subgroup of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian

participants. Possible explanations for the lower conflict levels between adolescents and their

parents found in this study may be related to the structure of Vietnamese families and the high


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density of Vietnamese San Jose, California. In addition, according to Chao and Tseng (2002),

Asian parents tend to emphasize the traditional value of family harmony in the home. Children

are expected to honor and respect their parents to maintain family harmony. Perhaps in an

ethnically dense Vietnamese area like San Jose, these traditional views of family structure and

filial piety are more salient for adolescents because the community is also reinforcing these

family values. The combination of family harmony being emphasized in the home along with

community reinforcement of these teachings may buffer feelings, or at least expressions, of

adolescents’ conflict towards their parents.

In addition, the items from the ICI (Chung, 2001) may reflect potential sources of conflict

between parents and adolescents, but do not tap adolescents’ reactions to these potential sources.

For example, this survey does not clarify whether adolescents would express feelings of conflict

to their parents or whether they would avoid expressing their negative feelings and why. In this

respect, future research could include focus groups to learn how adolescents conceptualize

parent-child conflict as well as how they react to conflict toward their parents and why they react

as such. It would also be useful to collect information about the relative frequency with which

each domain is discussed, since there might be an association between conflict and frequency of

discussion.

Lastly, the third hypothesis was not supported in that adolescents did not report

differences in conflict levels between their mothers and fathers in discussing family expectations,

education and career, and dating and marriage. This finding seems to contradict past studies

which found that Vietnamese adolescents reported lower levels of self-assertion in

communication with their fathers than with their mothers (Authors, 2007) suggesting less open

communication with fathers than with mothers. Although less open communication may


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increase communication frustrations and thus result in greater father-adolescent conflict, youth in

this study reported similarly low levels of conflict in conversations with their mothers as well as

their fathers in conversations about family expectations, education and career, and dating and

marriage. Therefore, open communication may not be related to conflict levels. In fact, in a

study of European-American youth, Authors (1998) found self-assertion and disagreements to be

orthogonal concepts in their study of individuality and connectedness in communication.

To follow-up on our quantitative findings of low conflict levels between Vietnamese

adolescents and their parents, we conducted a focus group with Vietnamese-American college

students in Northern California. The majority of students in the focus group confirmed our

findings of low parent-adolescent conflict as valid for them based on their own personal

experiences with their parents. Participants saw feelings of low conflict with their parents as a

reflection of having earned their parents’ trust by obtaining good grades in school and attending

college. One male Vietnamese college student stated, “My parents….are supportive and they

trust my judgment and trust whatever I do. I probably earned it through the years. I get good

grades and they are like okay, he knows what he’s doing.”

Although many noted that their immigrant parents were unfamiliar with the American

education system and were unable to be resources for specific information about school, most

agreed that their parents gave them support by talking about academic aspirations for and

expectations of their children. One male student explained:

My parents are very supportive, but they don’t have anything to talk about [pertaining to

college], because they don’t understand college level stuff. So they don’t understand

what I have to do. Like orientation and all that stuff, I have to take care myself. And like


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[with] classes and courses, they can say go into this major, but they don’t really know

what I have to do to get into it.

A female student added, “Both my parents want me to major in the medical field. And my mom

just wants me to finish early. She wants me to finish in four years which I need like five years to

finish.” Similar results of high academic aspirations have also been found with immigrant

Mexican-American youth and their parents in prior research (Authors, 1994).

In addition, participants who reported low conflict with their parents also felt that their

parents gave them recognition and acknowledgment for navigating their academic pathway

successfully. As a result, these students believed that their academic achievements served as an

indication to their parents of their good judgment and maturity in making good decisions for the

future. In return, the adolescents felt that their parents rewarded them with further trust,

autonomy and respect. This sense of mutual trust and respect may serve to reduce potential

parent-child conflict during discussions about family expectation, education and career, and

dating and marriage.

Future Directions

Based on preliminary findings with our focus group, it seems that academic success in

Vietnamese-American families may foster parent-adolescent mutual respect, adolescent autonomy, and

family harmony. This in turn, may motivate adolescents to continue achieving academically which

would contribute to a positive student identity for youth. Future research can investigate the relationship

between academic success and family harmony. In addition, researchers can extend the findings from

this study by evaluating acculturation levels of both parents and adolescents along with language

patterns to see how both can impact levels of conflict in conversations about family expectations,

education and career, and dating and marriage.


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Another suggestion for future studies would be to examine the interplay between cohesion and

conflict in parent-adolescent relationships. Rather than being mutually exclusive, the constructs of

cohesion and conflict can consist of ongoing mutual regulation of one another similar to individuality

and connectedness in parent-adolescent communication (Authors, 1998). This bidimensional

perspective may show that parent-adolescent relationships could have high levels of cohesion and

conflict, low levels of both, or high levels of one but low levels of the other. In addition, future studies

can also investigate how cohesion and conflict relate to other patterns of interaction such as individuality

and connectedness (Authors, 1998) or autonomy and relatedness (Kagitcibasi, 2005).

Researchers can also incorporate additional qualitative methods, such as individual interviews or

multiple focus groups, to better understand how adolescents are conceptualizing intergenerational

conflict including reactions to conflict, and culturally appropriate ways to resolve conflict with parents.

It may also be appropriate to differentiate between overt and covert conflict because the formalities of a

hierarchical family structure may make these two types of conflict expression more distinctive in

interactions. Since adolescents also seem to have more formal relationships with their fathers than with

their mothers and siblings (Authors., 1993), researchers can investigate the role mothers and siblings

play in mediating or being a “go-between” to buffer potential conflict with fathers on sensitive issues.

Future research can also examine the reason behind language pattern preferences and

how language preferences can help or hinder cohesion and conflict in family relationships. For

example, what are the reasons for using one language over another in conversation with parents?

In addition, immigrant language research can investigate the different ways in which bilingual

adolescents use language to negotiate with parents and the implications of code-switching in

conversing with different family members. Researchers can also evaluate blended language

patterns, where English and the native language are used in the same sentence, and assess its


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relation to individual identity development. With the increasing number of immigrant families in

the United States and other nations, language and bilingualism have become core concerns for

educators, counselors, and policy makers in economics, immigration, and family welfare.


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Table 1

Domain and Items for Scoring the ICI-MF

________________________________________________________________________

Domain Items

________________________________________________________________________

Family Expectations (FE) Lack of communication with your parent

Your desire for greater independence and autonomy

Following cultural traditions

Pressure to learn one’s own Asian language

Expectations based on being male or female

Expectations based on birth order

Family relationships being too close

Family relationships being too distant

How much time to spend with the family

How much to help around the house

How much time to help out in the family business

Education and Career (EC) How much time to spend on studying

How much time to spend on recreation

How much time to spend on sports

How much time to spend on practicing music

Importance of academic achievement

Emphasis on success and materialism


Which school to attend

What to major in college

Which career to pursue

Being compared to others

Dating and Marriage (DM) Whom to date

When to marry

Whom to marry

_____________________________________________________________________


Table 2

Percentage of Language Patterns

Percentage (N=65)

____________________________________

Overall FE EC DM

________________________________________________________________________

Mothers

Reciprocal

Native 66.7% 68.8% 59.6% 60.7%

English 13.6% 12.5% 15.40% 16.4%

Non Reciprocal

Mother Native/Child English 19.7% 18.8% 27.7% 23.0%

Mother English/Child Native -- -- -- --

Fathers

Reciprocal

Native 61.5% 67.7% 58.5% 61.0%

English 21.5% 16.9% 30.8% 25.4%

Non Reciprocal

Father Native/Child English 12.3% 13.8% 10.8% 13.6%

Father English/Child Native 4.6% 1.5% -- --


Table 3

Average Scores of Conflict by Language Patterns for Three Domains

Mean Conflict Scores (SD)

________________________________________________

Reciprocal Non-ReciprocalDomain

Overall 2.51 (.84) 2.35 (.92)

Family Expectations 2.41 (.78) 2.33(.90)

Education and Career 2.71(.98) 2.43(1.26)

Dating and Marriage 2.43 (1.43) 1.89 (1.15)

Note: Maximum score = 6


Table 4

Average Scores of Conflict by Language Pattern and Parent Gender in Three Domains

Mean Scores (S.D)

________________________________________________

Reciprocal Non-Reciprocal

Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

Overall 2.64 2.42 2.62 2.72(.98) (.87) (.90) (.94)

FE 2.41 2.40 2.59 2.30(.85) (.90) (1.02) (.80)

EC 2.83 2.70 3.18 2.37(1.14) (1.08) (1.30) (1.00)

DM 2.50 2.31 2.50 2.25(1.54) (1.55) (1.76) (1.73)

Note: Maximum score = 6

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