Buffering Children’s Experiences of US Racism: The Beliefs and Practices of Korean Immigrant Parents and Their School-Aged Children

Abstract

Research has shown racism to be consistently detrimental to the health of children and adolescents, and their families. The US has a long and ongoing history of anti-Asian racism. Since the onset of COVID-19, anti-Asian hate crimes have increased. Yet research is limited on how parents socialize their children to understand and respond to anti-Asian racism, especially those who are new to the US and lack extensive first-hand experiences with American racism. I approached my dissertation research sensitized by: research on ethnic-racial socialization (ERS), Critical Race Perspective, and Asian Critical Perspective. My primary research questions were, 1. How do these Korean American children describe any personal experiences of racism? 2. What are these Korean American parents’ ethnic-racial socialization beliefs—in particular, how are these Korean American parents’ beliefs and practices shaped by Christianity? 3. How do these Korean American parents and children co-construct an understanding of anti-Asian racism? My dissertation uses a qualitative, emergent, collective, embedded case study design. I used purposive snowball sampling. Participants were 10 families totaling 19 first, 1.5, and second generation parents and 16 children between the ages of 5 and 11. Given the emergence of Christian beliefs and practices in guiding parents’ socialization beliefs and practices, 3 pastors from Korean American Christian churches also were included as participants. Each case was read and re-read holistically and in context. Following completion of these case studies, I conducted cross-case, inductive analysis, focusing on common themes. I induced and refined emic codes as I read materials from each case. Various methods of establishing trustworthiness were used. Children were frustrated, saddened, and angry at discriminatory experiences. Perpetrators were in all cases peers. Children further seemed frustrated with the absence of supportive adult responses. Parents expressed the beliefs that parents can: interpret racism for children through a faith-based lens; teach their children specific behavioral responses; proactively monitor and support children; and trust in children’s judgement. These themes were apparent during the parent-child interaction task. I observed parents interpreting racism using an explicitly faith-based lens, encouraging children not to be racist themselves, teaching children how to respond to racism, and providing protective monitoring and support. Children, however, responded in various ways, sometimes accepting parents’ explicit teachings, and sometimes resisting them, for example as unrealistic. During these latter, co-constructed interactions, the understandings of both parents and children shifted. Noticeably, there were no child-led interactions due to the nature of the interaction task and the Korean cultural context. There also were negative cases; parents from two families refused to participate in the parent-child interaction task due to: concern about negatively biasing their children against curious peers, and trust in their children’s abilities to meet such challenges should they arise. I then provided a case study of the Jeong family because they provided rich data of Korean immigrant ethnic-racial socialization beliefs and practices. Finally, three pastors elaborated on Christian themes particularly resonate with Korean immigrants, including the notion of Heaven as one’s “real” home, and communal themes resonate with Confucianism such as the importance of compassion and loving one’s neighbors. Limitations to this study include that the data did not reach saturation; contact with each family was relatively limited; I did not conduct systematic observations of children at school or during their interactions with peers; more time was needed for me to build rapport with the children; and children varied widely in their discussion of racism. Despite these limitations, several tentative implications may be drawn from this study. First, future research should examine the role of faith in ethnic-racial socialization, especially in how Christianity is elaborated and understood in the context of the Korean immigrant experience. Further, when dealing with racial discrimination against Korean children in schools, social workers, educators, and other adults must remember that some Koreans may avoid talking about racism, including with their children. Another implication for professional practitioners is that immigrant Korean parents, who have not experienced the US school system, might need assistance in supporting the children regarding racism. Finally, all students, not just Korean children, need to be educated regarding the impact of anti-Asian hatred. Policy makers may mandate interventions through curriculum development, with a whole class, about anti-Asian racism. This is needed, in the context of anti-Black or anti-Hispanic racism, especially education for non-Asian heritage children.