Parents ethnic socialization practices in shaping ethnic identity and self-esteem of multi-ethnic children in Malaysia

• Main Authors: Chua, Bee Seok, Jasmine Adela Mutang, Nur Faharna Adillah Aftar, Shazia Iqbal Hashmi, Lailawati Madlan Endalan, Rosnah Ismail
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Centre for Research Training and Development UK 2013
• Subjects: BJ Ethics
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/20487/1/Parents%20ethnic%20socialization%20practices%20in%20shaping%20ethnic%20identity%20and%20self.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/20487/

Parents’ Ethnic Socialization practices play important role in shaping their children’s ethnic identity and is also important for other developmental and behavioral outcomes such as self-esteem, and academic achievement. The present study examined the role of parents’ ethnic socialization practices in shaping ethnic identity and self-esteem of multi-ethnic children in Malaysia. A total of 342 multi ethnic children (ages ranging from 10-14 years old) participated in the present study. The modified version of Multi group Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), The Familial Ethnic Socialization Measure (FESM) and The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) were used in this study. The results showed that: i) parents’ ethnic socialization practices were strong predictor of ethnic identity development and self-esteem of the children; iii) the children with a greater ethnic identity exploration exhibited higher self-esteem. The results of this study showed the implications for parents’ ethnic socialization practices in successful multi ethnic families for better child development outcomes.