Wang, Michelle

ESL33B
Dr. Carlisi
11/18/2015
Culture generation gaps in immigrant families in LA
In United States, there are many immigrant families whom moved to United States for
more work opportunities, better environment, higher education, and many other benefits that
United States can give to its residents. For those immigrants, most of them would like to stay in
California; because of the location that the California State set in the United States and the
convenience that those immigrants can have in California, there are many immigrants choose to
stay in California instead of other states. Therefore, in California, there are many immigrant
families; in those immigrants, some of them have stay in the United States for a long time. They
might have their work in California, build their families in California, and give their children
born in California.
In those immigrant families, parents and their America- born children might have culture
gaps between each other, and sometimes that will become a serious problem between these two
generations. Because of that they have been rise different countries, they might have different
opinion in some culture things and might have fight with each other. In most of the time, those
immigrant parents would want their child to not to lose their culture that from the countries they
moved from, and they would like to force their child to learn the languages that they used to
because those immigrant parent might not good at English and they want to community well
with their child. For those families, they have their unique problems between different
generations; traditional heritage and American cultures give some unique problems for their

family relationships. As a result, these might cause some family issue in immigrant families. In
Luis essay, he mention about Berry and Sams essay that Family relationships may be
especially important for individuals adjusting to a mainstream culture different from their own
heritage backgrounds, due to the multiple intra- and inter individual changes that occur during
such processes (405). Those misunderstands that cause by generation gaps in immigrant
families makes a lot of problem between parents and children, and also become the main
problem that immigrant families should face on. To solve those generation gaps problems, people
should know more about the reason that cause these generation gaps.
The misunderstanding is the main reason that causes all the generation gaps problems in
immigrant families. The reason that causes those misunderstand is that different generations have
different Language that they used to use; therefore, they are hardly to understand each others
feeling and ideas. However, for those immigrant families, they have to not only deal with the
different Language they have, they also have to cope with the culture differences that they
have between their different generations. In those immigrant families, they have different culture
for parents and their child. The immigrant parent born and raised in other country that is not the
United States; therefore, they have their own culture and their own way of thinking that is not
like their children who born and rise in the United States. For those parents, they might want
their child to inherit the culture that from their parents own country. However, for those child
who born and grow in the United States, they might think those our own country things are
unnecessary to understand and to learn those not useful languages. Therefore, that make those
children do not want to understand the culture that their parents have and the way they look
things. Therefore, the misunderstanding about culture and stereotype of those traditional from
other countries make the generation gaps larger and hard to bridge than other families that are

not immigrant families. There are some difficulties. in communication between different
generations in immigrant families. In the table, Hypotheses and Main Supportive Findings,
shows that Immigrants (like all sociocultural groups) have a culture-transmission motive, the
desire to maintain and transmit their culture of origin. Specifically, this desire is still present in
the majority of 1st to 2nd generation immigrants (The Cultural-Transmission Motive in
Immigrants: A World Wild Internet Survey 3).

In the Hypothesis 1, it means that for those immigrant parents, they have desire of their own
culture and they want their child to understand them. However, those American- born children

might not have the patient to learn those complicate cultures of the places that they might never
been to.
Culture generation gaps make a large influence in immigrant families. They have to deal with
that problem to make their familys atmosphere peaceful. Culture is one of the most important
points for immigrant families member to learn; even though there are many challenges for them
to get understand about all the differences in both cultures. Therefore, that makes the cultural
generation gaps become more difficult to bridge.
In Lykes, M. Brinton, Kalina M. Brabeck, and Cristina J. Hunters essay, Exploring
Parent-Child Communication In The Context Of Threat: Immigrant Families Facing Detention
And Deportation In Post-9/11 USA., it summarized Brabeck,Lykes,&Hershbergs essay that
We suggest that parent-child communication pattems
are shaped by ongoing threat sand parental stigmatization, which resonate with
many parents' previous experiences of forced migration due to extreme poverty and
war in their countries of origin (Lykes, Brabeck, and Hunter 125).
In this quote, it shows that parent like to use those uninteresting things to build a
communication with their child; however, for those children from immigrant families, they have
lack of connection with those experience and culture. Therefore, that may also become one of the
reasons that cause parents and children have difficult to communication with each other. To
break this situation, both parents and children have to open their mind to listen to others opinion
and have patient to understand the background.

Furthermore, English is important skills to survive and have communication with their
children for those immigrant parents, so they have to improve their English to get better life.
However, before they successful improve their English skills, those children in immigrant
families have to help their parent to cope with some important things that need better English
even when those children are too young to deal with those things. In Mirecki, Rachel, and Jessica
Chous article, there is a paragraph that talks about this kind of unique situation that is in
immigrant families,
As the children of immigrant families continue to expand their contexts within the
dominant culture and their pattern of selecting their own developmental interpersonal
strategies, there again exists a potential additional layer of complexity. Immigrant parents
may have a lesser degree of exposure to the dominant culture, especially if the children
were born in the United States or migrated at anearly age. Consequently, developing
responses that continue to expand to meet the emerging needs of the maturing child can
be more difficult and foreign. Furthermore, developing responses that are considered
appropriate for both the child as he or she develops an understanding of contexts, as well
as what the caregiver considers appropriate based on her understanding of what is
contextually and developmentally appropriate, can exacerbate this challenge (Mirecki,
Rachel, and Jessica Chou 512).
Therefore, in those immigrant families which their immigrant parents are not good at English,
children have to help their parent to cope with those difficult situations that need higher English
skills. As the result, children in those families will have to be more mature than other children
who do not have these kinds of works to do. Unfortunately, because of this kind of situation,
children in those immigrant families might think that their parents are not smart enough to do

those things; that might cause a misunderstanding between parent and child when they try to
argue about somethings.
To solve those generation gaps problems, there are many ways to bridge the gaps, such as
communicate to understand each others feeling. Although, most people have a common
knowledge that communicate is the most important way to bridge the generation gaps between
parents and children in immigrant families; there are still some problem in the communication
between parents and child in immigrant families. Moreover, for those immigrant parents, most of
them do not have perfect English like their children, and children would not have perfect skills of
use their parents languages. Therefore, the poor English skills that immigrant parents have and
those poor language skills that their children can use might also become the difficult for parents
to communicate with their child because their child might not be able to really understand the
things that their parents want to express about. However, in California, parents are trying their
best to learn English. In essay, Noncredit To Credit Transitioning Matters For Adult ESL
Learners In A California Community College, the author wrote that
Throughout our nations history, immigrants have come to the United
States seeking opportunities for socioeconomic mobility, to strengthen
family ties, or secure personal freedom. To leave the familiar landscape is
not a decision made lightly and, once having resettled in their new home,
immigrants face choices that may relegate them to the margins or pull
them closer toward advancement opportunities(Becker 15).

In these words, the author express about the reason why there are many people wanted to come
to the United States. For those immigrants, the English is very important to them; they have to
have better English skills to get a better life not only in the workplace but also in their families.
Therefore, to have good communication with their child for those immigrant parents, they should
also have to improve their English.
There are many ways to solve those problem that cause by the culture gaps in immigrant
families, such as communication with each other, try to understand the different culture that
others have, and be patient and open mind to those differences. However, for all these works,
they all require a lot of patient to do those things. Therefore, in immigrant families, there are
many challenges for then to go through to understand each other. Although, those culture
generation gaps cause a lot of problems between parents and children in immigrant families;
after they deal with those unique difficulties, there are more benefits they can get within the
process of solving those issue in their families.

Work Cited

Lui, P. Priscilla. "Intergenerational Cultural Conflict, Mental Health, And Educational

Outcomes Among Asian And Latino/A Americans: Qualitative And Meta-Analytic Review."
Psychological Bulletin 141.2 (2015): 404-446. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Nov. 2015
Mchitarjan, Irina, and Rainer Reisenzein. "The Culture-Transmission Motive In
Immigrants: A World-Wide Internet Survey." Plos ONE 10.10 (2015): 1-22. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
Lykes, M. Brinton, Kalina M. Brabeck, and Cristina J. Hunter. "Exploring Parent-Child
Communication In The Context Of Threat: Immigrant Families Facing Detention And
Deportation In Post-9/11 USA." Community, Work & Family 16.2 (2013): 123-146. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Mirecki, Rachel, and Jessica Chou. "A Multicultural Application Of Attachment Theory
With Immigrant Families: Contextual And Developmental Adaptations." Contemporary Family
Therapy: An International Journal 35.3 (2013): 508-515. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16
Nov. 2015.
Becker, Liza A. "Noncredit To Credit Transitioning Matters For Adult ESL Learners In A
California Community College." New Directions For Community Colleges 2011.155 (2011): 1526. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.