The percentages of ethnic minority families continue to rise in both Europe and North America. Unfortunately, the public also holds increasingly negative stereotypes against ethnic minorities (Beebeejaun, 2022; Perez & Hirschman, 2009). Self-stigma occurs when people in a negatively stereotyped group internalize public stereotypical views about the group and feel ashamed of themselves (Kapadia, 2023). Earlier research on self-stigma has been directed to examining the experience of such groups as women, homosexual people, and people with mental illnesses. More recent research suggests that ethnic minorities may also develop self-stigma about their ethnic memberships. The black self-hatred hypothesis, for example, proposes that “blacks [may have] lower levels of self-esteem than whites because blacks [accept] their inferior status and [idealize] whites’ superior social status in the United States” (Brown et al., 2002). The negative self-evaluation may then lead to individual maladjustment, such as anxiety and depression (Kopala‐Sibley & Zuroff, 2020). Indeed, evidence exists that ethnic self-stigma may be associated with psychological distress, social isolation, and cognitive problems among ethnic minorities (Kapadia, 2023). Much less is known, however, about whether parental self-stigma may be linked to child adjustment.

According to a theory of family well-being (Newland, 2015), a less adjusted parent may be less able to provide optimal support to their children, who in turn may have lower social and cognitive competence. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have examined the interrelationships among parental ethnic self-stigma, parent-child relationships, and child adjustment. One study indicated that, among Portuguese families with young children, parents’ stress (an indicator of parental maladjustment) was linked to lower positive parenting practices among parents, which in turn were linked to lower social skills and more behavioral problems among children (Carapito et al., 2020). Another study indicated that, among Chinese families with children with special needs, parents’ self-stigma due to children’s conditions was linked to lower parenting self-efficacy among parents, which in turn was linked to more behavioral problems and fewer prosocial behaviors among children (Li et al., 2019). Expanding on prior research, the present cross-sectional study examined if, among ethnic minority families with young children, parents’ ethnic self-stigma was linked to parent-child closeness and conflict, which in turn were linked to children’s adjustment.

Many ethnic minority children in Europe and North America have trouble making friends and speaking the host language (Adelman & Taylor, 2015); Makarova & Birman, 2016). Therefore, one important indicator of ethnic minority children’s adjustment concerns whether they can function well in the host school system, which is often governed by the host cultural norm and mediated by the host language. In order for ethnic minority children to thrive in school, they may need to acquire both soft skills (skills that allow them to make friends and follow rules, such as socioemotional competence) and hard skills (skills that allow them to master academic subjects, such as host language ability). Indeed, research has documented positive associations of socioemotional competence and language ability with school readiness among ethnic majority children (Harrington et al., 2020; Slicker & Hustedt, 2019). The present study conceptualized children’s adjustment as socioemotional competence, host language ability, and school readiness. Using cross-sectional questionnaire data from 345 ethnic minority parents, it tested a path model linking:

Parental ethnic self-stigma => Parent-child closeness and conflict => Child socioemotional competence and host language ability => Child school readiness

Data were collected from 345 parents with children studying in 32 kindergartens in Hong Kong, China. Through these 32 kindergartens, invitation letters, consent forms, and self-administered questionnaires were sent to all ethnic minority families with second- and third-year students. In their free time, a parent from each family used the questionnaire to rate his/her adjustment, his/her relationship with the child, and his/her child’s adjustment. Variables were assessed using validated measures. Ratings were averaged for each measure, such that higher scores indicated higher levels of the construct. All measures showed acceptable reliability, with Cronbach’s alphas being higher than .80. Most parents were mothers (85%) and were aged between 31-40 years (60%). Nearly all parents identified themselves as Southeast Asian, with 12%, 6%, 14%, 26%, 37%, and 1% of parents identifying themselves as Indian, Indonesian, Filipino, Pakistani, Nepalese, and Thai, respectively. Five percent of parents identified themselves as other ethnic groups. About half of children were girls (52%), and the mean age of children was 56.80 months (SD = 7.55). We used Jamovi Statistical Data Analysis to conduct path analysis examining if parent-child closeness and conflict and child socioemotional competence and host language ability mediated the association of parental ethnic self-stigma with child school readiness. We estimated the significance of mediation effects (i.e., indirect effects) with the Bayesian methods (Falk et al., 2024): A 95% confidence interval (CI) that did not include zero indicated a significant indirect effect. We evaluated the model-data fit with the two-index presentation strategy (Hu & Bentler, 1999): A Comparative Fit Index (CFI) value close to or larger than .95 and a Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) value close to or smaller than .08 would indicate an excellent fit. The indirect effects linking Parental ethnic self-stigma => Parent-child closeness => Child socioemotional competence => Child school readiness (B = -.02, SE = .01, p < .01, 95% CI = [-.03, -.01]), linking Parental ethnic self-stigma => Parent-child conflict => Child socioemotional competence => Child school readiness (B = -.08, SE = .02, p < .01, 95% CI = [-.11, -.05]), and linking Parental ethnic self-stigma => Parent-child conflict => Child host language ability => Child school readiness were significant (B = -.02, SE = .01, p < .05, 95% CI = [-.04, -.00). Overall, our model demonstrated an excellent fit, χ2(15) = 454.1, p < .01, CFI = .97, SRMR = .04.

This study was one of the first attempts to link parental ethnic stigma to child adjustment and to test parent-child relationships as potential mediators. Consistent with prior research (Carapito et al., 2020; Li et al., 2019), our results indicated that parental ethnic self-stigma was linked to parent-child closeness, which in turn was linked to child socioemotional competence and then child school readiness. Moreover, parental ethnic self-stigma was linked to parent-child conflict, which in turn was linked to child socioemotional competence as well as host language ability and then child school readiness. These findings provided support to the theoretical views that parents with higher levels of ethnic self-stigma are less adjusted in general (Brown et al., 2002) and that less adjusted parents might be less able to provide warmth for and manage conflict with their children, who in turn may have less-than-optimal social and cognitive development (Newland, 2015). The unique contribution of this study, however, lied in its combination of these two theoretical views and its focus on the roles of parents’ ethnic experiences in understanding their children’s adjustment. Another contribution of this study involved our use of multiple measures to indicate child adjustment. Consistent with prior research with ethnic majority children (Harrington et al., 2020; Slicker & Hustedt, 2019), our results indicated that both socioemotional competence and host language ability were uniquely associated with school readiness among ethnic minority children. More generally, future investigators should use longitudinal designs to examine how parental adjustment and parent-child dynamics may shape child development in ethnic minority families. Future practitioners may also consider targeting parental ethnic self-stigma as means to support the development of ethnic minority children.

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