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Acculturation‐based family conflict: A validation of Asian American Family Conflict Scale among Chinese Americans
Author(s) -
Wu Shiyou,
Wang Xiafei,
Wu Qi,
Zhai Fuhua,
Gao Qin
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
psych journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 2046-0260
pISSN - 2046-0252
DOI - 10.1002/pchj.183
Subject(s) - acculturation , confirmatory factor analysis , psychology , exploratory factor analysis , immigration , scale (ratio) , population , social psychology , context (archaeology) , chinese americans , demography , structural equation modeling , developmental psychology , psychometrics , sociology , statistics , geography , mathematics , cartography , archaeology
Acculturation‐based family conflicts can influence parent–child relationships and children's development among immigrant families. The Asian American Family Conflict Scale (AAFCS) was developed to measure conflicting practices and values between parents and children in the context of acculturation. Given that considerable cultural and institutional changes have taken place in original countries for the Chinese immigrant population, it is important to investigate whether the factor structure of the AAFCS is appropriate for measuring the attitudes and practices of acculturation among the current Chinese immigrant population. A sample of Chinese American immigrant parents ( n = 269) from the Survey of Asian American Families was employed to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The principal‐axis factoring method of EFA was used to determine the factor structure of the AAFCS, followed by the weighted least squares means and variance estimation in CFA to assess the fitness of the measurement model. A nine‐item one‐factor model (without the first item regarding decision making) was suggested by EFA with all factor loadings greater than .45. CFA results indicated a good fit of the nine‐item one‐factor model: χ 2 (27, 296) = 40.24, p < .05, root‐mean‐square error of approximation = .04, 90% CI [.00, .07], comparative fit index = .99, Tucker–Lewis index = .99. The validation of the AAFCS is useful for practitioners and researchers to better assess the outcomes of acculturation conflicts among Chinese immigrants who are adjusting to living in the United States. This study can inform social work practitioners in regards to cultural sensitivity and cultural competency when working with Chinese immigrants and their U.S.‐born children.