Unique and Interactive Roles of Economic Stress and Discrimination on Heterogeneous Development Among Chinese American Adolescents: An 8-Year Longitudinal Study

Chinese American youth as a group are often labeled as "model minorities." Yet, this label ignores the vast heterogeneity within Chinese Americans and implies that they are immune to environmental stressors. Using an 8-year longitudinal study of 444 (54% female; initial Mage = 13-year-old) Chinese American adolescents, we identified two (well- vs. poorly adjusted) concurrent and three (stably well-adjusted, improved, and risk) latent transition profiles from early adolescence to emerging adulthood based on six indicators of academic, behavioral, and socioemotional functioning. Multilevel modeling revealed higher levels of family economic stress or discrimination independently associated with higher likelihood to be in the subgroup of adolescents with poorly adjusted patterns across development. Within an individual, Chinese American adolescents were more likely to have worse adjustment patterns in the year when they experienced higher economic stress or discrimination relative to other study years, suggesting that their adjustment are sensitive to the fluctuation of stress level during development. Longitudinally, those who experienced higher family economic stress or discrimination at early adolescence were more likely to become at risk when they reached adulthood. Higher discrimination predicted the likelihood to be in the improved groups but only among adolescents with low (but not high) economic stress, suggesting that the influence of discrimination may vary by family socioeconomic status. Findings (a) challenge the model minorities assumption, (b) highlight the importance of capturing multiple ecological contexts associated with heterogeneous development among Chinese American adolescents, and (c) provide longitudinal evidence to social policies aiming to reduce wealth disparities and anti-Asian racism.