ABSTRACT
Adolescence is a time of stressful transitions. For minority adolescents, this problem is compounded by problems of acculturation (Berry, 1986). Using Cambodian refugees as participants, this study examined whether there is a relationship between the difference in the degree of parental vs. adolescent acculturation and adolescent delinquent behavior. Twenty-nine adult-adolescent pairs were gathered from San Francisco and Stockton, California. The hypothesis that parent-child difference in acculturation would be related to delinquency was not supported by the data. However, regression analyses showed that adolescents’ acculturation score, age of the adolescents at time of entry to the U.S., and the presence of both parents were all negatively associated with delinquency. This suggests that adolescents who were less acculturated, despite their earlier age of entry, tended to have delinquent behaviors. Possible explanations for delinquency among Cambodian adolescents were explored.
