Ring conflicting expectations from parents and peers among Chinese American AZD4547MedChemExpress AZD4547 adolescents observed a similar pattern (Qin, 2009). At home, parents emphasized the traditional Chinese values centered on education and family obligation; adolescents were expected to be frugal, work hard, and spend most of their time with family. At school, peers practiced the mainstream culture and valued being popular, and adolescents were expected to be fashionable, participate in extracurricular activities, and hang out with friends (Qin, 2009). These findings suggest family and peer cultural socialization may be incongruent, but it is unclear whether such incongruence commonly exists for racial/ethnic minority adolescents or only emerges for a small proportion. Similarly, although congruently high socialization from family and peers is likely quite beneficial for youth, it is unknown whether such congruence does actually occur for adolescents. A second goal of the present study was to investigate profiles of family and peer cultural socialization using a person-centered approach. We explored subgroups of adolescents experiencing various patterns of family and peer socialization toward the heritage culture and the mainstream American culture, seeking to quantify how many adolescents OPC-8212 solubility experience incongruence versus congruence in socialization messages across families and peers.Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptJ Youth Adolesc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 March 16.Wang and BennerPageUsing this person-centered approach also enabled us to investigate the unique challenges associated with each distinct congruent/dissonant profile. Bioecological theory highlights the benefits of contextual congruence (Bronfenbrenner Morris, 2006), and these benefits have also been observed empirically. For example, an ethnographic study by Phelan et al. (1991) showed that, when families, schools, and peers shared similar values and expectations, adolescents were able to integrate their roles across contexts, work toward consistent goals shared by different contexts, and receive support from important others across settings (e.g., parents, friends, teachers). In contrast, when the multiple worlds differed greatly or contradicted each other in expectations and values, youth found it difficult to reconcile the discrepancies, set up coherent goals, and behave consistently. Quantitative studies also document the different developmental implications for possible congruence versus incongruence profiles. Congruent, nurturing learning environments at home and school have been shown to boost children’s academic motivation and achievement (Crosnoe, Leventhal, Wirth, Pierce, Pianta, 2010). In contrast, students who experience family-school discontinuities in academic values and expectations exhibit poorer socioemotional and academic outcomes (Arunkumar, Midgley, Urdan, 1999; Tyler et al., 2010). The literature on parent-child acculturation discrepancies in immigrant families also suggests that incongruent values and beliefs between parents and adolescents often create family conflicts and compromise adolescent adjustment (Lui, 2015). Informed by this theoretical and empirical work, the present study explored the extent to which congruent versus dissonant profiles of family and peer cultural socialization were differentially associated with adolescents’ socioemotional and academic well-being.Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Man.Ring conflicting expectations from parents and peers among Chinese American adolescents observed a similar pattern (Qin, 2009). At home, parents emphasized the traditional Chinese values centered on education and family obligation; adolescents were expected to be frugal, work hard, and spend most of their time with family. At school, peers practiced the mainstream culture and valued being popular, and adolescents were expected to be fashionable, participate in extracurricular activities, and hang out with friends (Qin, 2009). These findings suggest family and peer cultural socialization may be incongruent, but it is unclear whether such incongruence commonly exists for racial/ethnic minority adolescents or only emerges for a small proportion. Similarly, although congruently high socialization from family and peers is likely quite beneficial for youth, it is unknown whether such congruence does actually occur for adolescents. A second goal of the present study was to investigate profiles of family and peer cultural socialization using a person-centered approach. We explored subgroups of adolescents experiencing various patterns of family and peer socialization toward the heritage culture and the mainstream American culture, seeking to quantify how many adolescents experience incongruence versus congruence in socialization messages across families and peers.Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptJ Youth Adolesc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 March 16.Wang and BennerPageUsing this person-centered approach also enabled us to investigate the unique challenges associated with each distinct congruent/dissonant profile. Bioecological theory highlights the benefits of contextual congruence (Bronfenbrenner Morris, 2006), and these benefits have also been observed empirically. For example, an ethnographic study by Phelan et al. (1991) showed that, when families, schools, and peers shared similar values and expectations, adolescents were able to integrate their roles across contexts, work toward consistent goals shared by different contexts, and receive support from important others across settings (e.g., parents, friends, teachers). In contrast, when the multiple worlds differed greatly or contradicted each other in expectations and values, youth found it difficult to reconcile the discrepancies, set up coherent goals, and behave consistently. Quantitative studies also document the different developmental implications for possible congruence versus incongruence profiles. Congruent, nurturing learning environments at home and school have been shown to boost children’s academic motivation and achievement (Crosnoe, Leventhal, Wirth, Pierce, Pianta, 2010). In contrast, students who experience family-school discontinuities in academic values and expectations exhibit poorer socioemotional and academic outcomes (Arunkumar, Midgley, Urdan, 1999; Tyler et al., 2010). The literature on parent-child acculturation discrepancies in immigrant families also suggests that incongruent values and beliefs between parents and adolescents often create family conflicts and compromise adolescent adjustment (Lui, 2015). Informed by this theoretical and empirical work, the present study explored the extent to which congruent versus dissonant profiles of family and peer cultural socialization were differentially associated with adolescents’ socioemotional and academic well-being.Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Man.