The Construction of Everyday Sacrifice in Asian Americans and European Americans: The Roles of Ethnicity and Acculturation

Abstract

This research examines the effects of ethnicity and acculturation on everyday sacrifice behaviors in 63 European American and 131 Asian American college students (mean age = 18.60). Asian Americans were divided into more and less acculturated groups using the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale. Participants responded to scenarios involving conflict between sacrifice (for parents, siblings, and friends) and the realization of personal goals in three domains (money, dating, and schoolwork). In most domains, Asian Americans were, as predicted, significantly more likely to say they would sacrifice than were the European Americans. Whereas less acculturated Asian Americans were, as predicted, significantly more likely than European Americans to say that they would sacrifice for their parents, European Americans expressed a significantly greater willingness to sacrifice for siblings than for parents. With acculturation to U.S. society, the level of Asian American sacrifice declined, but its distinctive patterning remained.