This is What I Want to Do With My Future: Conversations Between Immigrant Parents and Their Americanized Child on the Topic of Pursuing Higher Education

Conversations between immigrant parents and their Americanized children are often difficult conversations to approach. Children are expected to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives from a young age. Sometimes, what the child wants to do does not align with what their parents want them to do. It is hard to approach those conversations about pursuing higher education, especially when the response is an unknown variable. This research study aims to determine how those conversations about higher education were viewed from the standpoint of the young adult child. It investigates young adults whose ages span from 18 to 24 and how those conversations they had when they were younger impacted who they became. Using data collected from twelve interviewees whose gender, age, and ethnicity varied, this study examines specific instances in those conversations about higher education between the young adult and their immigrant parents and the main factors behind some shared experiences. I discuss those factors, as well as limitations within the study, and provide future direction recommendations.