In this paper, studies conducted on parental ethnic-racial socialization (PERS) in Asian American emerging adults are reviewed to assess how PERS correlates to psychological constructs such as: ethnic identity, self-esteem, psychological well-being, social competence and connectedness, life satisfaction, and symptoms of depression. Results indicated a significant association, but differed depending on the method of PERS used. Cultural socialization messages were generally associated with positive psychological outcomes while promotion of mistrust messages were mostly associated with negative psychological outcomes. The results also demonstrated a need for more qualitative studies to be conducted, and for the use of a PERS scale specific to Asian Americans. Further research should additionally consider ethnicity, gender, and generational status differences when measuring PERS.

Unfortunately, most Americans do not know about the Hindutva movement and how it operates. As such, the 2019 “Howdy Modi!” event shocked many people who were confused as to why, as a minority group, so many Hindu Americans were supporting Trump. Many Americans, because of their lack of knowledge, are unaware of the divisive and even violent nature of the Hindutva movement. As such, many Americans minimize the importance of this growing alliance between Trump and Modi. This ignores the severity of the Hindutva movement and makes its activity in America appear to be a sporadic and unorganized phenomenon. In this thesis, I examine the relatively recent emergence of Hindu nationalist support for Trump by examining the historical conditions in both India and America that caused this alliance to form. I analyzes the ideologies of two organizations in particular that represent this alliance: the Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) and Hindus for Trump (H4T). Research indicates that while this alliance is marginal in the Indian American community, it has the capacity to grow as Modi and Trump grow close. Most importantly, I argue that rather than being seen as a fringe movement, the intellectual merits of this movement should be taken seriously. As such, I argue that the growing influence of Hindu nationalism in American politics should be seen as a larger, global phenomenon of Hindu nationalists attempting to influence diaspora politics.

Research on cultural socialization, the process in which individuals learn messages regarding the traditions and values of their culture (Hughes et al., 2006), has dedicated little attention to Latinx and Asian American groups. This study examined whether an interdependent self-construal (i.e., viewing oneself as connected to others and endorsing behaviors that depend on others; Singelis, 1994) was a mediator between cultural socialization and ethnic identity for these two groups. The current study utilized mediation analyses to explore the associations between cultural socialization via different agents (i.e., parents, teachers, romantic partners, peers), interdependent self-construal, and ethnic identity exploration and commitment for Latinx (N = 258, 68.6% female, Mage = 20.54) and Asian (N = 281, 66.5% female, Mage = 20.34) American college-attending emerging adults. Results revealed that for the Latinx sample, interdependent self-construal mediated the relation between cultural socialization and ethnic identity exploration or commitment in regards to parents and peers, but not teachers. In addition, interdependent self-construal mediated the association between cultural socialization from romantic partners and ethnic identity commitment, but not exploration. For the Asian American sample, interdependent self-construal mediated the association between cultural socialization and ethnic identity exploration or commitment in regards to romantic partners and peers, but not parents and teachers. These results highlight the important role of different cultural socialization agents in ethnic identity formation for these two groups and suggest that the endorsement of cultural values can be a mechanism through which ethnic identity is strengthened.