Letter from the Editors
Staff Articles
- The “Tiger Mom”: Stereotypes of Chinese Parenting in the United States
- The Volunteer Experience: Understanding and Fostering Global Citizenship
- Identity, Therapy, and Womanhood: Humanity in the Mafia
- “The Walking Wounded”: Here-and-now Coping Strategies to Ease the Reintegration of American Military Veterans
- Muslim-American Women in the United States: What is Considered Muslim Enough?
- Social Development in Democratic Elementary-School Classrooms
- The Impact of Parental Divorce on Emerging Adults’ Self-Esteem
- Discussing Sexuality with Children
- Acculturative Stress, Gender, and Mental Health Symptoms in Immigrant Adolescents
- Gendered Toy Preferences and Preschoolers’ Play Behaviors
- Lenses of Justice: Demographic, Cultural, Ideological, Socioemotional Factors & Distributive Justice
- The Role of Stereotype Vulnerability on Black Students’ Relational Engagement
- Multicultural Competence among Mental Health Professionals
- Teasing within English-Speaking Latino Families
- The Immigrant Paradox: Discrimination Stress and Academic Disengagement
- Trauma, Meaning-Making, and Identity in Young Women of Color
Aakriti Malhotra
Sociocultural and linguistic knowledge is acquired by children through everyday language-mediated interactions. Teasing is one type of interaction that can be found within a broad range of cultures, and can play positive or negative roles in children’s learning of their language and culture. Although studies have been conducted in Spanish-speaking families, there is a dearth of research examining the incidence of teasing in English-speaking Latino families. Therefore, the present study will explore the frequency and functions of teasing in English-speaking Latino families using an ethnographic methodology. Families were visited four times over the course of one month; all audio conversations were recorded and field notes were written immediately after each visit. Results showed eight different types of teasing grouped into three categories of teasing; there was higher variability in types of teasing and more advanced forms of teasing used in instances where the mother is present. Functions of teasing include reprimands, establishing a connection, life lessons, and diffusing a situation, all used in positive roles within these families. Through types of teasing children learn linguistic knowledge, and through functions of teasing children gain sociocultural knowledge; together, teasing can be used to help children become competent members of society. Future studies should investigate how teasing differs in bilingual households depending on the language being used, and how teasing looks between fathers and sons