ABSTRACT
Buriel and De Ment suggested an alternative to an assimilationist model in their review of sociocultural change in Mexican, Chinese, and Vietnamese American families. They argued that these groups do not assimilate into White mainstream U.S. society but move instead toward a bicultural pattern: Some family patterns are similar to and some are different from those of the dominant society. For example, they cited studies showing that although later
generation Mexican American families do not live in the extended family households that are characteristic of Mexican immigrants, they continue to maintain a distinctly high level of involvement with family members. Buriel and De Ment's bicultural paradigm to interpret these and other findings raises important questions, both about the meaning of biculturalism and its dynamics and about consequences for immigrant and ethnic families. In the remainder of the chapter I briefly discuss some of these questions.
