Variations in Adaptation Profiles Among Chinese Immigrant Mothers and Their Children: A Dyadic Latent Profile Analysis

The family systems theory and systemic framework of resilience suggest that immigrant mothers and children may show heterogeneous profiles of dyadic adaptation outcomes shaped by distinct adaptation resources. Thus, our study aimed to identify different adaptation patterns among 200 mother–child pairs of immigrants from Mainland China to Hong Kong. A dyadic latent profile analysis classified the immigrant mothers and children into four subgroups based on their well-being scores. As expected, the largest subgroup, labeled the adapted mothers and children subgroup (37%, Subgroup 1), reported high well-being in both the mothers and their children. Additionally, nearly 12% of mothers reported higher well-being whereas their children reported poorer well-being; this group was labeled the adapted mothers and maladapted children subgroup (Subgroup 2). In the third subgroup, labeled the maladapted mother and adapted children subgroup (34%, Subgroup 3), mothers reported poorer well-being but children reported higher well-being. Lastly, a subgroup including mothers and children with poorer adaptation (17%, Subgroup 4) was labeled the maladapted mothers and children subgroup. We also identified distinct configured patterns of contextual resources for each subgroup. Our findings highlight the importance of investigating the heterogeneous patterns of these immigrant mothers and children as well as the need to develop dyadic intervention programs to enhance positive adaptation.