| The purpose of this study was to further understand the phenomenon of colonial mentality (David, 2011) among Filipino Americans. Eleven Filipino American parents were asked to complete measures of overt and covert colonial mentality, the Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) and Colonial Mentality Implicit Association Test (CMIAT). They then participated in semi-structured interviews to explore values, beliefs, and behaviors learned in their families of origin, as well as those they wanted to provide and avoid as they are raising their own children. From these interviews, several values emerged that participants wanted their children to acquire including: valuing the family, consideration for others outside the family, self-improvement, and ethnic identity. Several values also emerged that participants did not want their children to acquire including: lack of discussion, behavioral expectations, maintaining appearances, and hurting others. Of the aforementioned values, the following were more explicitly discussed by those with lower levels of colonial mentality: the desirability of ethnic identity and valuing the family and the undesirability of lack of discussion. Of the aforementioned values, the following were more explicitly discussed by those with higher levels of colonial mentality: consideration for others outside the family. Participants also discussed how they developed ideas related to colonial mentality, as measured by the CMS. Lastly, participants discussed how their families contributed to their development of ideas on three of the five scales on the CMS: Within-Group Discrimination, Physical Characteristics, and Colonial Debt. Suggestions for further research as well as the limitations and strengths of the study are also discussed. |
