Second-generation immigrants in the United States are individuals born and raised in the United States who have at least one parent born in a foreign country. A common issue between second generation immigrants and their parents is the acculturation gap that naturally emerges between generations over time. Acculturation is a process of learning and incorporating the language, customs, mannerisms, beliefs, and values of the new country that immigrants and their families are living in. While immigrant parents have had to relearn how to fit into society and lead lives differently from their native country, immigrant children become involved in this “new society” immediately in their upbringing.

Acculturation gaps can often be problematic because it challenges a family’s communication and mutual understanding as the generation gap forms when immigrant children begin to take on their own identities. For adult immigrants, their native language often remains primary, as well as their morals and cultural beliefs, while their children have integrated their home culture (morales/values/culture) from their parents and also the cultural values of their birth country. The identities of immigrant children are often split by balancing two distinct cultures that have been surrounding them their whole lives.