Exploring individuation among Latine first‐generation students: Insights from culturally informed memorable messages

When Latine first-generation college students transition to college, they must renegotiate a balance between autonomy and relatedness with their families-a process known as individuation. Individuation encompasses five dimensions: support seeking, connectedness, intrusiveness, self-reliance, and fear of disappointing parents. Existing measures of individuation prioritize westernized assumptions about parent-child relationships (e.g., egalitarianism, mutual respect) over those more salient in Latine families (e.g., respeto, familismo). To build more culturally grounded perspectives on individuation, we studied Latine first-generation students' memorable messages-enduring messages shaping socialization and identity development-to and from their parents. We collected memorable messages through a cross-sectional survey (n = 77) and longitudinal interviews (n = 8) with Latine first-generation students before and after the college transition. Analyses revealed how immigration history, gender, and social class intersected to highlight the interrelatedness among the dimensions, including how connectedness functioned as the primary lens from which to understand the other dimensions of individuation.