Toward an integrative and collaborative approach to Asian American and Pacific Islander youth violence research, practice, and policy

Research into the prevalence of violence and delinquency among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth has proliferated in the last several years, as a result of federal funding. Consequently, this article reviews the literature on AAPI youth violence and delinquency published from 2001 to 2008. The findings demonstrate the frequency of AAPI youth violence and delinquency, provide a sense of the involvement of these youth in the juvenile justice system, reveal ethnic group differences in violence and delinquency, and explore the effects of immigration and acculturation on these phenomena. This article ends with a discussion on AAPI youth violence and delinquency prevention programs, with suggestions for future directions that incorporate a developmental and life-course approach in research and collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.     

The Psychological Cost of Racial Discrimination: What is the Role of Residential Segregation?

Racial discrimination is known to harm health, but to what extent the health burden of racial discrimination is contingent on residential contexts is understudied. This study examines the moderating role of racial residential segregation in the relationship between racial discrimination and psychological distress. Nationally representative data from the 2002–2003 National Latino and Asian American Study were merged with metropolitan-level data from the U.S. Census. Logistic regression models were used to test the independent and joint contributions of racial discrimination and residential segregation to psychological distress among Asians and Latinxs, stratified by nativity status. Higher residential segregation (measured by the interaction index) is associated with lower odds of distress among U.S.-born Asians but not among other groups. As for the moderating effect, residential segregation exacerbates the positive association between discrimination and distress among foreign-born Asians (measured by the dissimilarity index) and foreign-born Latinxs (measured by the interaction index), but not among their respective U.S.-born counterparts. Taken together, the present study highlights that strategies to mitigate the psychological burden of racial discrimination need to move beyond individual-level efforts to incorporate neighborhood-based approaches. In particular, results provide empirical support for efforts to reduce residential segregation, particularly among immigrants who are discriminated against.     

Clinical interventions and prevention for Asian American children and families: Current status and needed research

The current status of clinical interventions and prevention for Asian American children and/or adolescents and their families was assessed through a review of the literature on conceptual frameworks, cultural variables and related issues, and empirical studies. Five proposed approaches to treatment or prevention were examined. Some factors that might account for the slow progress of treatment research in this area were also discussed. These included conceptual and methodological issues; the paucity of data on psychopathology in this population; their low service-utilization rates; and societal images, values, and needs. Some needed directions for future research are suggested.     

Inequalities in Mental Health: the Inner City Mental Health Project

This paper draws on the evidence of a 3-year evaluation study of an inner city mental health project. Innovative service developments aimed at Afro-Caribbean and Asian communities are described, as are the reactions of providers of mainstream mental health services to these initiatives. The structural position of special projects aimed at Black communities is explored in relation to mainstream mental health services, as are the difficulties which may be encountered by service users and project staff when the project is integrated into mainstream mental health services.     

Acculturative Stress,Parental and Professor Attachment,and College Adjustment in Asian International Students

This study examined parental and professor attachment as buffers against acculturative stress and as predictors of college adjustment of 210 Asian international students (AISs). Moderated hierarchical regression analyses revealed that acculturative stress negatively and secure parental and professor attachment positively predicted academic integration. Secure professor attachment positively predicted grade point average. Mother attachment may buffer against acculturative stress on academic integration; father attachment may exacerbate it. Counselors may use these findings to enhance AISs' attachment functioning for their college adjustment. Este estudio examinó el apego parental y el apego al profesor como protectores contra el estrés aculturativo y como indicadores de adaptación al entorno académico en 210 estudiantes internacionales asiáticos (AIS, por sus siglas en inglés). Los análisis de regresión jerárquica moderada revelaron que el estrés aculturativo fue un indicador negativo de integración académica, mientras que el apego parental y el apego al profesor fueron indicadores positivos. El apego seguro al profesor fue un indicador positivo de la media de las calificaciones académicas. El apego materno puede proteger contra el estrés aculturativo en la integración académica; el apego paterno puede agravarlo. Los consejeros pueden usar estos descubrimientos para enfatizar el funcionamiento del apego en los AIS para su adaptación al entorno académico.     

Respect for Elders: Myths and Realities in East Asia

The trend in East Asia from authoritarian and patriarchal relationships to egalitarian and reciprocal patterns of mutual respect between generations is eroding the willingness of younger generations to respect the elderly in traditional ways. Have the Confucian teachings on respect for elders become myths? This article reviews traditional ways of treating parents and elders prescribed in Confucian literature and examines how they are expressed in modern times.     

Authoritarian Parenting Style in Asian Societies: A Cluster- Analytic Investigation*

While the beneficial effects of authoritative parenting style have consistently been demonstrated for Caucasian samples, these effects have not always been found for Asians. It appears that adolescents who perceived their parents’ style of parenting as authoritarian are not one homogeneous group. Cluster analyses performed for adolescents’ perceived mothers’ and fathers’ authoritarian parenting style using adolescents’ self-report scores on personal adjustment and social variables as the clustering variables found similar two-cluster solutions (maladjusted and well-adjusted). External validation evidence revealed that adolescents in the maladjusted cluster had poorer attitudes towards school and teachers compared to adolescents in the well-adjusted cluster for both samples. These findings suggest that authoritarian parenting style could possibly have a different cultural meaning for Asians. ^*The authors would like to thank staff from Tampines Family Service Center for their assistance with data collection. The schools, adolescents and principals who participated in this project are also gratefully acknowledged and thanked. This research is supported by the Voluntary Welfare Organization Capability Fund grant from the National Council of Social Service, Singapore.     

Terror as Usual: The Role of the Model Minority Myth in Asian American Women’s Suicidality

ABSTRACT

This article examines the influence of the model minority myth on the formation of suicidal tendencies among Asian American women. These women experience fractured realities under the myth as a form of everyday trauma, or “terror as usual,” which may influence their suicidal thinking or attempts. Using interview data collected from 44 Asian American women suicide survivors, this study employs narrative analyses of the interviews, drawing from the theoretical frameworks of women of color feminism, critical race studies, postmodern psychology, and critical anthropology. The first part of this article deconstructs the model minority thesis as a problematic framework for understanding Asian American achievement. The second part examines how these pressures are experienced by Asian American women as destructive material and psychic constraints. Specifically, the model minority myth contributes to Asian American women’s suicidality in three major ways: (a) the pressure to succeed creates unbearable stress for individuals as they try to live up to the stereotypical image of Asian American success; (b) the dissimulation of the myth as a social fact influences Asian American women to internalize model minority expectations and thus blame themselves if they are unable to succeed; and (c) the image of model success contributes to Asian American women becoming over-looked in the distribution of needed help and resources, further exacerbating their suicidal conditions. The article concludes with a discussion of implications of this study for both clinical and nonclinical practices needed to create social conditions for Asian American women’s mental wellness.     

Understanding Transcultural Identity: Ethnic Identity Development of Asian Immigrant College Students during Their First Two Years at a Predominantly White Institution

The present study focused on the conflict of Asian immigrant students preserving their connections to the Asian ethnic culture, adapting to American cultural orientation, and redefining their ethnic identity during their first two years of college. Our findings revealed a complex interaction of six social environmental factors that contributed to the emergence of three ethnic identity patterns: bicultural identity, ethnicized identity, and transcultural identity. The implications of the study articulate the need for college educators to avoid viewing Asian immigrants as an ethnically homogenous group, and acknowledge the nuanced variations in Asian ethnic identity. Moreover, it is incumbent upon student affairs administrators to persevere in promoting a campus environment that minimizes the generational divide between Asian American and Asian immigrant students.     

Grassroots spirituality: What it is,why it is here,where it is going,by Robert K. Forman

Among Asian Americans, particularly within immigrant communities, religious leaders are respected and sought out for support and guidance. There is a need to examine how religious leaders, especially within non-Christian faiths, identify persons and ascribe meaning and attributions to mental health concerns. The aim of this paper was to address this knowledge gap by exploring the perceptions of five Vietnamese American Buddhist leaders in regards to mental illness. Using qualitative analytic techniques we identified appearance, behaviours, and cognitive impairments that leaders interpreted as indicators of a mental health condition. Religious leaders cited messy and overly adorned outer appearance, aggressive and violent behaviours, and abnormal cognitive functioning as indicative of mental health problems. They attributed mental illness to a variety of causes: daily stressors, mind-body imbalance, karma, virtuous deeds, and spiritual possession. Findings inform strategies for faith-based initiatives and mental health service delivery to religiously affiliated Asian Americans.