Asian-Americans

“Asian Americans (AA) are the second largest foreign-born population in the United States. Contrary to the “model minority” stereotype that this group is unitarily well adjusted and high achieving, recent research has revealed substantial differences in

mental health adjustment among AA children.” (Zhou, et. al., 2012, Abstract)

Common Perceptions

• Asian American parents are authoritarians • School work and extracurricular

• Demand much more from their children when it comes to achievement

• Less warmth and affection toward their children

Tiger Parenting

• Tells of a mothers endeavors to push her two daughters to succeed and, in the process, deny them a social life, sleepovers, and play dates.

• According to Chua, tiger mothers are mothers of Chinese (or other ethnic) origin who are highly controlling and authoritarian, denying their children free time, play dates, and extracurricular activities in order to drive them to high levels of success at any cost.

• Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

By Amy Chua (2011)

Is Tiger Parenting Real?

• Yes and No• Tiger Parenting exist but it is not common among Asian American Families.

• Tiger Parenting does not lead to the best academic and Socio-emotional outcomes

• Studies collectively show that there is much more variation.

• Studies suggest that Asian-heritage parents are also warm, supportive, and loving toward their children, which has not been emphasized (and perhaps even de-emphasized) in the literature.

The Role of the Father

• Traditional views of the Asian American father • The father is the master of the family and the primary breadwinner. • Strict authoritarian• Un-emotional

• Contemporary Asian-American fathers tend to avoid this role. • On the whole, Asian-American fathers desire a closer and emotional relationship

with their young children.

• However, they still emphasize academic achievement more than European fathers do.

• Studies done only done within the middle class• Working class fathers (authoritarian) tend to focus solely on grades whereas the

middle class father (authorative) emphasized philosophies that educated the whole child (Morality & Character).

Findings

• Parenting roles change• Mothers rid tiger parent role to the father

• Reason fathers are responsible for socialization outside of the home , becomes a factor during mid to late adolescence

• Being Authoritarian yields results…Nope!• Supportive parenting yields best results

• Low academic pressure

• High GPA

• High Educational Attainment

• High family obligation

Adjustment Issues

• Attributed towards parent-child acculturation gaps

• Language brokering

• Experience of racial discrimination

Maintenance of Heritage CultureAsset or Issue

• Larger acculturation Gaps and Unsupportive Parents might lead to poor adjustment issues

• Initially higher increasing family obligation attitudes and behaviors might lead to fewer depressive symptoms

BilingualismAsset or Issue

• 79% of Asian Americans five and older speak English and another language at home (34% of this group speak English “very well”)

• Bilingual advantage adds to the executive function • Conceptual inhibition• Interference suppression• Complex rule representation

• Bilingual advantage stronger affect than culture

• Socioemotional advantages are inconclusive and demand further longitudinal research

(Zhou, et. al., 2012)

Coping and Emotional RegulationAsset or Issue

• Less likely to use active coping

• Reluctant to seek help• Negative connotation

• Being a burden

• Active and religious coping = positive psychological health

• Active coping and support seeking = negative problem behaviors and delinquent activities

Neighborhood and Ethnic CommunitiesAsset or Issue

• Decrease pressure to assimilate

• Resources• Ethnic language schools

• Cultural and religious resources

• Valuable academic and social support of immigrant families

• Mixed affects – Need more studies

Academic Life

• Asian Americans tend to outperform other ethnicities with academics.

• There are differing reasons for why this is so:• Asian American parents hold higher educational expectations for their children

• Asian American parents place strong support and value on education

• Children do not want to bring shame to their family

Expectations

• Due to Asian Americans usually outperforming other ethnicities academically and conform to expectations, they may have expectations placed on them in school by:

• Teachers

• Classmates

• Administration

Vignette Reference

• As a Asian American child, entering school with the high value placed on educational achievement by parents may cause student to put extra pressure on themselves.

• As a male, the male twin is expected to grow up and be the male of the family, the authority of the family.

• If the child is not excelling then they will feel as if they are bringing shame to their family.

Asian Americans in Counseling

• 17% of Asian Americans with a psychological issue sought professional help and less than 6% sought help from a mental health treatment provider.

• Sessions containing therapists with multicultural competence received higher ratings than sessions without multicultural competence.

• Counselors should be aware of assumptions, values, and biases; understand the client’s worldview culturally, and develop interventions appropriately.

Counseling Asian-American College Students• Case Study: Twins John and Julie are nineteen years old and sophomores in different colleges.

They are second-generation Chinese Americans. They were raised by their parents, who both came to the United States a few years before the twins were born. They have no other siblings. Their parents raised them in a suburban neighborhood with a high percentage of other Chinese American families, although many of the twins’ friends were not Chinese. Julie attends a commuter college and lives at home, and John attends a college a few hours away. Both entered college undeclared and now need to choose majors. Julie is feeling pressure from her parents to declare Pre Med as her major, because she has always done well in science. Her parents have been telling her that she will make an excellent doctor and that they will be very proud of her. However, despite being good at science, she has taken a few Art classes recently, and has become passionate about it, and wants to pursue it more seriously, and declare it as her major. John is very social and has always been into journalism. He wants to declare Broadcast Journalism and Mass Communications as his major, but knows that his parents except him to major in Business or Accounting, as those are majors more associated with success. He is not interested those fields, and finds them to be boring. Both twins do not want to disappoint their parents, but also do not want to limit themselves to majoring in something that they are not passionate about. With the deadline to declare their majors coming up, both John and Julie come to into the counseling centers at their respective colleges, saying that they are feeling stressed over the upcoming decision.

• Questions:1. What cultural influences may be relevant in John’s and Julie’s situation?2. As a counselor, what recommendation would you have for the twins, in choosing

majors that their parents may disapprove of? 3. What additional information would you want to find out?

Acculturation in Counseling

• College students often feel a conflict between the wishes of their parents and their own ideas

• Asian American college students experience higher family conflict than Latino and European-American students

• Acculturation Gap and Acculturation Stress

• Intergenerational Conflict• Individualism vs. Collectivism and Filial Piety

Counseling Strategies

• BET (Bicultural Effectiveness Training Program)• Focus on family commonalities

• Explore Positives of Culture:• Filial Piety (loyalty and love of family)

• Can help students see it as a sense of belonging and support (Asian culture) , and at the same time, having the opportunity to explore individual interests (American culture)

• Other Ideas• Educate student on acculturation process

• Asian American students tends to use mental health services less. Being creative is important.

• The more aware students are of potential conflicts, the less stressed they are

Counseling in Adulthood• Asian Americans have high drop out rates in counseling

• Common Issues: Language and Culture Barrier

• What Counselors Can Do:• Be aware of assumptions, values, and biases• Understand the worldview of culturally different client • Develop appropriate intervention strategies and techniques, with strong consideration to culture

• Remember: Level of acculturation influences emotional expressiveness, attitudes towards seeking help, and beliefs about families and relationships

• Common Asian American Values:• Hierarchical relationships, collectivism, achievement• Emotional Self Control

References

• Burro, A., Ja, N., Ong, A., Fuller-Rowell, T,. & Sue, D. (2013) Racial Microaggressions and Daily Well-Being Among Asian Americans. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60, 2, 188-199.

• Cano, M., Castillo, L. & Zahn, M. (2010). Predictors of Familial Acculturative Stress in Asian American College Students. Journal of College Counseling, 10, 1, 52-64.

• Sy, S.R., & Schulenberg, J.E. (2005). Parents beliefs and children’s achievement trajectories during the transition to school in Asian American and European American families. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29, 6, 505-515.

• Wang, S., & Kim, B.K. (2010). Therapist multicultural competence, Asian American participants’ cultural values, and counseling process. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57, 6, 394-401.

• Zhou, Q., Tao, A., Chen, S. H., Main, A., Lee, E., Ly, J., . . . Li, X. (2012). Asset and Protective Factors for Asian American Children's Mental Health Adjustment. Child Development Perspectives, 312-319.