Asian-American Child Analysis

This paper is about five published articles that concern the psychological issues that arise in first generation Asian-American children through living in a bicultural environment. The articles vary in different aspects of mental health among Asian-American children. The paper starts with stressors that may cause mental disorders in Asian-American children and leads into detail with factors that play a huge part in their lives and allows for conflicts between the two societies they live through on a daily basis. It leads into Asian American usage of mental health services and the mental needs of Asian American children as they grow older and head off to college.

Keywords: Asian-American, First Generation, Depression, Bicultural

Psychological

However, Asian American children whose parents were foreign born have higher rates of mental illness. The reasoning is foreign born parents hold high expectations for their children due to their beliefs and culture. In Asian countries, people are supposed to help the family and everyone has a role or duty to play in the household, whereas in America, individualism is expressed and valued which leads to a conflict between the two societies as the child encounters both cultures on a day to day basis. Asian American children feel overwhelmed as the two societies conflict with one another leading to stress and depression from failure of keeping up with their parents’ expectations and difficulty adapting to both

They are often discriminated against due to their racial and cultural background which causes mental health issues, but most of the time, they do not seek mental health professionals. They go to their personal network of friends, significant others, and their religious community (Lee et al., 2009). In the “Model Minority at Risk” article by Lee and others, they mention the acculturation, parental expectation, and stereotype issues. The article also mentions that Asian American children are less likely to receive mental help because of language barriers and shame and stigma that comes from it through their Asian culture. The study was conducted on groups of Asian American adolescents from hard-to-reach populations from various communities and they were required to answer some questions regarding priorities and mental health. The results stated that Asian Americans viewed talking about mental health was a bad thing that should never be discussed and that it was up to the individual to handle it alone. However, it was also shown that the 1.5 and the second generation of Asian Americans viewed mental health issues as a top concern. The results also concluded that the degree of acculturation between the parents and children is the major factor to intergenerational conflicts. Lastly, mental health is not easily recognizable by the