The Model Minority Myth: The Mental Health Of South East Asian Americans

In at least one point in everyone’s lives, they are faced with micro aggressions or discriminating adjectives about their race, gender, or sexual orientation. Most of the time, it is said without the intent of insulting the individual, but most times, it’s much more harmful than they think. Asian Americans, for example, have been “complimented” in stereotypical characteristics. They are told that they are good at math or science because they are Asian, that they are wealthy because their parents are doctors or lawyers, and that they are pretty much the second Whites of society. This is known as The Model Minority Myth. The Asian American ethnic group is considered a model minority, since they are a minority group that is regarded as economically

AAPI females in general hold the highest suicide rate of 15-24 year olds, with a staggering 14.1%, followed by White ethnic groups at 9.3% and Black at 3.3% and the second highest of males with 12.7% in the same age group. According to traditional Asian culture, mental health problems exist because the individual is unable to control themselves, and it is otherwise shameful to seek help to remedy these issues. (Lee 1) Thus, Asian Americans do not often actively seek out professional help when it is available. Studies show that the perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms specifically among Filipino Americans, was as associative with poor mental health similarly to substance use. A study performed by the Health Needs Assessment in 2007 found that health concerns were one of the most important aspects for the focus group subjects. They found that this was most important to adolescent and young adults who were 1.5 or 2nd generation Asian Americans, which meant that they were either born in a different country and raised in the United States or were born in the United States respectively. Southern East Asians, like many other AAPI ethnic groups face four major themes when it comes to sources of potential stress against their mental health. These themes include but are not limited to pressure from their parents to succeed,

Often, South East Asians are met with a complicated border, also known as a “binary label”. On one hand, South East Asians, specifically Cambodian Americans, are often faced with low expectations from their teachers in high school and are the subject of being regarded as low academic achievers and high school dropouts. On the other, they are constantly grouped up with Asian Americans who do meet the successful and valuable family and work ethics. Census data shows that 53.3% Cambodian Americans who are 25 years and older do not go to college or have less than a high school education. Similarly, only 6.9% of Cambodian Americans have earned a 4-year college degree, compared to that of Asian Americans, with 44% of college degrees and make up 24% of the population (Chhuon) Research believes that cultural traditions from Cambodian American parents contribute to Cambodian American students underperforming in school. Parents believe that they should not come between their child and their formal education. Research shows that they often do not participate or have much direct involvement in a child’s school