Styles and stereotypes

The chapter considers the different ways in which Southeast Asian American youth may use local varieties of English to negotiate ideologies of race and Asianness in the production of identity. Based on a year of ethnographic fieldwork in an ethnoracially diverse California high school, the chapter shows how two high school girls, both refugees from Laos, navigate conflicting ideologies of Asian immigrant youth as model minorities on the one hand and as dangerous gangsters on the other. Each girl's style was produced linguistically neither in their native language nor in an ethnically distinctive “Asian American English” but through a positive or negative orientation to the linguistic resources of African American Vernacular English and youth slang. The vast diversity of Asian Americans as a panethnic category and the complexity of their identity practices and performances demands richer and more contextually nuanced theorizing of the relationship between language and identity.

The Challenge of Providing Culturally Competent Services

The aims of the present study were to examine whether Asian American youth experience disparities in quality of life (QL) compared with Hispanic, African American, and white youth in the general population and to what extent socioeconomic status (SES) mediates any disparities among these racial/ethnic groups. Data were obtained from the Healthy Passages study, in which 4,972 Asian American (148; 3%), Hispanic (1,813; 36%), African American (1,755; 35%), and white (1,256; 25%) fifth-graders were enrolled in a population-based, cross-sectional survey conducted in three U.S. metropolitan areas. Youth reported their own QL using the PedsQL and supplemental scales. Parents reported youth's overall health status as well as parent's education and household income level. Asian American youth experienced worse status than white youth for three of 10 QL and well-being measures, better status than Hispanic youth on six measures, and better status than African American youth on three measures. However, the observed advantages for Asian American youth over Hispanic and African American youth disappeared when the marked SES differences that are also present among these racial/ethnic groups were taken into account. In contrast, the differences between Asian American and white youth remained after adjusting for SES. These findings suggest that the disparities in QL that favor white youth over Asian American youth exist independent of SES and warrant further examination. In contrast, the QL differences that favor Asian American over Hispanic and African American youth may be partly explained by SES. Interpretations are limited by the heterogeneity existing among Asian Americans.

What is already known about this subject African Americans are disproportionately affected by obesity and other metabolic risk factors in comparison to White Americans. Increasing prevalence of obesity has been associated with concomitant increases in childhood hypertension, dyslipidaemia and type 2 diabetes. Oxidative stress is associated with obesity in both adults and children. What this study adds Oxidative stress is positively associated with total body fat and truncal fat, but not with body mass index (BMI) or BMI z-score in healthy youth. Oxidative stress is associated with diastolic blood pressure in African American but not in White American healthy youth. Oxidative stress is elevated in obese youth, but less is known regarding racial disparities in the relationship of oxidative stress with metabolic risk factors. To determine the relationship between oxidative stress and metabolic risk factors, adiposity, leptin, adiponectin and cardiovascular fitness (VO2PEAK ) in healthy African American and White American youth. A marker of oxidative stress (F2 -isoprostane), validated markers of metabolic risk factors, fitness and body composition were measured in African American (n = 82) and White American (n = 76) youth (8-17 years old) recruited over a range of BMI percentiles (4th to 99th). F2 -isoprostane concentration was positively correlated with percentage body fat (r = 0.198) and percentage truncal fat (r = 0.173), but was not different between African American and White American males and females (P = 0.208). African American youth had significantly higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.023 and P = 0.011, respectively), body weight, BMI percentile and Tanner stage. After adjusting for gender, age, BMI and Tanner stage, African American youth varied from White Americans in the association of F2 -isoprostane with diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.047), but not with systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, VO2PEAK or homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (all P > 0.05). Oxidative stress, as measured by urinary F2 -isoprostane concentrations, was positively associated with percent body fat and truncal fat in youth. Oxidative stress levels were similar among African American and White American youth. Among markers of the metabolic syndrome, a significant difference between African American and White American youth was demonstrated only in the association of oxidative stress with diastolic blood pressure.

Brief Reports: Psychiatric Illness and Substance Abuse Among Homeless Asian-American Veterans

Asian American Youth Culture Shirley Jennifer Lim The very concept of asian american youth culture presents a conundrum for American history and culture, for it was never meant to exist. Under the auspices of the nineteenth-century American racial dictatorship, Asian migration to the United States was not supposed to be permanent nor should it have resulted in settler colonies. The normative Asian immigrant was the young male who migrated as cheap labor in order to replace enslaved African labor after the end of the slave trade. These migrants were not intended to have the leisure time in which to form their own youth culture. As sojourners, they were not supposed to remain in the United States, nor were they meant to propagate. In addition, the controlling trope of "Asian American" was that of the forever foreigner subjected to expulsion from American nation-state borders. Thus, Asian American youth were not allotted any claim on American rights or American culture. For all those reasons, Asian American youths forming their own culture during leisure time was an impossible construct. But, it was one that happened in the twentieth century, nonetheless. Although people of Asian descent have been in the United States in significant numbers since the mid-nineteenth century, due to demographics and migration patterns, namely the targeted exclusion of female immigration through acts such as the Page Law (1875), the first sizeable group of American-born Asian youth did not appear until the early twentieth century.1 This cohort owed its genesis to the convergence of three historical [End Page 211] factors.2 First, in the twentieth century, Asian American sex ratios became more even, families reproduced, and the first substantial group of American born Asians came of age. Second, this generation gained American citizenship through their birth, which set them apart from their parents' immigrant generation who were legally barred from attaining citizenship through naturalization. Third, American immigration exclusion from 1924 to 1965 meant that any population increase would come from the American-born, primarily Chinese American and Japanese American youth, or, until the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act curtailed their migration, Filipino male colonial subjects.3 Filipino American male youth culture began to form in significant numbers in the 1920s. Immigration laws and United States colonialism shaped the timing of the appearance of Filipino American male youth culture. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924 curtailed the entry of Chinese and Japanese cheap labor, thus creating a demand for other sources of cheap labor on the West Coast, a demand filled by Filipino migration. After the 1898 Spanish American war, the Philippines became a colony of the United States and, as "nationals," Filipinos were not subject to immigration restrictions. Beginning in 1923, young Filipino men migrated in large numbers, thus creating the structural conditions for a vibrant youth culture. As U.S. colonial subjects, the young immigrant men had, to varying degrees, been versed in and exposed to dominant U.S. culture in the Philippines and thus as immigrants formed their own youth culture that was analogous to the cultures created by second-generation Chinese American and Japanese American youth. Asian American communities deployed youthful cultural practices in order to respond to the historical legacy of immigration exclusion, colonialism, citizenship obstacles, and construction as forever-foreign men, as well as to address present-day racial segregation and community specific issues such as Japanese American internment or Filipino American decolonization. The "hep cat" cool, zoot-suited Filipino male and the fresh-faced, smartly-dressed, and smiling beauty queen became prevalent community responses to the mainstream's image of the shuffling, sepia-dour, foreign male coolie. Asian American youth made a culture of their own within the constraints of their historical time. Sites where scholars have located Asian American youth culture include clubs, [End Page 212] beauty pageants, and consumer culture. Ingeniously, out of necessity and survival, Asian American youth negotiated their own spaces within the frameworks of mainstream culture. Asian American (usually ethnic-specific in the pre-1965 era) youth culture formed as a response to the contradictions between the democratic promise of American national belonging and the practices of racial segregation and exclusion. For...

Urban girls, internet use, and accessing health information

In this chapter, we explain how race, ethnicity, immigration, and religion are associated with school bullying. Most school bullying research has focused on the differential patterns of victimization between White American and African American youth. Research reveals that African American, Latino American, Asian American, and White American youth experience school bullying victimization distinctly differently. We discuss several potential reasons have why racial and ethnic minority youth have increased exposure to school bullying. Immigrant youth are also often subjected to negative treatment such as discrimination, ridicule, and harassment from other students, teachers, and school administrators. Moreover, perceptions of low academic ability, rejection by peers, and fear of safety are all reflective of immigrant youth experiences within the United States school system. Additionally, the events of September 11, 2001, resulted in a dramatic increase in the religious-based bullying victimization, harassment, verbal and physical threats toward youth who are or are perceived to be Muslim in school.

Honoring Asian diversity by collecting Asian subpopulation data in health research.

Despite research highlighting the importance of academic performance in reducing youth's bullying involvement, little attention has focused on its role in moderating the association between peer victimization and youth maladjustment, further, there have been even fewer studies examining potential racial-ethnic differences in the association. This cross-sectional study examined the function of academic performance, as a moderator, in the associations between peer victimization and youth mental health problems (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, and substance use problems) and whether and how this function varied by the youth's racial-ethnic background. Self-report data were collected from 69,244 middle and high school youth (45.96% were middle schoolers; 49.7% were females; 25.72% were Black and African American youth, 9.64% Latinx American youth, 5.95% Asian American youth, and 10.47% Bi- and Multi-racial youth, and 48.22% White American youth). Multi-level models indicated that academic performance was negatively related to internalizing problems and substance use more strongly in victimized youth than in non-victimized youth, suggesting itself as a buffering factor. Moreover, this buffering function of academic performance in victimized youth was more pronounced in some ethnic groups (i.e., Asian American) than in others (i.e., Black and Latinx American), yet, notably, it was a buffer across all ethnic groups. These findings underscore the importance of academic strength in protecting victimized youth of all ethnicities against mental health difficulties, while recognizing that additional foci on improving academic performance and addressing academic-related norms are needed for racial-ethnic minority subgroups.

Au Etats-Unis, les immigres Philippins resistent a differentes formes de discrimination a travers l'affirmation de certaines specificites culturelles. Par exemple, la chastete des femmes avant le mariage est presentee comme une resistance au modele de la societe dominante blanche americaine, mais ceci se fait au prix de l'autonomie des femmes et renforce le pouvoir patriarcal dans ces communautes

Cigarettes, cigars, and marijuana have generally been studied in isolation yet their use does not occur in isolation. Focus on cigarette smoking may overstate the observation that African American youth and young adults are less likely to smoke any combustible product compared with their white counterparts. Assessing cigarette, cigar, and marijuana use trends may help identify the extent of this difference. Data from the 2002-2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (N = 25 541 to N = 28 232) were used to investigate past 30-day cigarette, cigar, and marijuana use trends among African American and white youth (12-17) and young adults (18-25). Logistic regressions assessed trends in combustible tobacco (cigarettes and cigars) and marijuana use, alone and in combination. From 2002-2012, the absolute difference in cigarette smoking prevalence between African American and white youth (9.6%-4.2%) and young adults (19.0%-10.5%) narrowed. Any combustible tobacco/marijuana use was significantly lower among African Americans than whites but, relative to cigarettes, the absolute difference was much smaller among youth (7.2%-2.2%) and young adults (15.8%-5.6%). Among any combustible tobacco/marijuana users, using two or more substances ranged from 31.4% to 40.3% among youth and 29.1% to 39.8% among young adults. Any combustible tobacco/marijuana use trends suggest the smoking prevalence difference between African American and white youth and young adults is real, but less pronounced than when assessing cigarette smoking alone. Policies and programs addressing smoking behaviors may benefit from broadening focus to monitor and address cigar and marijuana use as well. Trends in any use of cigarettes, cigars, and/or marijuana suggest the difference in smoking prevalence between African American and white youth and young adults is real, but less pronounced than when cigarette smoking is assessed alone. In 2012, more than 10% of African American and white youth, more than a third of African American young adults, and nearly half of white young adults reported past 30-day use of cigarette, cigars, and/or marijuana. Public health programs aimed at reducing these behaviors among youth and young adults could be informed by considering detailed, race-specific information regarding tobacco and marijuana use patterns.

There is a substantial theoretical literature arguing that African American families, more than other ethnic groups, push their children towards sports. However, there is a dearth of generalizable empirical research examining whether African American families do in fact encourage their children to participate in sport more than families of other ethnic groups do, or whether families encourage their youth more than non-kin, such as teachers, coaches and peers. Using a nationally representative US sample of 2185 third- through twelfth-graders, this study compares African American youths’ perceptions of encouragement for sports participation relative to other groups. Results indicate that relative to White, Hispanic and Asian youth, African American youth are more likely to receive encouragement for sports participation from all sources (total encouragement scores). While African Americans are also more likely to obtain encouragement from family members and non-kin than other ethnic groups are, African Americans receive equal amounts of encouragement from family and non-kin sources. The results of this study suggest that both African Americans and the larger community emphasize sport more for African American youth than for other youth.

Immigrants to the United States face rejection from other Americans on the basis of their ethnic group membership. Among members of ethnic minority groups who were born in the United States, rejection is tied to higher ethnic identification and less positive attitudes toward the national majority. Relatively little research has examined this relationship among first-generation immigrants (i.e., people who were born in another country but who migrated to the United States) or has considered political engagement on behalf of one's ethnic group as an outcome. In this study we examined the relationship among ethnic-based rejection, ethnic and national identification, and ethnic political engagement among first-generation Latino immigrants in the northeastern United States. We found that first-generation Latino immigrants who perceived ethnic-based rejection were less likely to identify with Americans and less likely to report willingness to engage politically on behalf of their ethnic group in the United States. Perceived rejection was not significantly associated with ethnic identification, which was not related to ethnic political engagement. The study demonstrates that ethnic-based rejection has unique implications for identification and ethnic political engagement among first-generation Latino immigrants.

Adolescents from different ethnic groups show different cigarette smoking prevalence rates, suggesting potential differences in receptivity to and influences from protobacco media. Understanding these differences will be helpful in tailoring smoking prevention and cessation programs for diverse adolescent populations in the United States. Data from cross-sectional surveys of 20,332 randomly sampled California boys and girls, 12-17 years of age, were analyzed. Results indicate that receptivity to protobacco media was lower among African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics than among White youth. There was a consistent dose-response relationship between receptivity to protobacco media and 30-day cigarette smoking across ethnic groups. Having a cigarette brand preference was associated with the highest risk for cigarette smoking, having a favorite tobacco ad showed the lowest risk, while having received or being willing to use tobacco promotional items was associated with a moderate risk. After controlling for 13 covariates, the odds ratio for receptivity to protobacco media and 30-day cigarette smoking was significant for Whites (RR = 1.38, p < 0.01) and Hispanics (RR = 1.46, p < 0.01), but not for African American (RR = 1.05, p > 0.05) and Asian American (RR = 1.17, p > 0.05) youth. African American, Asian American, and Hispanic adolescents have a lower level of receptivity to protobacco media than do Whites. The association between media receptivity and 30-day cigarette smoking exists for all four ethnic groups without controlling for other smoking predictor variables, but only for Hispanics and Whites when other variables are controlled. Protecting adolescents from protobacco advertising influences is an important element in tobacco control among ethnic minority youth.