Chinese American College Students Research Articles

Parental socialization of mental health in Chinese American families: What parents say and do, and how youth make meaning.

Parental mental health socialization is a process by which parents shape how youth develop and maintain beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding mental health and help-seeking behaviors. Although culture shapes parental mental health socialization, few studies have examined specific parental socialization practices regarding mental health and help-seeking, especially as a culturally anchored process. Using a qualitative approach, this study explores youth-reported parental socialization of mental health within Chinese American families by examining focus group data from 69 Chinese American high school and college students. Findings revealed that youth received parental messages that conveyed culturally anchored conceptualizations of mental health that included stigmatized views of mental illness and perceptions of mental distress as not a legitimate problem. Parents responded to youth distress in culturally consonant ways: by encouraging culturally specific coping methods, dismissing or minimizing distress, or responding with silence. Youth engaged in the active interpretation of parental messages through cultural brokering, bridging the gap between their parents' messages and mainstream notions of mental health and help-seeking. Overall, our findings point to the significant role of culture in parental mental health socialization in Chinese American families and the need to integrate culturally specific understandings of mental health into future interventions for Asian American youth.

Call for Action to Address MH Disparities Impacting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Call for Action to Address MH Disparities Impacting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

An outbreak of xenophobia: Perceived discrimination and anxiety in Chinese American college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic, reports of xenophobic and racist incidents directed at Chinese Americans have escalated. The present study adds further understanding to potential psychosocial effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic by comparing self‐reported questionnaire data from two groups of Chinese students attending a public university in western United States: the group who participated in the study before the outbreak of COVID‐19 (Pre‐COVID, N = 134), and the group who participated at the beginning (during‐COVID, N = 64). The aim of the study was to: (a) compare mean differences in perceived discrimination and anxiety between the two groups, (b) test whether COVID‐19 moderated the link between perceived discrimination and anxiety, and (c) examine whether media exposure portraying Chinese individuals negatively mediated relations between COVID‐19 and discrimination. Results showed that the During‐COVID group reported higher perceived discrimination and anxiety than the Pre‐COVID group. The link between perceived discrimination and anxiety was stronger for the During‐COVID group. Mediation analyses suggested that negative Chinese media exposure partly accounted for the group difference in perceived discrimination. Results suggest that future studies on the psychosocial implications of the COVID‐19 pandemic should consider the role of discrimination in understanding the mental health of Chinese American college students.

Intergenerational family conflict and ethnic identity among Chinese American college students.

There has been a call for increased attention to experiences of sociocultural contexts and their role in mental health and help-seeking among specific subgroups of Asian Americans (Leong, Park, & Kalibatseva, 2013). In particular, as suggested by the integrative contextual framework of minority youth development (García Coll & Marks, 2012), racial minority adolescents and emerging adults develop identity and psychological well-being through their experiences within multiple contexts. Guided by this perspective, the present study examined the role of specific developmental and contextual factors (e.g., acculturation-based intergenerational family conflict and ethnic identity) on depressive and anxiety symptoms and help-seeking attitudes among Chinese American college students. One-hundred and 73 Chinese American college students (132 women and 36 men) from various geographic regions in the U.S. completed a series of questionnaires administered online, assessing acculturation-based intergenerational family conflict, ethnic identity, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and help-seeking attitudes. The findings indicated that the seriousness of acculturation-based intergenerational family conflict and the commitment dimension of ethnic identity were associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Additionally, the exploration dimension of ethnic identity was associated with less favorable attitudes toward seeking help from mental health professionals. There was no association between acculturation-based intergenerational family conflict and help-seeking attitudes. The findings underscore the importance of developing culturally informed interventions that attend to the intensity of family conflict and one's sense of connection to ethnic community in the college context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Impact of Self-Efficacy Analysis-Based Psychological Theory and Literary Ethics on Chinese American Entrepreneurship Education.

In this study, entrepreneurship education was explored from the perspective of the combination of psychology and literary ethics, with the purpose of studying the entrepreneurial behavior of Chinese American college students and promoting the development of entrepreneurship education. Based on the analysis of self-efficacy, the correlations among entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship education, and entrepreneurial efficacy of the research samples were analyzed. First, through the questionnaire design, the research samples and the measurement scales of each research variable were determined, and the survey results and the reliability of the scale were analyzed and tested. Second, based on the variance analysis and regression analysis methods, a descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the correlations among entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intentions, and entrepreneurial efficacy among Chinese American college students. Finally, the idea of literary ethics was integrated into entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intentions, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and the correlation structure model was constructed. The intermediary role of entrepreneurial efficacy in entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention was tested. In addition, the individual gender and family entrepreneurial behaviors were considered. The results show that the valid response rate of the questionnaire, is satisfactory at, 96.49%; the reliability and validity of the scales of the research variables are satisfactory; the Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient values are all above 0.80; and the fitting results of the confirmatory factors are satisfactory. The regression analysis results show significant correlations among entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intentions, and entrepreneurial efficacy among Chinese American college students. Entrepreneurial efficacy has a partially intermediary role in the two dimensions of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention. Individual gender and family entrepreneurial behaviors have moderating effects, on the entrepreneurial efficacy levels of college entrepreneurs. From the perspectives of psychology and literary ethics, the above results have positive effects on the development of entrepreneurship education.

Exploring thought processing similarity using attitudinal constructs: a Chinese versus U.S. contrast

This study uses three advertising attitudinal constructs (i.e., practice, institution, and global) that have been developed in the West to determine if Chinese thought processes can replicate Western results. It proceeds through a comparison of Chinese future elites and American college students. The results of a causal modeling application on these constructs provide evidence of the usage of both Western and Eastern thought processes among Chinese respondents. However, the latter evidence a duality that suggests that the practice of advertising is ignored in forming overall attitudes toward advertising. Basically, the Chinese appear to be able to ignore dissonance-producing properties.

Cultural Factors, Depressive and Somatic Symptoms Among Chinese American and European American College Students

This study seeks to fill a gap in the existing empirical literature about the relationship between somatic and depressive symptoms and their associations with cultural factors among Chinese American and European American college students. In particular, the study examined how three culturally relevant psychological constructs, self-construal, loss of face, and emotion regulation, associate with depressive and somatic symptoms among Chinese American and European American college students and if they can explain possible group differences in depressive symptoms. The sample consisted of 204 Chinese American and 315 European American college students who completed an online survey. Based on multiple regression analyses, European American students reported higher levels of somatic symptoms on the Patient Health Questionnaire–15 (PHQ-15) than Chinese Americans. There was no initial group difference in depressive symptoms based on Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression Scale (CES-D) scores. Correlations between depressive and somatic symptoms, independent and interdependent self-construal, and cognitive reappraisal and independent self-construal were stronger for European Americans than Chinese Americans. Somatic symptoms, loss of face, and expressive suppression were positively associated with depressive symptoms, whereas independent self-construal and cognitive reappraisal were negatively associated with depressive symptoms for both groups. When controlling for gender and somatic symptoms, being Chinese American and male was significantly and positively associated with depressive symptoms measured with the CES-D. These ethnic and gender differences in depressive symptoms were explained by independent self-construal, loss of face, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression. Clinical implications include the incorporation of specific culturally relevant constructs and avoidance of race-, ethnicity-, and gender-based stereotypes to reduce health disparities in depression treatment.

The Complexity of Study Abroad: Stories from Ethnic Minority American Students in China

ABSTRACTThis study focuses on the experiences of two African American and three Chinese American college students studying in China during the 2013–2014 academic year. Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitatively, all five students made progress in their Chinese proficiency, measured by test scores, lexical diversity, and total amount of language produced in each conversation. Qualitatively, the following themes emerged: (a) interactions with Chinese people outside the classroom, (b) how the concept of “self” was viewed by the Chinese people, (c) personality factors, and (d) the language progress. The student who did not enjoy the experience as much as the other students was ethnic Chinese with the highest level of Chinese proficiency. The explanation might be a mismatch between her ideal subject position of a successful language learner and the perceived subject position of a local Chinese person. This study provides additional evidence to show that experience abroad is complex and highly individualized. Even students from the same ethnic groups might have different experiences. Factors such as personality, prior cross-cultural experiences, language proficiency, expectations, and self-identification interact with each other in complex ways to influence the students’ experience abroad. Encouraging students to cultivate a more outgoing self in their second language (L2) might help them better take advantage of the study abroad experience.

Measure invariance of Snyder's Dispositional Hope Scale in American and Chinese college students

The original Snyder's Dispositional Hope Scale (DHS) was applied to 224 American college students and the Chinese version to 255 Chinese college students. Equivalence of the two DHS was tested, including configural invariance, metric invariance, and scalar invariance. The results demonstrated that the Snyder's DHS has measurement equivalence between Chinese and American college students; that is, the same psychological structure was measured in Chinese and American college samples. Therefore, cross‐cultural measurements of hope are valid. In addition, Chinese college students and American college students did not differ significantly on the Agency factor of the DHS whereas American students scored significantly higher than did Chinese college students on the Pathways factor. This dissimilarity may be explained by differences in the cultural backgrounds and education systems of the two countries.

Examining cultural and gender similarities and differences in college students’ value of communication skills in romantic relationships

This study assessed and compared the communication skills that native Chinese and native American college students value in the context of romantic relationships. A total of 319 Chinese and 262 American college students responded to questionnaires that assessed the values they placed on six different communication skills. The results showed that the American students valued four of six communication skills more than the Chinese students (i.e. conversational, informative, listening, and narrative skills). The men and women in both cultural groups valued affective communication skills more than instrumental communication skills. In both cultural groups, women placed greater value on affective communication skills than men. The findings also showed a significant mediating effect of gender orientation (masculinity and femininity) on the value placed on communication skills and a significant effect of self-construal, which mediated between nationality and the value assigned to communication skills.

Differential Links Between Expressive Suppression and Well-Being Among Chinese and Mexican American College Students.

Previous research on culture and emotion regulation has focused primarily on comparing participants from individualistic and collectivistic backgrounds (e.g., European Americans vs. Asians/Asian Americans). However, ethnic groups that are equally individualistic or collectivistic can still vary notably in cultural norms and practices regarding emotion regulation. The present study examined the association between expressive suppression and well-being in two collectivistic ethnic groups (i.e., Chinese Americans and Mexican Americans). Results indicated that suppression of positive emotions was related to lower hedonic and eudaimonic well-being among Mexican Americans but not among Chinese Americans. Moreover, post hoc analysis revealed that Mexican Americans with a stronger collective identity reported lower eudaimonic well-being when suppressing positive emotions than Mexican Americans with a weaker collective identity. Suppression of negative emotions, by contrast, was unrelated to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being for both ethnic groups. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of taking into account the role that culture and the characteristics of emotion (e.g., valence) may play in the link between emotion regulation and well-being.

The impact of culture and gender on sexual motives: Differences between Chinese and North Americans

Recently, social scientists have begun to investigate the myriad of reasons why young men and women engage in sexual activities. As yet, however, they have not begun to investigate the impact of culture on people's sexual motivations. In this paper, we will address three questions: Does culture have an impact on sexual motives? Does gender have an impact? Do culture and gender interact in shaping sexual motives? In this study, we asked Chinese and North American college students to indicate the extent to which communal and individualistic sexual motives had influenced their decision to participate in sexual activities. As predicted, both culture and gender had an impact on young people's endorsement of various sexual motives. In a few cases the findings were not entirely as we had predicted, however.

Adult attachment, cultural orientation, and psychosocial functioning of Chinese American college students.

This study examined the relationships among adult attachment, cultural orientation, and three areas of psychosocial functioning (i.e., emotional expressiveness, social difficulty, and depressive symptoms) with a sample of 112 Chinese American college students. Findings indicated that both attachment avoidance and anxiety were significantly associated with indictors of psychosocial functions in the directions predicted by the theory which provides support to the cross-cultural applicability of adult attachment perspectives on Chinese American populations. In addition, endorsement of independent cultural orientation was found to be negatively associated with both social difficulty and depressive symptoms, and independent cultural orientation moderated the relation between attachment anxiety and social difficulty. Findings and implications are discussed based on attachment perspectives and the acculturation processes and challenges experienced by Chinese American individuals.

Ethnic Identity Among Chinese-American Youth: The Role of Family Obligation and Community Factors on Ethnic Engagement, Clarity, and Pride

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, using the 14-item Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, we established the appropriate factor structure of ethnic identity for a sample of Chinese-American youth. Second, we examined how family obligation and community factors (i.e., ethnic density, cultural resources, and perceived discrimination) related to the various factors of ethnic identity. The sample included 127 Chinese-American college students, recruited from an ethnically diverse university in Northern California. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a three-factor solution of ethnic engagement, clarity, and pride best described our sample. Further, we found that family obligation related positively to ethnic engagement and pride, that ethnic density related positively to ethnic pride, and that cultural resources related positively to ethnic engagement and clarity. Finally, we found that perceived discrimination related positively to ethnic engagement but negatively to ethnic pride. Thus, focusing on components of ethnic identity separately is valuable as it reveals how factors (such as discrimination) can, for instance, both promote and hinder a strong ethnic identity.

Asian-American College Students' Parental Attachment and Their Relationship with God

This study examined to what extent college students' attachment to their parents affected their relationship with God by investigating 206 Korean-American and 95 Chinese-American college students in the Dallas and Austin areas (n=301). Students completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and the Spiritual Assessment Inventory (SAI). Results showed that students with low attachment to their parents displayed more instability and disappointment in their relationships with God than students with high attachment. Highly attached students, however, showed a high level of awareness of God's presence in their lives and a positive self-image in religious lives.

Solving the Dilemma: Family Communication About Organ Donation Among Chinese, Japanese, and Caucasian American College Students1

This study surveyed 800 students in the United States, Hong Kong, and Japan to determine associations between the components of the theory of reasoned action and early communication about organ‐donation decisions within the family. Results showed that among the 3 ethnic groups, Japanese students reported the least favorable attitudes and subjective norms about organ donation and were also the least likely to discuss this topic with their families. Moreover, the moderating effect of ethnicity indicated that attitudes were a significant factor of family discussion among American and Japanese students but not among Chinese students. Subjective norms were more predictive of family discussion among Chinese students than among American and Japanese students.

Patterns of Alcohol Use and Attitudes Toward Drinking Among Chinese and Korean American College Students

ABSTRACT This study examined the alcohol consumption patterns and cultural attitudes toward drinking among Chinese and Korean American college students in California. Data were collected from a total of 294 participants comprising 127 Chinese and 167 Korean college students. Some of the major findings revealed that distinct ethnic and gender differences existed in the use of alcohol and attitudes toward drinking. Korean students in the study generally drank more frequently and consumed greater amounts of alcohol than their Chinese counterparts. Female participants were likely to drink less frequently and in smaller quantities than their male counterparts regardless of ethnicity. Korean students were more likely to view drinking as a socially acceptable practice and a means of facilitating social interactions than their Chinese counterparts. Culturally appropriate campus-wide strategies were presented for prevention and intervention of alcohol abuse on college campuses.

Attachment, sense of coherence, and mental health among Chinese American college students: Variation by migration status

Informed by Antonovksy's salutogenic model, the current study examined sense of coherence as a mediator in the relationship of parent and peer attachment and college challenges with depressive symptom level in three groups of Chinese American college students. Due to differential acculturation, we hypothesized that peer relationship would be more salient for the most acculturated American-born Chinese, parent relationship would be more salient for the least acculturated, late arriving immigrants, and both parent and peer attachment would contribute to the well-being of early arriving immigrants who have been significantly exposed to both cultures. A sample of 112 American-born Chinese, 121 early immigrants, and 110 late immigrants completed paper–pencil surveys. Sense of coherence mediated the effect of attachment and college challenges on depressive symptoms in all three groups. Furthermore, our hypotheses regarding American-born Chinese and early immigrants were supported. For late immigrants, both parent and peer attachment predicted sense of coherence, but only parent attachment contributed to depressive symptom level. Implications for mental health interventions are discussed.

Predictors of depressive symptoms in Chinese American college students: Parent and peer attachment, college challenges and sense of coherence.

Based on Antonovsky's salutogenic model, the authors hypothesized that sense of coherence would mediate the effects of parent and peer attachment and college challenges on depressive symptoms as well as moderate the relationship between college challenges and depressive symptoms in Chinese Americans. To test our hypotheses, 353 Chinese American college students completed paper-pencil measures. Supporting our hypotheses, sense of coherence fully mediated the effects of parent and peer attachment on depressive symptom level and served as a partial mediator and moderator of the effect of college challenges on depressive symptoms. Implications of the study findings for promoting the mental health of Chinese American students are discussed.

Social and Cultural Contexts in Conversion to Christianity Among Chinese American College Students

Over the past decade, Chinese American college students have been showing an interest in and converting to the Christian religion in increasing numbers. This study makes use of data that were gathered from an extensive ethnographic study of a Chinese Christian student group to develop a model that helps to explain the social and cultural forces at work that may be predisposing Chinese American young people to be open and receptive to the notion of being involved in a Chinese Christian student group and possibly to the idea of converting to Christianity itself.