Second-generation Asian Americans Research Articles

“Forgetting” and “Re membering”: The Language of Stuttering and the Notion of “Home” in Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Experimental Writings

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee (1982) explores what it really means to “forget” and “re member” historical memories and how this process of unlearning relocates the first- and second-generation Asian American speakers in the realm of language. Cha’s act of forgetting and re membering is not so much a psychological process as it is a physical and affective process of becoming. Through the intimacy between Cha’s half-autobiographical speaker’s sense of nation, body, and innovative language, Dictee examines how her Korean mother tongue, which once shaped the former generation’s presumed homogeneous historical/national memories, comes to enunciate alternative values and meanings in her more specific and concrete cultural realities. I first consider how the nation’s postcolonial situation after the Korean War engendered such a rigid and exclusionary form of national identity. The strict nationalist policies enacted in the 1960s and onward became another repressive ideology of dominance in which the voices of Cha’s in-between subjects could not be heard. In the second half of the article, I analyze how Dictee actively incorporates ideas of nationality, history, and identity into the Korean American speaker’s physical and innovative linguistic experimentations. Although the meanings that emerge from Cha’s affect-driven language appear to be personal and not shared or attributed to any kind of communal behavior, Dictee not only undermines essentialized cultural and national identities but cultivates more specific Korean or Korean American voices, histories, and perspectives. In particular, this essay focuses on Cha’s politics of language in Dictee. Following the theoretical leads of Juliana Spahr, Deborah M. Mix, Lisa Lowe, and Gilles Deleuze, I explore how Dictee’s experimental language becomes a form of survival for her in-between subjects and allows them to have more active voices and find new meanings of home, history, and family in the daily acts of forgetting and re membering.

The social roots of Asian American partisan attitudes

ABSTRACTAn important question in the study of Asian American political behavior is why members of this group, who have some Republican predispositions, are strong Democratic supporters. How do Asian Americans develop preferences for the Democratic Party? This paper considers this question through a theory-building case study of political socialization in Houston, Texas, a mixed-partisan area where many Asian Americans support Democrats. Using qualitative interviews and supplemental survey data, I examine voting behavior and partisan identification, developing a socially based explanation for high levels of Democratic support. I argue that Asian Americans develop Democratic preferences through interactions within peer groups. These peer groups vary in composition by generational status, leading to different reasons for Democratic support across generations. I find that first-generation Asian Americans primarily interact with fellow Asian immigrants. Relative to their children’s generation, they develop positive attitudes about conservative ideology but vote for Democrats because they perceive contemporary Republicans as ideologically extreme. In contrast, transitional-generation and second-generation Asian Americans have racially diverse peer groups. Rarely discussing politics at home, they develop pro-Democratic attitudes through interactions with liberal friends in educational settings.

Reactive and Proactive Ethnic-Racial Socialization Practices of Second-Generation Asian American Parents.

Studies of Asian American parenting have primarily focused on first-generation immigrant parents. Few studies have examined the experiences of second-generation Asian American adults who now have children of their own. The purpose of this qualitative study, then, is to better understand the values, practices, and concerns of second-generation Asian American parents regarding ethnic and racial socialization. The sample included 34 Asian American parents from seven different cities across the United States. Using interviews and a focus group, the results show that (a) place, specific contexts, and transitions were important to second-generation parents' motivation behind ethnic and racial socialization, (b) parents are reactive and proactive, especially with regard to promoting an awareness of discrimination, in the racial socialization of their children, (c) parents engage in predominantly proactive ethnic socialization when passing on heritage culture, which they believe is important, but also difficult to do, (d) in contrast to ethnic socialization, passing on American culture and passing on important values (that they did not see as solely "American" or "Asian") came easily, and (e) parents consider the intersection of race and culture with religion and disability when socializing their children. Our findings highlight unique aspects of how second-generation Asian American parents engage in ethnic and racial socialization in an increasingly socially diverse world.

The Relationship between Intimate Partner Violence and Suicidal Ideation among Young Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American Women

ABSTRACTHigh depression and suicide rates are critical problems that have a significant impact on the lives of young Asian American women. Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been identified as a predictor of suicidality in general female samples, but no research study has examined the relationship between IPV and suicidality in a sample of 1.5 and second-generation Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American women. We used data collected from 173 women (aged 18-35 years) who were screened for eligibility to participate in the development and efficacy study of Asian American Women’s Action for Resilience and Empowerment (AWARE). We measured the prevalence of (a) IPV, (b) lifetime suicidal ideation/intent, and (c) childhood abuse and tested the association between IPV and lifetime suicidal ideation/intent among study participants who completed the clinical screening assessments. The results indicated that seven out of 10 women in our sample experienced lifetime suicidal ideation/intent, psychological aggression was the most commonly reported form of IPV during the last six months, followed by sexual coercion, and history of physical and/or sexual partner violence had the most robust association with lifetime suicidal ideation/intent after controlling for demographic factors and childhood abuse. Our study suggests that suicide prevention and intervention programs for young 1.5 and second-generation Asian American women should not only address experiences of childhood abuse, but also incorporate culturally adapted behavioral health approaches to identify and target physical and sexual partner violence. Furthermore, any such programs need to integrate a systemic approach in addressing IPV within the context of various marginalized experiences of Asian American women.

Self-Construal, Family Context, and the Cortisol Awakening Response in First- and Second-Generation Asian American College Students

The current study employed latent difference score modeling to test whether acculturation processes at the level of the individual (i.e., self-construal) and family (i.e., family cultural conflict and family cohesion) explain variability of the cortisol awakening response (CAR) in 181 (58% female) first-generation (1G) and 135 (59.3% female) second-generation (2G) Asian American emerging adult college students (ages 18–23). Acculturation processes across individual and family levels related meaningfully to individual differences in stress physiology. For 1G participants, attenuated CAR was associated with higher individualistic self-construal, family cultural conflict, and family cohesion, which may indicate desensitization of the stress response system due to the chronic burden of acculturation pressures. These processes may differ by generational status, as heightened CAR was associated with higher collectivistic self-construal in 1G students, but higher individualistic self-construal in both 2G males and a comparison sample of European American males.

‘It was about claiming space’: exposure to Asian American studies, ethnic organization participation, and the negotiation of self among southeast Asian Americans

Despite the growing number of Asian American Studies (AAS) programs and Asian ethnic organizations across colleges and universities since the 1970s, surprisingly little empirical research examines the role of these aspects of higher education on Asian American identity. How do the roles of AAS curriculum and Asian American student organizations (Asian American activities) influence southeast Asian American college students’ ethnic and panethnic identity formation? Drawing on 50 in-depth interviews of 1.5 and second-generation college-educated Asian Americans, this study finds that the exposure to Asian American activities shapes respondents’ racial and ethnic identity construction. Specifically, the exposure to Asian American activities: (1) evokes an informed assertion of a contextual panethnic identity; (2) serves to trigger an assertion of a hyphenated American identity; and lastly, (3) plays a direct, but differing, instrumental role on identity construction among different Asian American sub-ethnic groups.

Academic social support and student expectations: The case of second-generation asian americans.

Strong academic orientations and high expectations from key actors—including parents, friends, and teachers—are linked with high adolescent expectations, which are in turn associated with better academic outcomes. Expectancy-Value Theory argues that broader social influences play a prominent role, a

The Impact of Perceived Need and Relational Factors on Mental Health Service Use Among Generations of Asian Americans.

The present study examined generational differences in the patterns and predictors of formal and informal mental health service utilization among a nationally representative sample of 1850 Asian Americans from the National Latino and Asian American Study. We focused on the effects of perceived need and relational factors on service utilization among 1st-, 1.5-, and 2nd-generation Asian Americans. Results of hierarchical logistic regression showed significant intergenerational differences. Specifically, 1.5-generation Asian Americans exhibited distinctive pattern of service use, with perceived need being associated with a higher likelihood of using formal mental health services, but only for those with high level of social support. First- and second-generation Asian Americans, on the other hand, perceived need was independently associated with formal service use, and a significant predictor of informal service use for first generation. Greater family conflict was also associated with greater use of formal and informal services for both first- and second generations. However, family cohesion was associated with only informal service use among first -generation Asian Americans. Implications for mental health service policy were discussed.

Ethnic culture and social mobility among second-generation Asian Americans

ABSTRACTThis review engages with Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s The Asian American Achievement Paradox to consider how ethnic culture matters for social mobility among the immigrant second generation. It describes the strengths and contributions of the book, connects it to broader debates on culture, poverty, and mobility, and draws on my own research on the second generation in New York City. It highlights three additional cultural mechanisms that underlie the Chinese (or Asian) second-generation advantage: social class heterogeneity in the co-ethnic community, intergenerational support in the immigrant family, and the belief in achievements as redemption for parental sacrifice. While pointing out the similarities and differences between Los Angeles and New York, it also suggests possible applications of these cultural mechanisms in explaining second-generation achievements.

Complementarianism as Doctrine and Governance: Narratives on Women's Leadership among Second-Generation Asian Americans

The role of women in evangelical churches remains contested as different groups attempt to shape the gender subculture. Included is a growing population of second-generation immigrants who have the potential to influence future debates. I explore how 23 second-generation Asian American congregants in a multi-lingual Taiwanese evangelical church that experienced a schism over women in pastoral leadership discuss the complementarian belief as it relates to doctrine and governance. Further, I examine narratives used to describe the schism and find that doctrinal narratives predominated over narratives of inter-generational conflict. Last, I find that the complementarian belief also informed understandings and participation in lay leadership. Findings suggest patterns for how doctrine and governance may interact and have implications for the relationship among ethnicity, gender, and religion. I propose further research interrogating the relationship between doctrine and governance and the way religious, gender, ethnic, and immigrant identities may or may not interact.

Family Obligation Fulfillment Among Southeast Asian American Young Adults

Recent studies have shown that particular groups of second-generation Asian Americans exhibit high rates of fulfilling their family obligations. Drawing on 50 in-depth interviews with second-generation Vietnamese and Chinese Vietnamese young adults in Southern California, this article highlights a previously overlooked factor in family obligation literature: the influence that parental expectations have on children of immigrants’ family obligation sentiments and behaviors. There are four behavioral types that emerged from the data: expected contributors, unexpected contributors, expected noncontributors, and unexpected noncontributors. An analysis of the different types reveals that parental expectations—born from structural circumstances of economic need and ethnic cultural practices—influence respondents’ attitudes and behaviors toward fulfilling these financial family obligations. I conclude with implications for future research on family obligation behaviors among the children of immigrants.

Crossing Borders, Crossing Boundaries

How do gender attitudes affect second-generation Asian Americans’ decisions to enter into interethnic heterosexual partnerings? A grounded theory approach was applied to 88 in-depth interviews, which represent a subsample of the respondents from Wave III of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study. I find that second-generation Asian women seek relationships across ethnic and racial lines as a way to resist patriarchal and gendered attitudes that they perceive are held by men from their own co-ethnic group and often stereotype Asian American men in the process. Cohabitation was also an important aspect of interethnic partnering: Whereas men cohabitated across ethnic and racial lines but typically married co-ethnics (in a process I term imagining the future), women were more likely to resist co-ethnic relationships and crossed ethnic and racial boundaries regardless of the type of relationship.

The importance of family factors and generation status: Mental health service use among Latino and Asian Americans.

The present study utilized data from the National Latino and Asian American Study to examine ethnic and generational differences in family cultural conflict and family cohesion and how the effects of such family conflict and cohesion on lifetime service use vary by generation status for Latino Americans (n = 2,554) and Asian Americans (n = 2,095). Findings revealed that first-generation Asian Americans reported greater family cultural conflict than their Latino counterparts, but third-generation Latino Americans had higher family conflict than their Asian American counterparts. First-generation Latino and Asian Americans had the highest levels of family cohesion. Results from logistic regression analyses indicated that Latino Americans who reported higher family cultural conflict and lower family cohesion were more likely to use mental health services. For Asian Americans, family cultural conflict, but not family cohesion, was associated with service use. Relative to third-generation Asian Americans, second-generation Asian Americans with higher family cultural conflict were more likely to use mental health services. Given that cohesive familial bonds appear to discourage service use on the part of Latino Americans irrespective of generation status, further research is needed to ascertain the extent to which this tendency stems from greater reliance on family support as opposed to the stigma associated with mental health treatment. Mental health providers and treatment programs need to address the role of family cultural conflict in the lives of Asian Americans, particularly second generation, and Latino Americans across generations, because conflictual family ties may motivate help-seeking behaviors and reveal substantial underlying distress.

Ethnic differences in physical pain sensitivity: Role of acculturation

Although research suggests that Asian Americans are more reactive to physical pain than European Americans, some evidence suggests that the observed differences in ethnicity may actually reflect Asian Americans’ differing levels of acculturation. Two studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. In Study 1, first- and second-generation Asian Americans and European Americans took part in a cold pressor task. Evidence of heightened pain responses was found only among first-generation Asian Americans. Study 2 further controlled for ethnicity and replicated this pattern in finding heightened pain reactions among mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong relative to Hong Kong Chinese students. These findings suggest a role for acculturation in accounting for ethnic differences in physical pain sensitivity.

Family assistance attitudes and family cultural conflict: A comparative study of second-generation Asian American and native-born European American emerging adults.

Research shows that ethnic minority and immigrant youth hold stronger attitudes about helping their families compared with native-born European American peers. Though often portrayed as burdensome, there has been limited empirical research on how family assistance attitudes affect the mental health among diverse emerging adults. We examined the influence of various attitudes toward family assistance on family cultural conflict, a mental health risk factor. Results from our survey showed that secondgeneration Asian Americans (N 328) rated family assistance as more important than nonimmigrant European American (N 343) college students, and that this was partly explained by differences in interdependent self-construal. As predicted, higher levels of self-expectations of daily family assistance were associated with lower self-reported family cultural conflict among second-generation Asian Americans but not among native-born European Americans. Findings suggest that for second-generation Asian Americans who are emerging adults, an incongruency between self- and family expectations for assistance may be more predictive of mental health risk than for nonimmigrant European Americans. Potential implications for mental health prevention among ethnic minority, immigrant-emerging adults are discussed.

Factors Affecting Elder Caregiving in Multigenerational Asian American Families

As the Asian American immigrant population grows older, daily care, mental health, and access to services may present particular difficulties for this population and their children. Specifically, due to vast differences between Eastern and Western cultures, children (second-generation Asian Americans) may not share the same philosophy of care as their elders. Consequently, this cultural dissonance between generations can result in adverse mental health outcomes for both elders and their family members who are involved in caregiving activities. The situation is exacerbated given the lack of culturally sensitive professionals and resources to serve this population in local communities. In this article, an examination of these intergenerational dynamics will be followed by practice suggestions for appropriate interventions at the community level.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow? Post-Racial & Pan-Racial Politics in the Age of Obama

After Barack Obama's historic election, media reports overwhelmingly credited white independents with setting aside decades of racially polarized voting to send the nation's first black president to the White House. Lee looks more closely to reveal that Obama owes a greater debt to non-white voters (partisan and nonpartisan) than to white independents. As more people of color – including immigrant and second-generation Latinos and Asian Americans – join the ranks of nonpartisan voters, the concept of pan-racialism can shed light on how individuals of a shared demographic category come to engage, politically, as a group. The age of Obama calls not for the celebration of a post-racial politics, but rather for a collective struggle to build a pan-racial politics: that is, a politics of mutual recognition, inclusion, and moral partiality between all racial and ethnic groups.

Ching Chongs and Tiger Moms: The “Asian Invasion” in U.S. Higher Education

Personal memoirs by people who are not household names rarely set off fiery debate and conversations the way that Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother ignited them in January 2011.1 Yet Tiger Mom's chronicle of her experiences as a second-generation Asian American woman raising mixed-race, third-generation daughters has clearly struck a national nerve. The book has been discussed in major print and broadcast media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, NPR, and the New York Times, just to name a few; Chua has even made an appearance on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. The hype generated around the book can be explained by two key concepts. First, Battle Hymn converges with the master narrative framing Asians in America as invading foreigners who maintain their peculiar un-American cultures in the U.S. Second, it concomitantly connects to cultural fears of a non-white population challenging white supremacy vis-a-vis educational attainment, particularly in elite college admiss...

Father, Mother and Me: Parental Value Orientations and Child Self-identity in Asian American Immigrants

Relations between Asian American parental value orientations and children’s self-identity in the domains of achievement and relationship were examined. Sixty-nine Asian American youths (15 males) of East Asian origin (51 Chinese, 18 Koreans) interviewed their parents (30 fathers) for their life stories as first-generation Asian Americans. They also told their life stories as second-generation Asian Americans. Fathers and mothers upheld Confucian values, which were associated with children’s autonomous sense of self in achievement domain and relational sense of self in relationship domain. Furthermore, fathers and mothers had differential influences on children’s self-identity, and sons and daughters responded differently to parental value socializations. Findings are discussed with respect to parent–child relationships and continuity of ethnic values in contemporary Asian American families.

Second-Generation Asian American Pan-Ethnic Identity: Pluralized Meanings of a Racial Label

Recent research on the collective identity label described as Asian American, which was originally formulated as a political movement symbol, shows only some support among the various Asian ethnic groups that reside in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Based on a sample of second-generation Asian American student leaders in four public universities, this study provides empirical evidence that the definition of the term Asian American has multiplied as a result of major demographic and cultural factors that have affected the Asian population. These definitions reflect ethnic and religious diversification as well as the model minority stereotype and a cohort identity for the second-generation experience. At the same time, this diversification of definitions is also influenced by two concurrent and interlacing cultural discourses, one that emphasizes the racialized otherness of being “Asian American” and another that emphasizes the cultural diversity within this racial label. Implications for future research and theoretical development follow.