Immigration, refugees, and acculturation
- Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success, according to a comprehensive new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center
- A century ago Asian Americans were at the bottom of the chain and were low skilled low waged workers and a main target of discrimination. Now they are highly educated and are more likely to marry with people of different races.
- Southeast Asian refugees are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with trauma experienced before and after immigration to the U.S. One study found that 70% of Southeast Asian refugees receiving mental health care were diagnosed with PTSD.
- After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, a large number of Southeast Asian refugees arrived. Since 1978, a second wave has come to the United States to escape persecution, including Vietnamese, Chinese-Vietnamese, Cambodians, Lao, Hmong, and Mien.
Five main things about Asian American Acculturation
- Food is the number one factor that ties more acculturated Asian Americans back to their Asian roots
- The majority of respondents self-identified as ‘more Asian than American’ or ‘half Asian and half American’
- Retro-acculturation (the process of becoming reacquainted with one’s cultural background) mostly occurs during high school and college, and is prominent among Asian Americans of various locations and backgrounds
- Advertisements that poke fun at or break through Asian/Asian American stereotypes and portray Asian Americans in diverse situations are well-received by acculturated Asian Americans
- For younger respondents, watching in-language programming is typically a multi-generational family activity and something they would be less likely to do on their own
- When looking at acculturation of Asian Americans it is very important to look at the mental health of each culture. When acculturation is occurring their mental health greatly affects how each person will deal with the changes that are occurring.