Chinese American Emerging Adults’ Telling of Their Life Stories: A Mixed-Methods Study Of The Acculturation Process As Immigrant Children

Abstract

In the 1960s, the term “model minority” was coined by sociologist William Petersen to describe Asian Americans as an incredibly successful ethnic group in the United States because of their strong work ethic, family values, and respect for authority. While these stereotypes seemed flattering and harmless, they have always had implicit anti-Black bigotry, indirectly questioning why the black community could not flourish without government assistance. Over half a century, the national press has fervidly pumped out similar stories of lauding Asian Americans’ accomplishments. Unfortunately, the model minority narrative has alienated Asian Americans from other racial minorities and the rest of the immigrant population. Portraying Chinese Americans as prosperous and achieving has also prevented the public from recognizing the oppression and psychosocial challenges they experience during the acculturation process. Chinese American youth’s struggles with psychosocial vulnerabilities, racial discrimination, and parental-child relational difficulties due to intergenerational acculturation gaps are often understated in the media and relatively less researched compared to other ethnic minorities. Therefore, this study took a strength-based approach to investigate the acculturation experience of 25 Chinese American emerging adults who grew up with immigrant parents by (1) identifying demographic variables affecting second-generation Chinese Americans’ acculturation strategies and ethnic identity, (2) understanding their perceived challenges in the acculturation process, (3) indicating the resilience factors through analyzing their narratives of resolutions and reinterpretations of acculturation experience, and (4) investigating how their acculturation experiences might vary among individuals who use different acculturation strategies. Findings have implications for understanding the challenges and potent resilience factors for fostering positive adjustment in the acculturation process for parents, school personnel, and clinicians.