Cultural Considerations for Working with South Asian Youth

Risk and Protective Effects of Family Socioeconomic Status and Parental Emotional Support in Asian Secondary School Students' Bullying Victimization

Previous research has examined students' bullying experiences, its predictors, and the harm caused. However, the bidirectional relationship between family factors and membership in victim groups remains unclear. This study first classified students into different victim groups based on the forms and levels of bullying they experienced. On this basis, two goals were set. The first aim was to examine whether family socioeconomic status and parental emotional support help students become members of the non-victim group. The second aim was to explore intergroup differences in family socioeconomic status and parental emotional support. Data were drawn from the 2022 Vietnam survey in the Program for International Student Assessment to enhance our understanding of the role families play in anti-bullying efforts in the post-pandemic era. A total of 6,068 students in grades 7 to 10 completed questionnaires evaluating their bullying victimization, family socioeconomic status, and parental emotional support. Latent class analysis categorized students into victim and non-victim groups. Of the 6,068 students, 91.8% reported no bullying experiences, while the remaining were victims. The most prevalent forms of bullying were mockery and robbery. The latent class model integrated with logistic regression revealed that parental emotional support helped students transition to the non-victim group. The latent class model combined with linear regression indicated that family socioeconomic status and parental emotional support were more beneficial for members of the non-victim group. The findings offer insights into anti-bullying practices. Since being made fun of is a prominent indicator of victim group membership, school systems should pay close attention to students frequently mocked by their peers. Schools should also focus more on students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, gaining parental support is crucial in efforts to prevent bullying in schools.

Media Representation and Intergenerational Communication in Immigrant Families

This article highlights how accurate media representation centering SAAs allows discourse on salient topics of SAA-specific discrimination and bullying, identity development, gendered norms, social controls, culturally informed clinical concerns, and attitudes toward mental health. Media representation can serve as a conversational starting point for clinicians and can serve to acknowledge the benefits of belief systems and social connectedness that anchor youth in a sense of purpose that is larger than the individual. Finally, media as a clinical tool could foster bicultural identity, which is shown to protect against acculturation stressors and intergenerational conflicts and to promote resilience, cognitive flexibility, and resourcefulness (socio-cognitive capacity).11 Media can thus be used as an innovative tool for clinicians to support minoritized youth, including SAA, through reflecting the complexities of their experiences, increasing engagement, and promoting insightful, culturally sensitive care.

Using an intersectional life course perspective to understand familial environment and its impact on sexuality development among Asian American sexual minority college students

There is a dearth of research understanding the sexual health of Asian American adolescents, and even more so for those who identify as sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual, and other sexual orientations). This study is a secondary qualitative analysis focused on young adults' recollections of their formal and informal sex education experiences in childhood and adolescence using a sub-sample of in-depth interviews from students who self-identified as both Asian and sexual minorities living in the USA (n = 9). Results were organised into three sections: (1) latent cultural factors (e.g. stigma surrounding sex, self-sufficiency, filial piety); (2) the downstream effects of latent cultural factors (e.g. sex-related discussions, rules disallowing dating, role of lateral family members); and (3) the impact of deficient familial sex-related discussions (e.g. Internet, resentment). Study findings underscore the links between identity concealment and relationship concealment that are unique to Asian sexual minority individuals. We suggest that interventions involving Asian American US youth and their families should be culturally informed and promote cross-generational sex-related discussion. Future research should further explore the role of chosen family and non-parental family members as a point of intervention as they can be helpful sources of informal sex education.

Examining the Role of Cultural and Family Factors in Substance Use Risk Among Indian American Youth

INTRODUCTION

Although Indian Americans constitute the second-largest immigrant group in the United States, there is a paucity of information about Indian American youth, particularly with respect to substance use risk. We examined the relationship of social factors to permissive substance use beliefs (a proxy for substance use risk since they can lead to adulthood substance use and misuse) and family functioning.

METHODS

The study used structural equation modeling to examine the prevalence of permissive substance use beliefs in a sample of Indian American youth ages 12-17 (N = 223) and examined the degree to which discrimination, bicultural identity integration, and endorsement of the model minority stereotype were associated with permissive substance use beliefs.

RESULTS

Findings suggest that bicultural identity integration (B = 0.267 [SE = 0.112], p = 0.01) and discrimination (B = 0.294 [SE = 0.087], p = 0.001) are positively associated with permissive substance use beliefs. Bicultural identity integration (B = 0.415 [SE = 0.090], p = 0.0001) was positively associated with family support (B= -0.329 [SE = 0.108], p = 0.002) which, in turn, was associated with less permissive substance use beliefs. In contrast, endorsement of the model minority stereotype (B = 0.351 [SE = 0.090], p = 0.001) was positively associated with family closeness (B = 0.232 [SE = 0.927], p = 0.01) which, in turn, was associated with family support and then with less permissive substance use beliefs.

CONCLUSIONS

Discrimination and bicultural identity integration emerged as key constructs related to substance use risk among Indian American youth. These youth could benefit from culturally appropriate prevention programming that addresses the negative impact of discrimination and its effect on permissive substance use beliefs and highlights protective factors.