Sumie Okazaki

Asian-American educational achievements. A phenomenon in search of an explanation.

Considerable attention has been paid to the academic achievements of Asian Americans because there is convergent evidence that this population has attained high educational mobility. In trying to explain the achievement patterns, researchers have largely limited their investigations to one of two contrasting hypotheses involving (a) hereditary differences in intelligence between Asians and Whites and (b) Asian cultural values that promote educational endeavors. Research findings have cast serious doubt over the validity of the genetic hypothesis. Yet, there has been a failure to find strong empirical support for alternative hypothesis concerning cultural values. It is proposed, under the concept of relative functionalism, that Asian Americans perceive, and have experienced, restrictions in upward mobility in careers or jobs that are unrelated to education. Consequently, education assumes importance, above and beyond what can be predicted from cultural values. Research and policy implications of this view are noted.

Methodological Issues in Assessment Research With Ethnic Minorities

Assessment research on ethnic minorities presents multiple methodological and conceptual challenges. This article addresses the difficulties in denning and examining ethnicity as a variable in psychological research. The authors assert that many of the problems stem from not making explicit the assumptions underlying the use of ethnicity as an explanatory variable and from inadequately describing cultural and contextual characteristics of ethnic minority samples. Also raised are common methodological problems encountered in examining race, ethnicity, and culture in assessment research, such as decisions regarding which populations to study, sampling methodologies, measure selection, method of assessment, and interpretation of results. Finally, some guidelines are offered for tackling some of the methodological dilemmas in assessment research with ethnic minorities. Assessment research on ethnic minority groups has had a controversial history. For example, comparisons of intellectual abilities and cognitive skills, of self-esteem and self-hatred, of personality patterns, and of prevalence rates and degrees of psychopathology among different ethnic and racial groups have generated considerable controversy regarding the validity of findings. It is our belief that conducting valid assessment research with ethnic minority groups is particularly problematic because of methodological, conceptual, and practical difficulties that arise in such research. This article addresses common methodological problems that have plagued assessment research on ethnic minorities. Our intent here is not to provide definitive solutions to methodologica l problems but rather to raise issues that many researchers may not have otherwise considered, so that informed decisions can be made about how to handle variables related to ethnicity. We also pose some guidelines for future assessment research with ethnic minorities to improve the knowledge base not only for ethnic minorities but also for the field of psychological assessment. In doing so, we will closely examine fundamental problems such as sample heterogeneity, measurement of culture, and underlying assumptions about ethnicity, all of which make assessment research with ethnic minorities inherently challenging. Because our work involves Asian Americans, many of the cited examples deal with this population, although the point behind the examples may apply to other ethnic groups. We refer to assessment research in a broad sense and use examples from extant literature on cognitive, personality, and clinical psychodiagnostic assessment with various ethnic mi

Unidimensional versus multidimensional approaches to the assessment of acculturation for Asian American populations.

This study used generational status and the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation scale to examine unidimensional versus multidimensional approaches to the conceptualization and measurement of acculturation and their relationships to relevant cultural indicator variables, including measures of Individualism-Collectivism, Independent-Interdependent Self-Construal, Loss of Face, and Impression Management. Multivariate analyses of covariance and partial correlations were used to examine the relationship between the acculturation models and each set of cultural indicator variables while controlling for socioeconomic status. Given that acculturation differences are often cited as evidence for a culture effect between groups, the present findings of an uneven nature of these relationships as a function of the particular acculturation measurement strategy have important implications for research on Asian Americans.

Asian American and White American Differences on Affective Distress Symptoms Do Symptom Reports Differ Across Reporting Methods

This study examined whether Asian Americans and White Americans would show differential patterns of reporting their levels of depressive and social anxiety symptoms depending on the method of reporting. Standard self-report measures of depressive, social anxiety, and somatic symptomatology as well as measures of cultural self- construal and social desirability were administered twice to Asian American and White American participants. The results showed that there were no interaction effects between ethnicity and reporting method in any of the self-report measures, both ethnic groups reported lower levels of depressive symptoms in interview condition than in written condition, and Asian Americans reported higher levels of social anxiety than White Americans on both interview and written conditions. The findings suggest that although the method of reporting does not differentially affect Asian Americans, there are persistent ethnic differences between Asian Americans and White Americans in the types and levels of distress they report.

Asian American psychology: The science of lives in context

Beyond questionnaires - conceptual and methodological innovations for Asian American psychology, Sumie Okazaki why and how we should study ethnic identity, acculturation, and cultural orientation, Jeanne L. Tsai, Yulia Chentsova-Dutton, and Ying Wong perspectives on Asian American development, Lynn Okagaki and Kathryn E. Bojczyk aging and Asian Americans - developing culturally appropriate research methodology, Gayle Y. Iwamasa and Kristen H. Sorocco career psychology of Asian Americans - cultural validity and cultural specificity, Frederick Leong and Erin Hardin culture-specific ecological models of Asian American violence, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall methodological issues in multiracial research, Maria P.P. Root.

A qualitative investigation of the cultural adjustment experiences of Asian international college women.

This qualitative study explored the cultural adjustment experiences of 15 Asian Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese international college women through semistructured interviews. By using consensual qualitative research methodology (C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997), 6 primary domains or themes related to these womens cultural adjustment experiences were identified via data analysis: their feelings and thoughts about living in the United States, perceived differences between their country of origin and the United States, their English language acquisition and use, their prejudicial or discriminatory experiences in the United States, their peer and family networks, and their strategies for coping with cultural adjustment problems. Implications of the findings for mental health practice are discussed.

Colonial mentality: A review and recommendation for Filipino American psychology

Colonial mentality is a term used widely by ethnic studies scholars and by the Filipino American community to refer to a form of internalized oppression among Filipinos and Filipino Americans. The authors propose that colonial mentality is a construct that is central to the understanding of the psychology of contemporary Filipino Americans. Drawing on larger scholarship from postcolonial studies and psychological research on oppression, the authors review the historical and sociological contexts in which to understand the significance of the colonial mentality concept for the Filipino American population. The authors also review the existing literature on colonial mentality and provide specific recommendations for incorporating this construct into research and practice with Filipino Americans. It is argued, through this illustrative example of colonial mentality among Filipino Americans, that examining the psychological impact of colonialism is a way to incorporate larger historical and sociological contextual variables into ethnic minority research and practice.

Asian American-White American differences in expressions of social anxiety: A replication and extension

This study examined whether Asian American-White American differences on a trait measure of social anxiety extend to nonverbal behavior and to reports of anxiety-related emotions during a 3-min social performance task. Forty Asian Americans and 40 White Americans completed a trait measure of social anxiety and rated their emotions before, and immediately after, a social performance task. Their videotaped behavior was coded using microlevel behavioral codes (e.g., gaze avoidance, fidgeting). Results indicated that Asian Americans reported more anxiety than White Americans on the trait measure and on the emotion rating scales but that they did not differ substantially on microlevel behavioral indexes of social anxiety. Implications of ethnic variations in the patterns of anxious responding are discussed.

Attitudes toward mental health services: Age-group differences in Korean American adults

The present study examined the attitudes toward mental health services held by younger (aged 20–45, n = 209) and older (aged 60 and older, n = 462) groups of Korean Americans. Following Andersens (1968; A behavioral model of families’ use of health service, Center for Health Administration Studies) behavioral health model, predisposing (age, gender, marital status and education), need (anxiety and depressive symptoms) and enabling (acculturation, health insurance coverage and personal experience and beliefs) variables were considered. In the mean-level assessment, younger and older adults were found to hold a similar level of positive attitudes toward mental health services. In the multivariate analysis, culture-influenced beliefs were shown to have a substantial contribution to the model of attitudes toward mental health services in both age groups. The belief that depression is a medical condition was found to be a common predictor of positive attitudes across the groups. In the older adult sample, more negative attitudes were observed among those who believed that depression is a sign of personal weakness and that having a mentally ill family member brings shame to the whole family. Our findings show that older adults are not only more subject to cultural misconceptions and stigma related to mental disorders, but also their attitudes toward service use are negatively influenced by the cultural stigma. The findings provide important implications for interventions targeted to improve access to mental health care among minority populations. Based on the similarities and differences found between young and old, both general and age-specific strategies need to be developed in order to increase effectiveness of these programs.

The Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) for Filipino Americans: Scale Construction and Psychological Implications

Colonial mentality, or internalized colonialism, has been discussed by scholars and by Filipino American community members as a significant factor in the experiences of contemporary Filipino Americans, yet this construct has not received empirical attention in psychology. The authors of the current study addressed this gap in the Asian American psychological literature by developing the Colonial Mentality Scale for Filipino Americans, a theoretically derived and psychometrically tested multidimensional measure of colonial mentality. Exploratory (n = 292) and confirmatory (n = 311) factor analyses on Internet-obtained data suggest that colonial mentality among Filipino Americans is best conceptualized and measured as composed of 5 related factors, each of which represents unique manifestations of the construct. Results also suggest that colonial mentality is associated with the psychological well-being and mental health of modern day Filipino Americans. Research and clinical implications are discussed.