Emotional Well-Beingamong Asian-American

Youth

Cynthia Tang, School CounselorLexington High School Counseling Department

Lexington, Massachusetts

A National Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference Workshop

March 27, 2015

My goal in offering today’s workshop is to help you :

1. Better understand the experiences of, and cultural factors impacting, Asian American students seeking help in grade K-12 settings.

2. Build awareness about research-based cultural barriers to, and considerations of treatment for, Asian American students in grade K-12 settings.

3. Learn about different institutional, state and national programs and organizations that address the mental health needs of Asian American students.

Intended Outcomes

• Intended Outcomes

• The Bigger PictureNational and District Asian and Asian American Data

• Cultural FactorsAsian and Asian American Experiences

• Our District’s StorySupporting our Asian and Asian-American Youths’ Well-Being

• Treatment ConsiderationsSupporting Asian and Asian American Well-Being

Agenda

The Bigger PictureNational and District

Asian and Asian American Data

U.S. Population Growth

U.S. Asian Population Growth

State-Specific Asian Populations

National Ethnic Representation Among Educators

Occupation Black/African American

Asian Hispanic/Latino

Community and Social Service Occupations

17.5 3.4 11.6

- Counselors 18.7 2.8 10.6

- Social Workers 21.3 2.4 13.2

Education, Training , and Library Occupations

10.3 4.4 9.5

- Preschool and Kindergarten Teachers

15.8 3.4 13.9

- Elementary and Middle School Teachers

10.2 2.5 8.7

- Secondary School Teachers 10.0 2.2 7.6

- Special Education Teachers 8.9 1.5 6.8

- Postsecondary Teachers 6.1 12.2 6.1

Source: U.S. Department of Labor (2013). Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm

2013 National YRBS Data – by Ethnicity

High school students nationwide who have seriously considered attempting suicide during the 12 months before the survey:

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011). Youth Online: High School YRBS 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2014, from http://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/

Ethnicity % Male % Female % Total

American Indian/Alaska Native n/a n/a 27

Asian 10 23 17

Black/African American 10 19 14

Hispanic/Latino 12 26 19

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander n/a n/a 16

White 11 21 16

Multiple Race 14 33 24

All Races/Ethnicities 12 22 17

2011 Lexington YRBS Data – by Ethnicity *

High school students in Lexington who who have seriously considered attempting suicide in their lifetime:

* Ethnicity data was collected specifically for LAMHI. As a result of low responder rate to the YRBS ethnicity question, percentages are approximations and cannot be considered statistically valid.

Ethnicity % Total

Asian 13

Black/African American 12

Hispanic/Latino 17

White 11

South East Asian / Indian 18

All Races/Ethnicities 13

Cultural FactorsAsian and Asian-American

Experiences

Cultural Factors: Microaggressions

Source: Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (2007) Racial Microaggressions and the Asian American Experience. Retrieved July 28, 2014, from http://www.apa.org/

1. Alien in Own Land2. Ascription of Intelligence3. Denial of Racial Reality4. Exoticization of Asian American Women5. Invalidation of Interethnic Differences6. Pathologizing Cultural Values/Communication

Styles7. Second Class Citizenship8. Invisibility9. Undeveloped Incidents/Responses

Cultural Factors: Sources of Stress

Source: Journal of Community Health (April, 2009) Model Minority at Risk: Expressed Needs of Mental Health by Asian American Young Adults. Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3296234/

• Pressure to meet parental expectations of high academic achievement and live up to the “model minority” stereotype;

• Difficulty of balancing two different cultures and communicating with parents;

• Family obligations based on the strong family values; and

• Discrimination or isolation due to racial or cultural background

Our District’s StorySupporting our Asian and

Asian-American Youths’ Well-Being

Our District: At a Glance

• 6,785 Students K-12• 6 Elementary Schools (grades K-5)• 2 Middle Schools (grades 6-8)• 1 High School (grades 9-12)

Our District: At a Glance (cont.)

• 55% White• 33% Asian• 4% African American• 3% Hispanic• N/A Native American• 0% Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander• 5% Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic

Our District: At a Glance (cont.)

• 51% Male/49% Female• 23% First Language Not English• 14% Students with Disabilities• 6% English Language Learner• 6% Low Income

Our District: At a Glance (cont.)

• Post Secondary Plans• 4-Year College: 86%• 2-year College: 4%• Other (Gap Year, Prep School): 3%• Employed/Military: 2%

• Average SAT Scores: 1903• National Merit Scholarship

Semifinalists: 23

Current Lexington Initiatives

• Lexington Asian Mental Health InitiativeTown-wide committee of mental health providers, educators, parent group representatives, parents and students who are committed to providing culturally-sensitive support to promote wellbeing among our Asian youth.

– 2014 Community Forum– 2014 Parent Dialogue– 2015 Parent-Teen Dialogue

Lexington Asian Mental Health Initiative (LAMHI)

May 2013 Focus Group Results(Asian and Asian-American Students at LHS)• Students care a lot about what their parents

think about them • “My parents immigrated and struggled. I owe it

to them.”• Parents see emotional problems as brought on

oneself and should be able to be overcome oneself

• Most likely to reach out to friends vs. adult • All cultures and families are differentSource: Lazar, M. (2014). Balancing Stress and Success: An Asian American Perspective [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from Lexington Youth and Family Services website: http://www.lyfsinc.org/uploads/1/6/6/6/16665548/marsha_presentation_for_forum.pptx

Current Lexington Initiatives (cont.)

Lexington Public Schools• District-Wide Cultural Competency

Initiative– District Goal– Partnerships: EDCO, CSCORE– Professional Development

Current Lexington Initiatives (cont.)

Elementary, Middle and High School Levels

• Social/Emotional Indicators on report cards

• Faculty cultural competence professional development

• Asian Student Faculty Alliance (ASFA)

Elementary Social/Emotional Indicators

Fostering Systemic Change

• Analyze social indicators on ES report cards: what does the data show us about our struggling students?

• Expand social indicator integration on report cards to middle- and high school-level.

• Integrate Asian perspective into current professional development opportunities.

• Integrate & align district-wide cultural competence interventions

Looking Ahead

• Considering Unique Populations– Risk factors– Data-based decisions– Evidence based interventions

How do we broaden our definition of risk factors to include the experiences and

challenges of our many unique populations?

Treatment ConsiderationsSupporting Asian and Asian-

American Well-Being

Treatment Considerations: Counseling

Source: Journal of Counseling & Development (Fall, 2007) Avoidance of Counseling: Psychological Factors that Inhibit Seeking Help. Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://public.psych.iastate.edu/lmlarson/7.pdf

• Establish a social norm around seeking help.Support groups provide opportunities to interact, share experiences, and participate in experiential exercises.

• Build awareness of people who have a mental illness.Contact with one person with a mental illness tends to increase positive attitudes regarding mental illness.

• Reach out directly to those experiencing problems Help clients work through how to address the effects of stigma.

• Provide alternatives to traditional ways of counselingReduce the perceived level of risk.

Treatment Considerations: Patient Health

Source: Journal of Family Practice (January, 2014). Caring for Asian Immigrants: Tips on culture that can enhance patient care. Retrieved November 3, 2014, from www.jfponline.com/fileadmin/qhi/jfp/pdfs/.../JFP_06301_ArticleW1.pdf

• Seek trained translators instead of family members: “Trained medical interpreters (even available by phone) are preferable to family members, despite the convenience of the latter.”

• Deference does not equate to agreement: “Do not assume that the deference immigrant patients display toward physicians means they “buy in” to treatment recommendations.”

• Language challenges to mental health awareness: “In Hmong culture, inability to speak about being depressed stems not just from cultural bias but from linguistic constraints—the language simply lacks a word for depression.”

Feedback

• One learning from today

• One thing I want to learn more about

• One next step I am interested in taking in my personal or professional life

Want to Learn More? Start Here:

To learn more about:• Building your and students’ awareness of the

existence and validity of multiple stories, watch: Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger of a Single Storyhttp://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

• The impact of shame and vulnerability on resilience, watch: Brené Brown: The Power of Vulnerabilityhttp://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability

Brené Brown: Listening to Shamehttp://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame

Want to Learn More? Start Here: (continued)

To learn more about:• White Privilege, read:

Peggy McIntosh: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpackhttps://www.isr.umich.edu/.../white-privilege.pdf

• Racism (Microaggressions), read: New York Times Article: Students See Many Slights as Racial “Microaggressions”http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/22/us/as-diversity-increases-slights-get-subtler-but-still-sting.html?_r=0

Mary Pender Greene: Racial Microaggressions and the Asian American Experiencewww.marypendergreene.com/docs/AsianMicroaggressions.pdf

Thank You!

Cynthia TangSchool Counselor

Lexington High Schoolctang@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us

781.861.2320 ext. 69-532