Objectification theory proposed the idea that U.S. culture positions women to be viewed as physical entities foremost, typically to the fulfillment of men's sexual desires. The most damaging aspect of this experience is women's internalization of this perspective into their own sense of self, which has been shown to predict body image issues, eating disturbances, depression, sexual dysfunction, reduced psychological flow, and substance abuse. More recently, there have been efforts to examine how multiple layers of oppression may impact the experiences of sexual objectification and its psychological consequences. This study tested an extension of objectification theory on a sample of 618 Asian American women with the inclusion of race-related experiences, Asian American cultural values, and their relationships with the self-objectification process and depression. Findings indicate that the more participants endorsed Asian American cultural values, the more they engaged in a self-objectification process that involved internalizing mainstream ideals of beauty, monitoring their body appearance, and feeling shame and less satisfaction with race-related features and their bodies in general, which then predicted depression. In considering participants' adherence to Asian cultural values, the internalization of mainstream body ideals was necessary to engaging in self-objectification. Similarly, the more participants endorsed experiencing racial and sexual objectification, the more they engaged in the self-objectification process, which predicted depression. However, internalization of mainstream body ideals was not a necessary link between experiencing objectifying events and engaging in other components of the self-objectification process. Furthermore, adherence to Asian American cultural values did not have a significant moderation effect on the self-objectification process as predicted.

More than one hundred years have passed since the Chinese laborers first landed in this country in the mid-nineteenth century. Yet their history remains cloudy. This phenomenon is quite understandable if one considers the facts that most of the laborers were illiterate, did not have the ability, and never intended, to speak for themselves. It is true that many scholarly works have been published, but few were written by Chinese historians. As a matter of fact, Chinese scholars are unaware that a small number of their countrymen played a strange, pitiful role in American history. The published works reflect the viewpoint of only American observers. The labor of the Chinese workers was indispensable to the development of the frontier West at a time when resources were abundant and labor hands were few. So much work had to be done building railroads and dams, digging mines, clearing farm lands, canning salmon, etc. And the Chinese were welcomed to every line of manual work. There was a time when nearly every family at Astoria of Oregon and Olympia of Washington hired a Chinese as servant, as some writers claim. When the great number of whites moved in from the east, along with them came the floating laborers and the European immigrants, as well as the labor union. Conditions changed rapidly, the Chinese found themselves not only excluded from all employment, but persecuted everywhere. California was the state which first utilized Chinese labor and first expelled it. This unfavorable circumstance forced the Chinese to flee from California to other states. The purpose of this paper is not to give an account of how the Chinese were maltreated in a country known as a free, equal land opened widely to the whole world, but rather tries to find out how they survived, what were their daily problems, sorrows, and happiness, if any, and what were their inner feelings, their attitudes toward the white hosts. In short, the paper is written in an attempt to reconstruct their life in an alien land. In addition, the paper tries to answer the question why this oriental group appeared so peculiar in their behavior, as some whites commented, that they were both condemned and contemned. One of the crucial problems facing the researcher in the field of early Chinese immigration history is the lack of original materials. This is the common defects in all the published works on this subject. Fortunately for the author, by an unique chance, he was able to study numerous objects left in a Chinese grocery store, the Kam Wah Chung Co. at John Day--a small town once a busy mining area in Eastern Oregon. The pioneer artifacts in this town are disappearing, though the gravels of the old gold placers are still visible along the hillsides and canyons. But the queer old building of the Chinese store is still standing stubbornly as it did one hundred years ago, on a road called Canton Street So many objects were left in the building that the city of John Day is endeavoring to open it as a museum. From a historical point of view, many of these objects are very valuable. Among them are a great number of letters. Some were sent to the laborers from their families, in care of that building. Others were from the laborers to their homes, and for some unknown reason had not been sent to China. They are unique and of special importance to this paper. Perhaps nowhere else in the United States, or in War-torn China, can one find such a number of first hand records about the early Chinese in this country. Although few significant events, romantic affairs, or anything exciting can be expected of them, still, one can reconstruct a plain sketch of their life from these materials. The paper, though it only presents a small picture of the Chinese group in Eastern Oregon, is aimed to serve, hopefully, as a footnote leading to an understanding of how the early Chinese immigrants once lived in the Pacific Northwest.

There are more than 3.4 million South Asians in the United States. Among this subgroup, Bangladeshis in New York have a high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes ranging from 15 to 24% compared to the general population. This study examined the effect of acculturation through length of stay in the United States and understanding of the English language, and the role of gender on self-efficacy (SE) and diabetes self-management among 336 New York Bangladeshi immigrants between the ages of 21 and 75 who had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes with A1C -‰¥ 6.5%, as verified by their medical record for inclusion criteria in the original DREAM study. Health belief model was used as a theoretical framework. The key findings showed a significant relationship between gender and SE levels (p ¤ .0001). Bangladeshi women were 79% less likely to have high SE levels compared to their male counterparts (OR= .212; 95%CI: .099 -.453). Additionally, those who had low education attainment were 68% less likely to develop high SE levels (OR = .323, 95%; CI: .105 -.998). The findings demonstrate the need to understand the influence of social and contextual factors on SE and underscore the importance of integrating a systems approach and ontological lens in the implementation of gender-specific innovative strategies. Such an understanding might help destigmatize diabetes, improve medication adherence, and enhance SE and coping skills for Bangladeshi women across the life span. The findings of this study might provide knowledge to public health practitioners that would help create gender-specific diabetes education and lifestyle management for equity-centered capacity building to alleviate the disproportionate burden of diabetes in Bangladeshi minority women in the United States, ultimately improving health outcomes and reducing healthcare expenditures.

In an attempt to address the dearth of research examining the development and effects of intersectional, multiple marginalized identities, the scale developed in this study quantified the cultural variation in gender role expression of Asian American women. The following describes the development of the Multicultural Gender Role Scale for Asian American women (MGRS-AAW). The scale was conceptualized and largely constructed based on existing research: with specific attention regarding the qualitative themes and findings of Corpus and Miville (2013). A total of 71 items were administered to a sample of 327 participants who identified as Asian/Asian American women. Results were subjected to an Exploratory Factor Analysis and a total of 26 items were retained. Four independent constructs emerged, which closely mirrored and delineated the findings of the qualitative study: 1) Bicultural conflict, 2) Passivity, 3) Asian Values, and 4) Awareness. Further psychometric evaluation of the scale resulted in convergent validity of the subscales with other measures, such as the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) and the Asian American Racism Related Inventory (AARRSI), and discriminant validity was proven in regard to the lack of correlation among subscales with collected Grade Point Average. Findings were discussed in relation to strengths and weaknesses of the study, implications for the field, and future areas of studies.

Hwa-Byung, known as an anger illness, was conceptualized in Korean culture and listed in the glossary under Culture-Bound Syndromes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Hwa-Byung develops when the emotions of anger have been suppressed for a long period of time and it becomes difficult to control those feelings. Common complaints of Hwa-Byung have two dimensions, psychological and physical symptoms. The prevalence of Hwa-Byung exhibits gender differences in that the majority of individuals who experience Hwa-Byung are women between the ages of 40 and 60. However, as the number of Korean immigrants in the United States continues to increase and their issues draw attention from researchers, the topic of Hwa-Byung receives little. Because Korean immigrants in the United States share a cultural background with their origin of ethnicity, and at the same time, may also assimilate the American culture during the acculturation process, this study will address the cultural differences in Hwa-Byung between native Koreans who live in South Korea and Korean immigrants in the United States. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine the differences and similarities of Hwa-Byung in native Korean middle-aged women in South Korea and Korean immigrants in the United States, roughly between the age range of late-30's to middle 60's, by investigating the influencing factors of stressful life events, stress response, anger expression, and demographic background. A sample size of at least 200 participants, required for each group, using both paper-pencil and web-based methods, depended on participants' preferences, which were influenced by a gap in ages and the level of familiarity with and/or ability to access Internet. Participants were randomly selected from major cities, both in South Korea (including Seoul, Incheon, Busan, Daejeon, and Gyeonggi Province) and the United States (including Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles), using similar proportions of ages for both groups for the equivalences of participants in cross-cultural research. Survey measures included five instruments: (a) the Hwa-Byung scale (Kwon, Kim, Park, Lee, Min, & Kwon, 2008); (b) Life Stress for Korean women (Chon & Kim, 2003); (c) stress response inventory (SRI) (Koh, Park, & Kim, 2000); (d) anger expression (Hahn, Chon, Lee, & Spielberger, 1997), and (e) demographic background that measured the variables used in this study. To minimize the weakness of language differences used in the different cultural contexts, survey packages for Korean immigrant participants in the United States were formatted in both Korean and English for each item. Thus, a translation process became necessary, especially for the Korean instruments of the Hwa-Byung Scale, Life Stress for Korean women and Stress Response Inventory (SRI), from Korean into Englishtwo of which were (originally developed by Korean researchers) . On the other hand, native Koreans submitted only the Korean version of questionnaires because they fully understood the meaning of questionnaire statements, as well as in order to get rid of possible distractions by the inclusion of English sentences.

The Asian American population is one of the fastest growing racial groups within the United States, and will soon become a significant proportion of the nations' work force (Census, 2008). It is important for counselors and other helping professional to better understand the needs of this population in order to better prepare them for the nation's workforce. Given the limitations of the current knowledge pertaining to Asian American career development, researchers have called for additional studies examining the career development process for Asian Americans (Flores et al., 2006; Leong & Serifica, 1995). A notable gap in today's Asian American vocational literature is on the career development process for those who pursue underrepresented occupations, such as work in the humanities and arts. Researchers have noted that Asian American vocational research has predominantly focused on occupations in which there are more representation, such as Investigative or Enterprising fields (Escueta & O'brien, 1991), the unique career concerns of specific ethnic groups (Kim, 1993; Yang, 1991), familial involvement in career (Tang, Fouad, & Smith, 2004), or provides a broad conceptualization of career development of Asian Americans (Leong, 1986; Leong, 1991). However, there are no studies that examine the intersection of gender, race, and nontraditional career choices for Asian American women. This is especially true for occupational field that is often ignored in vocational research, such as the Artistic field (Ng, Lee, & Pack, 2007). Little is known regarding the why and how Asian American women choose to go into a field that is nontraditional and in which they are underrepresented. Further examination of this will allow helping professionals to gain a better understand the challenges and resiliency factors that influence Asian American women, especially those who choose to enter difficult field often not well regarded as an ideal career by family or society. The purpose of this study was to investigate the following questions: (1) What are unique aspects of the career development of early career Asian American female visual artists, (2) how do contextual factors in Asian American female visual artists' career development impact both their psychological and vocational well-being, and (3) what are the major supports and barriers for Asian Americans females in pursuing an Artistic career? Utilizing Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) methodology (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997), Asian American female early career visual artists were recruited, identified, and screened nationally through an online survey. Twelve East (n=10) and Southeast (n=2) Asian American female visual artists between the ages of 21 - 35 were interviewed utilizing a semi-structured interview protocol. Eight domains emerged from the analysis of the results: 1) Description of career path into the visual arts, (4) Ecological factors impacting overall career, (5) Financial influences on the career development, (6) Perceived additional skills and resources needed for career, (2) Influences on art work and artist identity, (3) Individual strengths contributing to career development, (7) Influences of support on career development, (8) Perceived barriers to career development. A detailed summary of these results, implications of these findings and recommendations for clinical work and future research will be provided.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-169).

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2006. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb. 8, 2007). Thesis advisor: Anita I. Drever. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Very little empirical research has been conducted on Asian Americans as a whole in relation to their consumer behavior, specifically their clothing behavior. A review of literature demonstrated that Asian Americans have been studied from different psychographic and sociological aspects. However, the apparel shopping behavior of this market has received only slight research attention. The purpose of this study was to compare Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans with regards to apparel shopping orientations. This study also examined the relationship between apparel shopping orientations and intensity of ethnic identification among Asian Americans. The multimediation model of consumer behavior (EKB model) proposed by Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (1973) was used as a theoretical framework for the present study. Based on the EKB model, it was expected that people of different cultural backgrounds were different in terms of their consumer behavior. Another conceptual framework used in the present study was the concept of shopping orientations, introduced by Stone (1954). Apparel shopping orientations refer to motivations, interests and attitudes toward apparel shopping. Seven shopping orientations were selected for the present study. They were: economic shopping, personalizing shopping, recreational shopping, social shopping (including friend social shopping and family social shopping), brand loyal shopping, impulse shopping and fashion orientations. The fashion orientation included four factors: fashion leadership, fashion interest, fashion importance and antifashion attitude. The nature of the study was observational, in which no variables were manipulated. The data collection method involved a mailed questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions measuring seven shopping orientations, Asian Americans' intensity of ethnic identification and questions on demographic characteristics. A purposive sample of 300 Asian American and 300 Caucasian American students were drawn from the students enrolled at Oregon State University for 1990 Fall term. A pretest was conducted before the data were collected. Dillman's "Total Design Method" (1978) was used as a guideline when implementing the data collection procedures. The response rates were 75.9% for the total sample, with 72.6% for the Asian group and 79.0% for the Caucasian group. The collected data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), t-test and Pearson correlation. Significant differences were found between Asian and Caucasian American respondents on social shopping, including both friend social and family social shopping, brand loyal shopping, and fashion leadership orientations. The Asian respondents were found to be significantly more brand loyal and liked to shop with friends or family members than were the Caucasian respondents. The Asian American students were also found to be more likely to regard themselves as fashion leaders than were the Caucasian students in this study. Also a negative correlation was found between intensity of ethnic identification and fashion importance among Asian American respondents. This finding indicated that the more an Asian respondent identified with Asian ethnicity, the less (s)he considered being well-dressed to be important. / Graduation date: 1991

Asian/American women occupy a highly circumscribed subject position in popular Western culture that entails a unique reading of our bodies. My discussion of this group will gain greater depth and scope by using Black body theory as a theoretical framework to better understand how Asian/American bodies become a site to enact a multitude of fantasies, fears, and anxieties. I will examine three case studies: the construction of the interracial “romance” featuring Asian/American women produced in classical Hollywood cinema, interracial pornography featuring Asian/American female performers, and the independent works of Asian/American feminist filmmakers. Topics interrogated include the over-determination of non-White bodies and possibilities for destabilizing bodies and crafting their new legibility.