Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing minority groups in the United States. One of the stereotypes associated with Asians is that they are more likely to choose careers in science, medicine, and engineering rather than social science, inclusive of social work, mass communication, or humanities (Leong & Serafica, 1995; Tang et al., 1999). This occupational stereotyping of Asians is not just a myth in that descriptive studies have shown that only a few Asians choose social work as a career (Lennon, 2005; NASW, 2006). Few studies exist on Asian Americans who do not choose Asian stereotypical career choices, such as social work. Acknowledging this lack of research, the present study was developed to explore the relationships between factors that may influence Asian Americans who choose social work as their career. Based on social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), it was hypothesized that acculturation and family immigration status influenced parental involvement, perceived career barriers, and career outcome expectations of Asian American social workers. A cross-sectional survey design utilizing mixed methods was used in this study. The sample was derived from the members’ database of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Among 1,802 of Asian American social workers in the NASW database, those aged 65 or older were excluded and 900 Asian social workers were randomly chosen for this study. A total of 370 Asian American social workers participated in this study with 41 percent of a return rate. Quantitative data were collected through standardized measurements: the Social Work Career Influence Questionnaire (Biggerstaff, 2000); Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1987); Career Barriers Inventory Revised (Swanson, et al., 1996); and eight items from Tang et al.’s (1999) Asian American Career Development Questionnaire. Also, qualitative data were obtained through two open-ended short questions. The data were collected through a combined method of an online survey with option of a paper mail-return questionnaire. Results of the study found significant group differences among family immigration status groups on perceived likelihood and perceived hindrance of career barriers. The 1st generation group perceived the greatest career barriers and the 3rd or higher generation group perceived the least career barriers among the family immigration status groups. However, there was no significant multivariate effect of acculturation on perceived likelihood and hindrance of career barriers, parental involvement, desire to be a therapist, prestige of the profession, and social change mission of the profession. Qualitative data included participants’ diverse perspectives on what factors influenced Asian Americans’ selecting or not selecting social work as a career. Implications and limitations of this study, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.

The influences on perfectionism and procrastination of race, gender, cognitive-affective and academic self-appraisals, and academic performance expectations were studied. The sample consisted of 155 Introductory Psychology students (57 African Americans, 41 Asian Americans, and 57 European Americans; 51.6% women) with a mean age of 19.4 years (SD = 3.6). Data were collected during the final week of the Fall 2007 semester. Consistent with previous research indicating that men are more likely to procrastinate than women, men were over-represented in this sample. Self-esteem, measured with the Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale, was conceptualized as having two components: self-liking and self-competence (Tafarodi & Milne, 2002). Guilt- and shame-proneness were measured with the Test of Self-Conscious Affect, Version 3, Short-form (TOSCA-3S; Tangney & Dearing, 2002). Academic self-confidence was measured with the Personal Evaluation Inventory (Shrauger & Schohn, 1995). A number of single-item questions concerning aspects related to students' Grade Point Average (GPA) were included. The High Standards and Discrepancy scales of the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) represented the criterions of adaptive (AP) and maladaptive perfectionism (MP), respectively. The Aitken (1982) Procrastination Inventory was used as the criterion for procrastination. Components of self-esteem differentially predicted perfectionism. African Americans were significantly lower in shame-proneness. While there were non-perfectionists and AP's/MP's in each race and gender, African Americans were significantly higher in AP and Asian Americans were significantly higher in MP. Additionally, Asian American men were more likely to procrastinate. These results counter the "model minority" stereotype of Asian Americans, showing that they are at higher risk for personal and academic distress than their Black and White classmates. While women had higher GPA's and were more likely to be AP's, men had higher levels of academic self-confidence and expected to achieve higher GPA's. Regardless of race or gender, students with GPA's of 3.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale) were more likely to be both types of perfectionists. Academic self-confidence was a significant positive predictor of AP and a negative predictor for MP and procrastination. This suggests that helping students improve their academic self-confidence could have many benefits.

In “‘Bury Your Head Between My Knees and Seek Pardon’: Gender, Sexuality, and National Conflict in John Okada’s 1957 novel, No-No Boy,” I analyze the ways in which the complexities of gendered sexuality expressed by protagonist Ichiro Yamada intersect with post-World War II and Internment-era national identifications for American nisei. I demonstrate that this apparent story of one man’s pursuit to resolve his conflict over national identity is, in reality, a tour de force of literary subversion that not only destabilizes the subterfuge that surrounded internment but also—in its deliberate failure to resolve questions of national conflict on the basis of masculine and heterosexual norms—encourages skepticism about the larger structures of order that allowed internment to happen.

This narrative-based qualitative research investigated the distinct journeys of eight cross-cultural artists (four artists from South Korea and four artists from China). Utilizing a variety of theoretical frameworks surrounding cross-cultural research, this dissertation examined current discussions on cross-cultural challenges and their implications in the field of art education. Methods of data collection focused primarily on interviews and were examined through the lens of Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy theory. Evaluating the lived experiences of artists illuminated nuances in cross-cultural environments, specifically, how socio-cultural transitions influenced their artwork and professional lives. The findings of this research correlate with previous literature surrounding current challenges in the lives of cross-cultural students. These challenges were discussed in the context of how art educators can best confront issues that emerge in the classroom. The analysis and discussion presented in this thesis seeks to provide insights into the experiences of cross-cultural artists, while highlighting the educational implications for both artists and educators.

Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez-Alemán / College students today are the most connected and social media savvy generation in the history of higher education (Junco & Cole-Avent, 2008) and maintain constant connections to online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (Clem & Junco, 2015). Social media are now understood as a central component of campus and student life across colleges and universities (Martínez-Alemán & Wartman, 2009). Coinciding with the proliferation of social media use has been a rise in racialized hostilities on online settings. These offenses often target racially minoritized students, and scholars have become increasingly interested in understanding the ways this antagonism on social media impacts college student experiences (Tynes, Rose, & Markoe, 2013), including Asian Americans (Museus & Truong, 2013).         This dissertation uses a critical race theory framework to examine the racialized environment on social media, how Asian American college students experience racialized aggressions, and how their sense of belonging is impacted by racially hostile online encounters. This dissertation addresses the following question: How do encounters with racialized aggressions on social media impact Asian American students’ sense of belonging at a PWI? 29 participants from a predominantly white institution, East Oak University, engaged in individual interviews, participant observations, artifact collection, and focus groups as part of this study. The findings of this study suggest that the encounter of racialized aggressions on social media, especially those on the anonymous platform Yik Yak, are detrimental in facilitating positive sense of belonging among Asian Americans at East Oak. These online racialized encounters are asserted to be rooted in the endemic nature of racism at East Oak, and the claiming of social media as a property that enabled Whites to define and dictate campus culture by engaging in racist discourse. The nature of these online communications speaks to the ways that social media is suggested to influence both sense of belonging and institutional racial climates on today’s college campuses. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / Despite an increasing number of Asian American women earning the advanced degrees necessary to qualify them for senior administrative positions such as dean, vice president, provost and president, this group remains severely underrepresented in the upper administrative ranks in American higher education. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine if mentoring relationships, which research has shown to be vital to the success of other women administrators of color, would prove important to Asian American women administrators at critical career junctures. Eleven Asian American senior women administrators from four different ethnic backgrounds were interviewed. Two theoretical frameworks were used to interpret the data: relational cultural theory to analyze each interview from the participant's point of view, and; critical race theory to review the data from the institutional perspective. Many of the women experienced factors reported by other women administrators of color: a culture dominated by White men; sexism and racism; feelings of isolation, and; gender-typed family concerns. Most of the women also faced the model minority stereotype of being perceived as passive, yet analysis of their interviews revealed that they did not behave passively. Also contrary to what research has shown to be the experience of other women administrators of color, several reported more instances of sexism than racism. The majority of the women had White male mentors, which is consistent with the literature. For the women who had both male and female mentors, several experienced more career than psychosocial mentoring from their male mentors, a pattern opposite what is typical for other women administrators of color. No clear patterns emerged with regard to how the women utilized their mentors at critical career junctures. The interviews revealed that the women in this study were distinctly different from each other, which disputes the assumption that all Asian American women are similar. This study challenges how these women are currently perceived, and institutions must re-examine their current policies and practices to better support this population. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Higher Education Administration.

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / Previous theory and research on Asian American/Pacific Islanders' (AAPI) racism experiences indicate that anti-AAPI racism is stressful and related to increased physical and psychological symptoms when the two types of symptoms have been investigated as separate constructs. However, cultural models of AAPIs' health postulate that AAPIs experience distress as interrelated physical and psychological symptoms, but no studies have explored whether racism experiences are similarly related to increases in both physical and psychological symptoms. Also, few studies of AAPI health and racism have included racial identity schemas as psychological constructs that potentially interact with experiences of self-reported anti-Asian racism and health symptoms. To better understand how racism experiences, racial identity, and physical and psychological health are related, the present study examined relationships among frequent and distressing anti-AAPI institutional, cultural, and individual racism experiences, racial identity attitudes, and physical and psychological symptoms. U.S.-born AAPIs of Chinese or Korean heritage (N =203) completed a demographic questionnaire, the People of Color Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (Helms, 2011), the Asian American Race-Related Stress Index (Liang, Li, and Kim, 2004), the Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness (Pennebaker, 1992), and the Kessler-10 (Kessler et al., 2002). Canonical correlation analyses were used to investigate relationships among the variables. Several patterns were identified. Three patterns were significantly, but not strongly related to being of male gender. They were: (a) frequent and distressing experiences of institutional, cultural, and individual racism experiences were related to increased physical and psychological symptoms; (b) institutional racism experiences were associated with increased levels of Dissonance (racial confusion) and Immersion (own-group idealization); and, (c) high levels of Dissonance and low levels of Internalization were related to more psychological and fewer physical symptoms and being of male gender. One pattern was significantly, but not strongly related to being of female gender, wherein high levels of both Dissonance and Immersion were related to increased levels of physical and psychological symptoms. Finally, one pattern was related to being of Chinese ethnicity, wherein cultural racism experiences were associated with high Conformity (White cultural orientation) and Dissonance. Results were discussed with respect to how researchers can assess racism and racial identity-related distress more accurately by using holistic health measures. Methodological limitations of the study and implications for research and practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of English

<p> Asian Americans are generally considered an educationally and economically successful minority in the United States, a perception known as the model minority myth. These images can negatively impact Asian Americans, especially in higher education, by neglecting their challenges and limiting the research conducted related to their struggles and obstacles in higher education. Since most studies involving Asian Americans focus on their enrollment in elite universities, there is not much recognition of Asian Americans in community colleges. This study focuses on one specific subgroup of Asians, Korean Americans. Although this group is more likely to attend highly selective colleges regardless of socioeconomic status, I focus on the Korean American students who attend community colleges. </p><p> This study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of Korean American students attending community colleges and how their perceptions and experiences influence the construction of their possible selves. More specifically, this study examined the opportunities and obstacles they experienced in community college and how these experiences intersected with model minority myths. This study also focused on the possible selves Korean American students might construct while attending community college. Possible selves are &ldquo;representations of the self in the past and they include representations of the self in the future&rdquo; (Markus &amp; Nurius, 1986, p. 954) and various self-conceptions that include &ldquo;the good selves, the bad selves, the hoped-for selves, the feared selves, the not-me selves, the ideal selves, and the ought-selves&rdquo; (Markus &amp; Nurius, 1986, p. 957). For this study, 29 Korean American community college students were recruited and semi-structured interviews were conducted regarding their high school experiences, community college experiences, and future goals and plans. Through data analysis inspired by a grounded theory approach, 40 codes were developed and three major themes emerged related to the experiences of Korean American students at community college. </p><p> The findings showed that before Korean American students attended community colleges, they negatively perceived community colleges as a place for those who did not get into four-year colleges or did not do well in high school, a perception strongly influenced by others such as parents, peers, or members of Korean communities. However, once they attended, many of them had positive experiences through the various academic and career services offered and interactions with faculty and peers. These positive experiences changed Korean American students&rsquo; negative views of community colleges. Although positive experiences changed their negative perceptions of community colleges, they consistently encountered negative perceptions from others which conflicted with their positive experiences. Korean American students also constructed various possible selves based on their academic and career goals. Most constructed positive possible selves if they had more specific academic and career goals and as well as the confidence to achieve them. These students thought community colleges helped develop their future goals but were ultimately ambivalent about their attendance at community college. Some believed community college was a foundation or stepping stone for achieving their goals while others thought attending community college would negatively influence their future. </p><p> This study is important because it explores an issue to which little scholarly attention has been paid and which has not been thoroughly investigated. Theoretically this study can contribute to the literature on possible selves and Asian Americans in higher education, give a deeper understanding of a particular group in relation to model minority stereotypes, and provide a guide for how to examine multifaceted elements which can influence the understanding of how community college students develop possible selves. This study also has practical benefits: it can promote how to better support Korean American students in order to help them succeed in achieving their goals in higher education.</p><p>

Depression is a common mental health concern on college campuses, especially among Asian Americans. This review aims to bring together the current findings on the unique contributors to depression in this minority population. Thirteen peer-reviewed articles were included in the systematic review. Identified risk factors for depression unique to Asian Americans included: perceived racial discrimination and intergenerational differences. Identified protective factors included: strong ethnic identity and cultural individualism. Other factors related to depression that were common to a general college sample were also identified. The review provides a reference for researchers and higher education professionals seeking information on depression among Asian American college students. Recommendations for addressing depression in minority students as a whole are discussed.