ABSTRACT
When White people are predominantly in power and the discipline has yet to grapple with its own involvement in oppressive and racist ideologies, the concept of empowerment has the potential of being misused, or worse, abused. This is my experience and observation within Community Psychology (CP). In this paper, I interrogate the history of CP, especially the interplay of colonized knowledge production practices and the concept of empowerment, and uncover the use and abuse of well-meaning community psychological principles by scholars and leaders without the critical racial awareness to apply them to communities to which they do not belong. Lastly, I offer a "slash and burn" approach to starting over.
Subject(s)
Knowledge , Race Relations , Humans , White PeopleABSTRACT
The "model minority" myth (MMM) has far-reaching implications for Asian Americans in many settings, including medicine. For clinicians working with first-generation Asian American college students, this article considers 3 factors that affect how the MMM plays out in clinical care: clinicians' racial identity awareness, cross-racial dynamics, and the extent to which a patient has internalized racism or oppression.
Subject(s)
Mental Disorders , Racism , Asian , Humans , Minority Groups , StudentsABSTRACT
The study articulates a contextual approach to research on acculturation of immigrants, suggesting that the relationship between acculturation and adjustment is dependent on the cultural demands of the life domains considered. Specifically, the study investigated the mediating effects of adjustment in occupational and social life domains on the relationship between acculturation and psychological adjustment for 391 refugees from the former Soviet Union. The study used bilinear measures of acculturation to the host (American) and heritage (Russian) cultures. Using Structural Equation Modeling, the study confirmed the hypothesized relationships, such that the positive effects of American acculturation on psychological adjustment were mediated by occupational adjustment, and the effects of Russian acculturation on psychological adjustment were mediated by satisfaction with co-ethnic social support. Psychological adjustment was measured in two ways, as psychological well-being, using a measure of life satisfaction, and as symptoms of depression and anxiety, using the Hopkins symptom checklist (HSCL). Life satisfaction served as a mediator between adjustment in occupational and social domains and HSCL, suggesting that it may be an intervening variable through which environmental stress associated with immigration contributes to the development of symptoms of mental disorder.
Subject(s)
Acculturation , Adaptation, Psychological , Personal Satisfaction , Refugees/psychology , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Adult , Aged , Anxiety/psychology , Depression/psychology , Emigration and Immigration , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Social Support , USSR/ethnology , United States , Young AdultABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine how pre- and postmigration factors affect the psychological distress and adjustment for a community sample of Vietnamese refugees resettled in the United States. The sample included a substantial proportion of ex-political detainees who experienced a particularly large number of traumatic events prior to migration. Additionally, the study assessed postmigration experiences using multidimensional and bidirectional measures of acculturation to the Vietnamese and American cultures and measures of satisfaction with social support from like-ethnic and host culture network members. Psychological adjustment and distress were assessed with depression, anxiety, alienation, and life satisfaction. Findings show that premigration traumatic experiences predicted only measures of anxiety. The other measures of adjustment and distress were predicted by postmigration factors, including acculturation and social support. In sum, findings suggest that different psychological outcomes are predicted by different pre- and postmigration factors, suggesting that adjustment is a complex process that involves multiple indicators and dimensions. Significant differences were also found between ex-political detainees and other Vietnamese refugees suggesting the importance of considering their unique experience.
