The Family Life and Adjustment of Hmong American Sons and Daughters

Obstacles to parent-adolescent communication in Hmong American families: exploring pathways to adolescent mental health promotion

OBJECTIVE

Mental health challenges disproportionately affect children in refugee families, with Hmong American adolescents being an extreme case (Thao, Leite, and Atella 2010). Limited understanding about the processes associated with this enhanced risk for children of refugees exists. Obstacles to parent-adolescent communication may contribute to this increased risk (Laursen and Collins 2004). This study's objective is to explore our limited understanding of parent-adolescent communication in refugee families by examining communication obstacles among Hmong Americans.

DESIGN

Thirty Hmong American young adults (18 to 25 years; mean = 21.2, 50% female or n =15) participated in interviews that focused retrospectively on the parent-adolescent relationship.

RESULTS

Results revealed obstacles that were initiated by the adolescent, parent, and community. Two adolescent-focused sub-themes (emotional discomfort and psychosocial immaturity), five parent-focused sub-themes (parental judgment, parental intimidation, no benefits of communication with parents, generational/cultural differences, and lack of parent-adolescent bond), and two culture/community-focused sub-themes (traditions/values and vocabulary) emerged.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide a foundation for future qualitative and quantitative studies to promote Hmong American family communication, and encourage an ecological approach to promote parent-adolescent communication conducive to supporting adolescent mental health outcomes.

Asian Americans' family cohesion and suicide ideation: moderating and mediating effects

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between family cohesion and suicide ideation in a national, adult community sample of Asian Americans (N=2072). The data for this study were drawn from the National Latino and Asian American Study, the first national epidemiological study of Asian Americans' mental health. The results indicate that family cohesion was negatively related to suicide ideation. In addition, English language proficiency moderated the relationship between family cohesion and suicide ideation. Family cohesion was related to lower odds of suicide ideation among low English proficiency Asian Americans. In contrast, family cohesion was not significantly related to suicide ideation among high English proficiency Asian Americans. Further, the findings are consistent with a model in which the relationship between family cohesion and suicide ideation was partially mediated by psychological distress. Practical implications for addressing suicide ideation among Asian Americans are discussed.