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ABSTRACT
Interviews were conducted with eight Japanese immigrant youth about their experiences with respect to adjusting to life in the United States, dealing with discrimination, and coping with cultural challenges. They were also questioned about their mental health and family and peer relations. Results indicate that participants managed to maintain bicultural identities and to cope with the problems that they encountered. Nevertheless, they experienced the following difficulties: racism and prejudice, language barriers, and conflict regarding identity and values. In terms of coping, participants mostly relied on friends for support; only one had sought the help of a professional counselor. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of working with immigrant youth from Japan.
There are about eight hundred thousand Japanese Americans, making them the sixth largest Asian American group (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000), and 47% of Japanese Americans belong to the first and second generations. Although Japanese immigrant youth are steadily increasing in the United States, a limited number of studies have examined their experiences in adjusting to a new culture (Rosenthal & Feldman, 1990; Padilla, Wagatsuma, & Lindholm, 1985). Accordingly, the present research investigates Japanese immigrant adolescents' experiences in the adaptation process (i.e., their cultural adjustment) in the United States.
Acculturation
Acculturation refers to changes in identification, social skills, attitudes, values, and behavioral norms that groups and individuals undergo when they come in contact with another culture (Rosenthal & Feldman, 1990). Acculturation has been conceptualized as a resocialization process (Taft, 1985, 1986), with the assumption that increased contact with the host culture will lead to a shift away from the values, attitudes, and behaviors of the culture of origin. While some immigrants adjust willingly and easily to the new culture, other immigrants have strong attachments to their culture of origin and find such a transition difficult (Cheung, 1989). Several studies (e.g., Sodowsky, Lai, & Plake, 1991; Padilla et al., 1985) have found that first-generation Asian Americans experience significantly more acculturative stress than second or later generations.
Research on new immigrants and refugees has largely focused on adults, and the immigrant youth has been neglected (e.g., Roysircar-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000; Sodowsky & Carey, 1987; Sodowsky et al., 1991). Due to the fact that adolescence is a critical period of development...