Doing Well vs. Feeling Well: Understanding Family Dynamicsand the Psychological Adjustment of Chinese ImmigrantAdolescents

摘要

Despite their average high levels of educationalachievement, Asian American students often report poorpsychological and social adjustment, suggesting anachievement/adjustment paradox. Yet, the reasons for thisparadox remain unclear. Drawing on 5-year longitudinalqualitative interview data, this paper compares the familydynamics of two groups of adolescents from Chineseimmigrant families: non-distressed adolescents (n = 20)who have high levels of academic achievement and highlevels of psychological well-being; and distressed adoles-cents (n = 18) who have high levels of academicachievement but low levels of psychological well-being.Findings suggest that the two groups of families differed inparenting approaches after migration, parent–child com-munication, parental expectations, and parent–childrelations. Implications for Asian American adolescent andyouth development are discussed.