Asia-America literature
In the United States, Asian-American adolescents and children get usually categorized as a minority, given their ethnic background by many kinds of literary works. This categorization has reflected on their way of life, the social interactions, education, health, as well as living with the racial and ethnic stereotyping that come with the minorities in the US. In terms of psychosocial development as well as their wellbeing as children and adolescents, the Asian Americans in this category may not be different from the other children growing up in the US with the only significant difference being their ethnic background. However, according to Wallander and Fradkin, the Asian American adolescents psychosocial functioning is below that of the non-Hispanics and the non-Hispanics African American youth (13). Besides, studies have shown specific aspects of youth wealth and wellbeing such as anxiety, depression, drug use, and defects in social well being to be associated with the Asian American youth who constitute about 5% of the youth population in the US. Therefore, the quality of life of the Asian American teen is an emerging concept that looks at the life of the children and adolescents of Asian descent and identifies the individuals well being across multiple domains of life. Through different works of literature, the life of the Asian American children and adolescents is determined by their social, economic status and how it relates to their stay in the US given the increased gender, racial, and ethnic disparities within the country.
Asian American Youth
In direct contrast to the findings by some literature in the physical domain of the Asian American children and adolescents, most studies show that the young people of the Asian descent experience issues of psychosocial health in comparison to their racial groups. According to Freeman and Dey, the Asian American youth are reported to have more social related health issues such as depression and anxiety as well as low self-esteem with a high prevalence of fighting and suicidal ideas (4). Other literature analyzed indicate that the high rates of social complications among the Asian American youths and adolescents are as a result of peer pressure that is related to ethnic and racial discrimination by their peers where they are harassed not only by other racial groups but also by their Hispanic peers. Besides, as most research and books focus on the life of the Asian Americans children about their backgrounds, some present a better physical environment and a weaker social environment for the children. Although the Asian American children are treated as such, they are not ethnically homogeneous as their heritage is rooted in different regions and across different cultures ranging from Asian countries such as Japan, China, and Korea to India and Pakistan. In this regard, the Asian American youth may have different levels of acculturation that depends on where they are born and raised but subsequently, they emerge in their culture which has integrated into the US culture where they currently live.
Pilu of the Woods by Mai Nguyen
The book is a fiction narrative of a young Asian America girl who runs into the forest to find solace after getting into a fight with her elder sister. She finds a forest spirit named Pilu, who has also run away from home and got lost in the forest, and together they work a plan of returning to their homes (Nguyen 6). The story, although fictitious, is an example of the social interactions of the Asian American children concerning their culture as seen in the book which also explores the theme of grief and mental illness associated with the anxiety that the young people from the Asia decent experience. Throughout the book, Nguyen gradually reveals the life of Willow, the child who escaped to the woods whos relationship gets more complicated with the death of her mother. Breaking the pact they made of being there for each other. In this regard, the promises made to children are sometimes untenable living emotions to take the better part of them, leading to mental issues. Overall, the book explores the various dynamics of an Asian American child who endures a lot in her life from family to friends and social relationships as well as the struggle with mental illness where she feels like monsters like those of the Asain traditions are living in her head.
Asian American Youth Culture by Lee and Zhou
This literature has its central theme focusing on the way the Asian American youth create and practice their culture within their US, which is a country of diverse cultures. Lee and Zhou give a distinctive youth culture that has shaped the Asian American youth through ethnic identities as they are treated as a distinct category of people in the US. Besides, the book brings out an interesting concept of the Asian American youth culture of which the authors say that this group of children who transition into youth have their own culture that is depicted in here dressing, their language, and the social life (Zhou and Leeb 34). For a long time, the Asian American youth have been neglected and homogenized into a social group that is best celebrated as a model minority. At the same time, they are also stereotyped as geeks and nerds. As such, Asian American adolescents grow up being considered as a uniform group that is deviant from the other teenagers in America. Through the chapters of the book, the authors counteract with the dimension of a portrait by showing how diversity among the Asian American youth illustrates the creation of a culture of their own that is consummate with their cultural roots and backgrounds. Besides, the process of creating a distinct culture by the Asian youth has redefined the way the children with Asian origin brought up in America.
The Racial Mundane by Ju Yon Kim
The racial Mundane is a narrative of how the Asian American performance is embodied every day, and it delves into the ambiguity that alludes to the glorious defeat of the Trip-master monkey. In the book, the performance of the actor which might tend to align with the appearance of the actor’s gaze of the spectator is necessary for identification of the gaps in society, especially for the Asian Americans. According to Kim, the emergence of the societal differences between the actor’s role and the audience sets the space for the dynamism of interaction and a space for the social boundary that consolidates and dissolves affiliations between different races within the community (17). Besides, there are sights where everybody’s behaviours shade the ordinary as a way of making the subject more exciting and consequently revealing of the importance of diversity. Overall, the book explores the variety of culture in America and identifies Asian Americans as no different from the rest of the people. However, their customs are slightly different and rooted in their native land. The authors observe that, in the 19th century, the scenes of daily activities of the Asians and the rest of the Americans seemed impossible that they would be part of the American culture. Nevertheless, the mundane is the everyday enactments that have defined the Asians and underscored the fusion of human and quotidian culture that is seen in children as they grow up to become adult Asian Americans.
A Different Pond by Bao Perkins
The different Pond is a story about an Asian American family, a dad and a son who make a stop at a bait shop and head to the city shore pond where the boy is cringed at baiting a hook, and the dad tells him the childhood stories of the native Asian land. The narrative is a typical example of a children book where the young Asian children in America acquitted with their culture through fables and fictions stories about Asian heroes and events. Through the process, the children grownup knowing their culture and grow to relate with their native land, although there are born and raised in America. In the story, the outing between son and father is not just about recreation but about education as the parents of the child were both refugees of the Vietnam homeland and that fishing makes their ends meet. It also serves as a time for the dad to bind and tells the child about family history and engages in skills that would make the child proud of the family. In this regard, the story is seen as an informative piece that does not only apply to the Asian American children, but also to the rest of the adolescents who look down upon themselves. Besides, it is also an excellent piece that encourages the children who go through ethnic discrimination to find strength and not to forget their native Asian roots as they are essential in defining their identity.
Research Methodology
The study was qualitative research that utilized both primary and secondary sources of literature as evidence to test the hypothesis and the thesis statement. The Asian American youth are viewed from three perspectives, and that includes from their cultural domain, there health and well being as well as their social interactions with family and other children and adolescents around there life. The keywords in the search engine included Asian American adolescents, social integration, cultural diversity among the Asian American children and Social and health issues related to diversity. The procedure of data collection involves literature search as well as observation of the Asian American children behaviour as well as interviews of the participants who included Asian American parents, children, as well as adolescents in high school and college levels. Eligibility of the literature was based on the year of publication which was not more than ten years from the current date. Also, it should be related to Asian American life, either social or cultural. Besides, the research was conducted following the APA ethical standards in the treatment of participants and the interviews were conducted in full consent of the respondents. The analysis was analyzed and presented in the form of a research report with the authors of the books and other secondary sources being cited and their work acknowledged.
Findings and Discussion
The study demonstrated substantial ethnical and racial disparities among the children and adolescents of the Asian origin as seen to experience the worst status in the community especially among the white youth as they were seen to be different from them. The adolescent’s response to their Asia American peers was premised on their upbringing and the parenting style such that the white American children who were found to discriminate their Asian counterparts said to borrow from their parents who most likely separate other races (Chung and Albright 244). In this regard, it is evident that discrimination is a social issue that begins with parenting such that those parents who encourage their children to be integrative of other children disparities, as well as racial or ethnic backgrounds, tend to grow up knowing the right way to interact with people. Further, it was found that the Asian American adolescents and youth experienced worse social issues compared to the other white children in the domains of physical life, self-identity and well being, as well as their cultural status(Chung and Albright 247). However, the advantages of the Asian American youth are that they do not experience much of economic segregation as the case of the African Americans with their main issue being cultural. Hence, the main observed advantages of Asian America adolescents were more as compared to other ethnical minority groups within the United States. Besides, the Asian American youth have synchronized there native couture as learned from their parents through stories of their family and their origin and made culture part of their new way of life. Hence, some reviews saw them as a new wave of culture on their own within the United States.
Overall, the findings indicate that the disparities that tend to favour the white children over Asian American children usually exist independent of culture. In contrast, the factors that support the Asian Americans over other minority groups explained by social, economic aspects. Theoretically, the merits observed among the Asian American children found in the social disparity theory, which is the foundation of social disparity, and it articulates the positive impact of relationships between culture and other social factors such as the health of the youth. Besides, the rationale of why the demerits of the Asian American children is compared to the white youth does not appear in the literature analysis and reviews especially when the same differences between the minority groups are taken into account. One issue that should be considered in the universality of the Asian American way of life is the measure of the same instruments across cultures as it is argued that the study may only be useful when the focus laced on the disparities across all cadres of race and ethnicity in comparison to the Asian Americans. Also, the findings challenge the previous studies that place the Asian American children and youth as more challenged in their physical quality of life than the white child in America. As the findings indicate, this was not the case as the Asian American children that reported poor physical life quality than the white children were minimal and hence an indication that the social issues affecting children span across the ethnical spectrum.