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This paper investigates the language fluency problems of skilled immigrants from mainland China to Canada. It capitalises on interview data to explore the relationships between Chinese immigrants' identities, second language practices, and language skills. It reports the informants' difficulty in integrating into their workplaces and their unwillingness to make considerable investments in learning English. Drawing on Bourdieu's (1984) theory of practice and linking it with the issue of identity, this paper explains how the habitus of the informants interact with their milieux, how a marginalised identity emerges, and how this identity negatively impacts on their oral proficiency in English.

This paper examines the dynamic intersection of lifelong learning, transnational migration and migrant motherhood by locating Chinese immigrant mothers' transnational learning and mothering experience. It aims to understand how Chinese immigrant mothers learn mothering skills, reconstruct identities, and practise mothering in transnational spaces. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with Chinese immigrant mothers in Canada, this paper finds three major dimensions of immigrant mothers' transnational lifelong learning practice: (1) the good mother/bad mother binary and motherhood learning; (2) lifelong learning within transnational families; and (3) learning mothering as transnational cultural capital. This paper argues that taking Chinese immigrant mothers' learning and mothering experience as a standpoint is critical to view transnational lifelong learning as non-linear, fluid, and dynamic. This perspective could assist scholars to acknowledge the experience, identity, work, and knowledge of immigrant mothers, to highlight the intersectionality of race, gender, and class, critically analyse the public/private binary and the learning space of lifelong learners, to reflect on the relationship between learning, mothering and transnational cultural capital, and to examine the race, gender and class relations underlying the changing meanings of lifelong learning in the context of transnational migration.

This paper explores the intersection between migration, aging and lifelong learning with the aim of expanding our understanding of how lifelong learning enhances older migrants' active aging in a foreign land. Our study also offers insights into the learning activities of older immigrants in general. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed a conceptual framework of active aging, which has greatly influenced aging policies and seniors' everyday practices. Yet, there is a paucity of research that explicates and fully integrates lifelong learning into active aging discourse, and focuses on senior immigrants' lifelong learning in an aging society. Based on interviews, textual materials, and participatory observation in five Chinese seniors' immigrant associations in Toronto, we explore how Chinese senior immigrants' learning has been (re)shaped and practised through re-settling in Canadian society. Five categories of learning are explored, including a) learning language and computer skills, b) learning culture and history, c) learning civic engagement, d) learning leisure, and e) learning health. We argue that 'active learning' can be used as a dynamic conceptual framework that interacts with active aging theory, demonstrating how senior immigrants actively participate in the lifelong learning project for participation and integration in Canada. This paper provides insights to the understanding of culturally sensitive policy-making on integration, health, and lifelong learning of older immigrants in Canada and beyond.

This paper revisits and revisions Education for All (EFA) in the age of global migration with the aim of developing more inclusive approaches towards social justice and equity in education. Drawing on cases of internal and international migration in China and Canada, this paper compares and contrasts policies and practices in the education of migrants and their children to discern common issues and challenges in both country contexts. The findings reveal that despite China's nine-year compulsory education law for all school-aged children, migrant children are often deprived of equitable learning opportunities, resulting in their being the most educationally marginalised in China. The case of Canada demonstrates some of the challenges facing immigrants in having their prior learning and work experience recognised. Lessons learned from this comparative analysis have important implications for the post-2015 EFA revisioning process in terms of developing a holistic, inclusive lifelong learning framework which ensures that the learning needs of both young and adult learners are met through access to equitable learning opportunities as well as recognition of their prior learning and experience.

Purpose: The paper aims to explore the emotion learning experiences of some Chinese immigrants in Canadian engineering workplaces. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on life history style interviews with 14 Chinese immigrant engineers and 14 key informant interviews. Findings: Research respondents constructed a competitive, masculine, and individualistic engineering "culture" in Canada, where the emotional and the relational, supposedly central to the Asian and Chinese culture, are largely devalued. To fit into the individualistic culture, some Chinese immigrants learned to change their patterns of socialization and some became hard-nosed competitors. To ameliorate the deleterious effects of the alienating workplace environments, some resorted to their cultural teaching to maintain emotional health; some also tried to build collegiality and collectivity to humanize their work settings. Research limitations/implications: The study was not a comprehensive study of the emotion work in engineering workplaces. It does not capture the emotional order that may as well exist to afford different people differential negotiation power in the engineering culture. Social implications: The study suggests that while emotional connection and personalized relationship are "culturally" discouraged in engineering workplaces, they are of significant use value for immigrant workers and should be addressed to create humanized work environments. Originality/value: This is one of the few articles that examine emotion learning at the intersection of gender, race and class relations. (Contains 1 note.)

The Changing Academic Profession (CAP) international survey was designed in part to consider the effects of globalization on the work context and activities of academics in 19 countries or regions around the world. This paper draws from a subset of these data to explore the extent to which academics are globally connected in their research and teaching, and the ways this connectedness relates to global migration. Across multiple measures, immigrant academics (i.e., academics working in countries where they were not born and did not receive their first degree) were more globally connected than national academics (i.e., those working in the countries of their birth and first degree). Global migration by academic staff is clearly a major contributor to the internationalization of higher education institutions, yet there was no evidence these contributions led to enhanced career progress or job satisfaction for immigrant academics relative to national academics. The international expertise and experience of immigrant academics may not be sufficiently recognized and valued by their institutions.

A core mode of governance in the era of neoliberalism is through the production of "entrepreneurial self". This paper explores how the "entrepreneurial self" is produced for 21 Chinese immigrant women in Canada. The women displayed extraordinary entrepreneurialism by investing in Canadian education. Becoming entrepreneurial, however, is more than an individualised "choice". It is imbricated with the ideology of meritocracy cultivated in China, the "credential and certificate regime" in Canada, and the gendered expectations in the host labour market and at home. Given the ideological confluence, and the material conditions the women lived, a feminized and racialized labour is reproduced.

This paper offers socio-ecological, situated perspectives on adolescent resilience derived from an application of interpretive visual methodologies to deepen understanding of adaptive youth development in diverse majority-world cultural contexts (South Africa, Thailand, China, Mexican migration to Canada). The research is not "cross-cultural"; by contrast, it situates youth engagement contextually, using local perspectives, especially perspectives of adolescents themselves, on "growing up well" under adverse circumstances, to interrogate conceptions of resilience in cultural context. Participants are viewed as members of cultural communities: observations with a small number of individuals are not generalized to national groups. Rather, knowledge gained by these methods is employed to enrich knowledge of the processes of majority-world youth thriving despite such adversities as poverty and social displacement. (Contains 3 tables.)

In focusing on the way emotional ideologies underpin migration regimes, this paper underlines how migrants manage their emotions in a quest towards wider economic and social integration. It compares the experiences of Mainland Chinese immigrants who are in Canada with those that returned to China temporarily but plan to remigrate to Canada eventually, thus sustaining transnational journeys. The paper suggests that the intersection of emotional and migration regimes imposes norms and sanctions that direct migrants towards what are considered appropriate emotions and emotional subjectivities. The economic logics shaping the circulation of emotions within and across geographical space during transnational sojourning is referred to here as the emotional economy of migration. The paper argues that certain emotions appreciate or depreciate in value as they are mobilised geographically during such transnational sojourning. The analysis contributes to migration scholarship by drawing out the emotional logics, circulations, and calculations that structure and prop up the political economy of migration regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Focusing on return migration, this paper draws out the tensions between integration and transnationalism, flexibility and rootedness, and citizenship and nationalism. I argue that the recognition of transnationalism necessitates a conceptual re-examination of return migration. Substantively, the paper is based upon my research on the flow of skilled migration between Canada and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1998, China has been the top source country of skilled immigrants to Canada. In recent years, however, a counter-current has emerged with the return movement of PRC immigrants back to China. I examine how the cultural politics of identity play out amongst PRC immigrants in Canada in light of this reverse migration. Drawing on focus groups and interviews, I suggest that not only the act of return, but its very discourse, has influenced the ways in which the politics of identity and belonging are evolving amongst PRC immigrants in Canada. Ultimately, hybridised forms of cultural identification become the norm for migrants whose homes are no longer tied to one place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the growth of Chinese immigrant communities in several countries worldwide as of July 2014. It notes that this growth has significant impact on national and local economy and also in sociocultural domains. The author states that the global population movements of the Chinese result to changes in family structure, diversity in social work and creation of different service needs.

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Due to cultural and systemic factors, Chinese-Canadians tend to use mental health services less or when mental health problems are more severe. Services need to be more culturally responsive in their treatment of mental illness. Around important life events, when there may be heightened vulnerability to mental illness, this is especially important. In this study, postpartum cultural practices were examined among recent immigrant, longer-term immigrant, and Canadian-born Chinese women. We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 493 women in Toronto, Ontario, with livebirths in 2011–2014. Participants completed a demographic survey and Postpartum Rituals Questionnaire. Most women (82.2%) practiced at least one postpartum ritual. Younger age (OR 0.93; 95% CI 0.87–0.99) and greater participation in the heritage culture (OR 1.28; 95% CI 1.02–1.61) were associated with ritual practice. From among five types of postpartum rituals identified (i.e., avoidance of homeostatic disturbances, dietary practices, wind avoidance, organized support, and cold avoidance), dietary practices were most commonly undertaken and cold avoidance was least commonly undertaken. There were differences in postpartum ritual patterns by immigration status, with immigrant women being more likely to undertake a greater number of rituals, to attribute these rituals to Chinese culture, and to ascribe health benefits to these rituals and being less likely to feel forced into performing these rituals. Our findings underscore the importance of clinicians becoming more aware of Chinese postpartum rituals to provide women with culturally competent and patient-centered care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In international entrepreneurship literature, entrepreneurs moving across borders have received less attention than other entrepreneurs. Also, only scant attention has been paid to immigrant entrepreneurs' contributions to their organizations. This paper aims to contribute to the emerging international immigrant entrepreneurship literature by studying Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs' roles in their firms' international and innovative activities in Canada, China, and other countries. It is based on three cases of Chinese entrepreneurs who established businesses in Canada. We conclude that these immigrants' experience of doing business in China and Canada, their network relationships and knowledge of these markets quickened their firms' internationalization considerably. Moreover, these firms became active in product or service innovation as the case immigrants also involved other immigrants and locals. Consequently, immigrant entrepreneurs should actively use their connections both in their new country of residence and also in their previous home country, but to become even more successful, they should also reach beyond their ethnic ties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the gender differences in Chinese-Canadian family caregivers providing care to elderly Chinese care receivers. A random sample of 339 Chinese-Canadian caregivers for elderly care receivers completed a telephone survey. Most of the Chinese family caregivers were females. No major gender differences were reported in the amount and types of caregiving tasks. The level of caregiving burden and predictors were generally similar for both gender groups. Contrary to common belief that sons and daughters-in-law are the key family caregivers in the Chinese culture, the daughters played a more important role in family caregiving. In addition to providing support and services to Chinese female caregivers, strategies to enhance Chinese males' involvement in family caregiving are needed and discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Migration & Integration is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we suggest how social network analysis, in contrast to looking at physical space, can be used to trace the social and economic location of ethnic enclaves. Taking skilled workers immigrating to Canada from China as an example, we analyze critically how split labor market theories describe materialist and structural factors that determine immigrants' limited options. Cultural theories play up immigrants' interest in using their cultural resources to pull themselves ahead. We propose that social network analysis as a single framework can bring together elements from materialist-structural and cultural theories. The position of people and firms in these networks gives us a view of the kinds of jobs immigrants get and the businesses they set up. To understand the ethnic economy, we discuss how networks of social and economic relations intersect each other. By seeing the ethnic economy embedded in social networks, we can provide a more general explanation of the social space of the ethnic economy in contrast to its physical location. We use three cases of ethnic entrepreneurs to illustrate how the social and economic relations locate their businesses in the enclave and how they are also linked to the mainstream economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using landing records and tax data, this paper examines both the changing composition of the Chinese immigrants in Canada in the past two decades and their levels of economic performance. Our research found that, in addition to a shift in origin, economic immigrants have been on the rise and other classes of immigrants have declined. This has been accompanied by a significant increase in their educational qualifications and proficiency in a Canadian official language. Yet, despite their increased human capital, Chinese immigrants still experience very different economic outcomes in the Canadian labour market compared to members of the general population of Canada. For one thing, they have much lower employment and self-employment income than the general population. Moreover, these earning differentials hold true for all age groups, both genders, and Chinese immigrants from all origins. While their levels of economic performance increases with length of residency in Canada, this study suggests that it would take more than 20 years for Chinese immigrants to close the earning gaps with the general population. Evidence also suggests that Canadian-specific educational credentials are indeed worth more than those acquired in the immigrants' country of origin, and are much better remunerated by Canadian employers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emerging perspective in the study of global diasporas stresses the effect of economic globalization and migration shifts in reshaping the population and identifying the formation of diaspora communities. This paper analyses the immigration patterns from Hong Kong and mainland China to Canada between the 1980s and 1990s. and shows that the migration shifts have been influenced by political and economic forces in Hong Kong and China, as well as changes in Canada's immigration policy. The imminent return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and its uncertain political future in the 1990s were often cited as the main reasons for Hong Kong's large emigration in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In reality, the rising volume of Hong Kong emigration was prompted by the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident in China and its aftermath, and by the booming economy of Hong Kong in the early 1990s that created the means for many middle-class Chinese to emigrate. At the same time, Canada's expansion of the Business Immigration Program in the mid-1980s also benefited immigrant entrepreneurs from Hong Kong. In contrast, the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 did not deter the economic growth of China. Immigration from China rose after 1989 when Canada allowed Chinese students studying in Canada to immigrate, but it was after the mid-1990s that immigration from China expanded due to Canada's greater emphasis on admitting economic immigrants and to China's growing middle class. The continuous arrival of well-educated and urban-based immigrants from China is likely to change the population composition and identity complexity of the Chinese community in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have documented the transformation of modern motherhood, as mothering practices have been a target of medical knowledge that comes to define correct modes of conduct for women caring for their pregnant bodies, undergoing childbirth and childrearing. Such accounts usually set scientific knowledge and medical authority in opposition to women's autonomy. Drawing on the interviews with immigrant Chinese mothers in Canada, we offer a different account of knowledge and agency in new motherhood. These women's often‐intense experiences of intergenerational care‐giving associated with the practice of zuo yuezi reveal a more fluid relationship between medical authority and mothering agency. We find that the central tension during the postpartum experience lies in intergenerational and family relationships. In this context, new mothers draw on alternative sources of knowledge—and medical professionals are one such key source—to demonstrate within the family their competence to make care decisions for themselves and their babies. These women's use of medical knowledge to counter a familial and intergenerational authority complicates dominant accounts about medicalisation, demonstrating that women's relationship to medical knowledge and authority maybe be far more fluid and complex than a standard account of medicalisation and loss of women's agency would predict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the literature discusses filial piety in general and ambiguous terms. This study, in contrast, investigates specific perceptions of filial piety and parental expectations of filial duty among older Chinese immigrants in Canada. The study is based on thematic analysis of 46 Chinese immigrants in seven focus groups conducted in the Greater Toronto Area. Findings show the perceptions of filial piety varied, but almost all participants had reduced expectations of their children. Nevertheless, they still valued and expected emotional care from their children. The study argues that changes in institutional settings, social policies and welfare systems define parents' support needs and affect their expectations in the host society, while norms and institutional settings in the place of origin influence their perceptions of filial piety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic globalization has changed the volume and nature of the world migrant population. This paper explains how and why the pattern of immigration from China to Canada has changed as a result of a rising demand for human capital in Canada and a growth in the supply of university graduates in China. Since 1998, China has emerged as the top immigrant source for Canada, and there is a higher human capital content among recent cohorts of China-born immigrants to Canada. However, evidence from the 2001 Census of Canada indicates that the return on the university credentials of China-born immigrants in many fields of study has been below the Canadian average. The findings suggest that there are severe devaluations of the foreign credentials of China-born immigrants in Canada; the devaluation is more severe for Chinese men than Chinese women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a relative dearth of qualitative studies on the actual experiences of families caring for members suffering from serious mental illness, and even less is known about disadvantaged ethnic minority immigrant families. This explorative qualitative study examines the burden experienced by 15 family members of Chinese immigrant background in Toronto, Canada. Six common themes emerged from the study: 1) significant worries about not being able to take care of ill members in the future; 2) on-going strain and changed family life; 3) pervasive social stigma, discrimination and lack of resources; 4) general appreciation of Canadian health and welfare systems and opportunities; 5) cultural factors and beliefs uniquely shape families' support and caring commitment; and 6) families find various ways to cope and help themselves. Opportunities for improved care delivery based on these understandings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Preserving patient dignity is a fundamental value in palliative care and is associated with an increased sense of meaning at end of life. The empiric Dignity Model, developed by Chochinov et al. (2002), identifies physical and psychosocial issues impacting dignity and provides guidance for dignity conserving care. Aim: This study's objectives are to explore the generalizability of the empiric Dignity Model to Chinese Canadians an immigrant population influenced by both Western and Asian values. The study will explore how dignity is culturally mediated. Design: Template analysis using NVivo was used to assess for themes and to explore new themes in focus group interviews. Participants: Three focus groups of thirty-one first generation Chinese Canadians were conducted in the community setting, in the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver. Results: The three thematic categories of the Dignity Model were broadly supported. Themes of Family connectedness and the Confucian virtue of filial piety (duty that children have towards their parents), were found to be strongly relevant for Chinese Canadians. Subjects' acculturation within Canada led to an evolution of perception of dignity as new ideas are accepted or rejected and blended with pre-existing values. Conclusion: To the author's knowledge this is the first study on the Dignity Model done in a Chinese Canadian population. The conceptualization of dignity for first generation Chinese Canadians is influenced by both Western and Asian culture. This study highlights the unique constructs of dignity for Chinese Canadians and areas to enhance dignity preserving care in a cross-cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International migrants experience first-hand differences between countries in terms of the social meanings, spatial regulation and prevalence of smoking. This research centred on the smoking-related perceptions, experiences and behaviours of recent migrants from China to Canada. Eight focus groups were held in Edmonton, Alberta, in July-October 2013 to explore migrants' understandings of the practices and meanings of smoking in both countries. There were 58 participants (37 non-smokers and 21 smokers), most of whom were international students. Qualitative content analysis of focus group transcripts was undertaken to identify key themes. Participants observed that smoking remains almost ubiquitous in China due to ineffective spatial restrictions and the social importance of smoking among men. By contrast, smoking bans in Canada were perceived as effective due to widespread compliance and expectations of enforcement. They were conscious that male smoking was both less prevalent and less socially valued in Canada; conversely, female smoking was perceived as more accepted in Canada than in China. There was broad agreement that smoking was tolerated in Canada, provided it occurred in appropriate places. Complying with widespread spatial restrictions brought about changes in smokers' behaviours: they smoked less often, and consumed fewer cigarettes. Because smoking was more difficult to perform, participants thought the Canadian context supported quitting. Non-smokers were enthusiastic about smoke-free environments in Canada, and had become acculturated to air that did not smell of smoke. These findings affirm the importance of comprehensive smoking bans, backed by enforcement, in contributing to the denormalisation of smoking and the protection of non-smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The multicultural study aimed at examining alcohol consumption change or drinking change of English, French and Chinese speaking immigrants in Ottawa and Gatineau, Canada, and identifying demographic factors that impact the change. Subjects and methods: In all, 810 immigrants of three language sub-groups were recruited by purposive-sampling. Using self-reports, respondents answered questions regarding drinking change and demography in the Multicultural Lifestyle Change Questionnaire in either the English, French or Chinese versions. Data on drinking were analyzed statistically. Results: The immigrants of different gender, language and category sub-groups exhibited different drinking rates, drinking rates before immigration, drinking rates after immigration, drinking change rates and drinking belief change rates. Drinking change (drinking behavior change + drinking belief change) was correlated positively with mother tongue and negatively with gender. Drinking behavior change was negatively correlated with gender and category of immigration. Mother tongue and gender significantly impacted drinking change. Gender significantly impacted drinking behavior change. Conclusion: The immigrants of different sub-groups in Canada experienced different drinking change. Mother tongue and gender were main impacting factors. Culture and acculturation were important contributing factors. Data of immigrant drinking change may provide evidence for drinking policy-making and policy-revising in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Critiques of lifelong learning have focused on the neo-liberal underpinning of state policy, where individuals are expected to take responsibility for meeting the needs of changing labour market conditions in the post-Fordist economy. We treat lifelong learning as an 'ideological frame' that (re)shapes how people see and understand social reality, and organise their job seeking activities accordingly. Our argument is supported with data from two studies that examine how professional immigrant women from China navigate the Canadian labour market from their perspectives. Specifically, we identify how lifelong learning as a discursive frame intersects with credentialism, the gendered and racialised construction of Chinese women, age and gendered familial relations to channel professional immigrant women into a labour market segmented along gender, ethnic and racial lines. We end with the policy implications of our discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma and adverse childhood events are found in the pre-immigration histories of a cohort of four Chinese Canadian pathological gamblers. The nature of their traumatic experiences, consisting of loss and abandonment, neglect and deprivation, physical and emotional abuse, socioeconomic and political oppression, is elucidated and described. The impact of pre-immigration trauma and its relationship to the development of pathological gambling post-immigration are discussed. Upon further corroboration of the existence of pre-immigration trauma among Chinese and Asian immigrants in future studies, training of counsellors to incorporate an in-depth pre-immigration history in the assessment and treatment protocol of immigrants manifesting pathological gambling is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnationalism needs to be understood as a set of practices fashioned through the life course as well as in relation to contextual factors that include state policy and experiences of discrimination that affect entry to the labour force. The paradox of transnationalism is that families make strategic decisions to separate in order to maintain family unity and to advance the welfare of children. Emigrants from Hong Kong to Canada in the latter decades of the twentieth century were motivated by concern for family welfare and the quality of education in Canada. Yet economic livelihood prospects remained greater in Hong Kong than in Canada, prompting many families to become transnational ‘astronaut’ families with one or more members working in Hong Kong. Migration decisions tend to occur around key points of life-course transition involving entry to and graduation from education, and entry to and exit from the labour force. Transnational practices are complex and multigenerational, involving different patterns for young adults, those in their middle years and the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The impact of culture on mental health has been inadequately researched. This study examines the effect of cultural factors on the depressive symptoms reported by elderly Chinese immigrants in Canada.Method: Data from 1537 elderly Chinese immigrants who took part in a cross-sectional multisite survey on the health and well-being of older Chinese-Canadians were used. Participants were identified through telephone screening of randomly selected telephone numbers listed with Chinese surnames. A structured questionnaire was used to conduct face-to-face interviews. A Chinese version of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale was used to assess depressive symptoms.Results: Close to one-quarter of the elderly Chinese immigrants reported having at least a mild level of depressive symptoms. Having more cultural barriers and a higher level of identification with Chinese cultural values resulted in a higher probability of being depressive.Conclusions: The importance of the sociocultural determinants of mental health is demonstrated. The health delivery system should be more sensitive to the unique ethnic and cultural differences of older immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the incidence of cancer among Chinese immigrants to Alberta in comparison to the incidence in Canadian-born Alberta residents and in people of Chinese origin still living in China. Cancer cases among Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Alberta residents were identified from the Alberta Cancer Registry (1974-1993). Incidence rates for Shanghai (1975-1992) were obtained from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) publications. Direct age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) were calculated using the "world standard population." Descriptive analysis and Poisson regression modelling were employed to obtain the rate ratios for certain cancer sites among the three populations. For males, the overall incidence of cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) was lowest in Chinese immigrants while being similar in Canadian-born Alberta residents and Chinese living in Shanghai (197 vs. 224 and 232/100,000). For females, the overall incidence in Chinese immigrants was lower than Canadian-born Alberta residents but similar to that in Chinese living in Shanghai (154 vs 200 and 150/100,000). For cancers that are common in China (stomach and esophagus), the incidence rates for Chinese immigrants were more similar to those for Canadian-born residents than to rates for Shanghai. However, the incidence of liver cancer was very high in the immigrants, suggesting the possible presence of an initiating event during childhood or early adulthood. For cancers that are traditionally uncommon in China (breast and prostate), rates for immigrants were mid-way between those of the two comparison groups. This study supports observations that the risk of cancer in immigrants tends towards the risk of people in the new host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]