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According to the 2008 U.S. Census, there are 15.5 million Asian Americans in the United States, and 17% are students enrolled in a university (Shea & Yeh, 2008). Asian American college students in higher education are oftentimes perceived as the "model minority" with high academic achievements and few mental and/or behavioral problems (Park, 2010). In contrast to this general assumption, studies have shown that many Asian American college students suffer from psychological distress (Abe-Kim et al., 2007; Breaux, Matsuoka, & Ryujin, 1997; Lee et al., 2009; Mallinckrodt, Shigeoka, & Suzuki, 2005; Nguyen & Anderson, 2005). In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2008) highlighted considerable disparities in mental health among racial/ethnic groups, including the fact that Asian Americans 15-24 years old have significantly higher suicidal rates than do other racial/ethnic groups of the same age range. Researchers have attributed this mental health disparity to Asian students' underutilization of professional services. Consequently, a growing number of empirical studies have been conducted to identify the contributors to low mental health service utilization (Abe-Kim et al., 2007; Kim & Park, 2009; Lee et al., 2009; Nguyen & Anderson, 2005; Umemoto, 2004). These studies have found that acculturation, cultural barriers, and stigma attached to mental health problems are common factors that significantly contribute to Asian American college students' low mental-health-seeking behaviors. However, based on the authors' knowledge, these studies have focused on Asian American students who attend 4-year colleges. There is very little known about Asian American students attending 2-year community colleges, who comprise over 40% of Asian American undergraduates enrolled in higher education (Park, 2010). By taking an exploratory approach and borrowing from the literature on Asian Americans and 4-year university students, the current study examined whether well-developed cultural contributing factors, such as stigma, acculturation, and preference for racially/ethnically concordant counselors, among Asian American 4-year college students might also predict help-seeking behaviors for mental health issues among Asian American community college students. A quantitative cross-sectional survey research design was used for this study via a self-administered, paper and pencil survey questionnaire. The survey consisted of questions pertaining to the stigma attached to mental health, acculturation issues, cultural barriers, language barriers, psychological issues for Asian American college students, and their willingness to seek mental health services. The population in this study consisted of Asian American students enrolled in Asian American Studies, Asian American Literature, and English as Second Language classes at one of the largest public community colleges in California's San Francisco Bay Area. Of a total of 66 student participants from three classes at the community college, 50% were female (n = 33). In terms of the subethnicity of the participants, the largest group was Vietnamese (n = 19) followed by Filipino (n = 14) and Chinese (n = 13). The rest of the participants' ethnicities included Korean, South Indian, Cambodian, and Japanese; these were categorized as "other" due to the small sample size per group. The main finding of the current study confirmed the significant effect of stigma and mental health seeking behaviors among Asian American students, which is congruent with previous research (Kim & Park, 2009; Lee et al., 2009; Leong & Zachar, 1999; Luu, Leung, & Nash, 2009; Masuda et al., 2009; Ting & Hwang, 2009). Although each Asian group has a unique immigration history and acculturation stage, most of them have been influenced by Confucian teachings and philosophies of collectivist tradition, which discourage emotional expressions in order to avoid disclosure of personal weakness and/or maintain harmony in family and society (Kim & Park, 2009; Lin & Cheung, 1999). As a result, since keeping the public appearance of the individual and family is extremely important to them (Kim & Park, 2009; Surgeon General, 2001), even when mental health services are needed Asians are unlikely to seek help from mental health professionals due to stigma.

Although individual susceptibility to burnout within a similar structural context is well-documented in other helping professions, little is known about the relationship between personal attributes and burnout in social work. Furthermore, despite a large number of entering MSW students with prior work experience, there is a paucity of research documenting the burnout phenomenon among them. By using a sample of MSW students with prior work experience (N=60), the current study examined the effect of personal attributes on burnout (i.e., overidentification tendency, trait anxiety, and emotional contagion). Findings imply that burnout depends on personal attributes, rooted in cognitive role-taking levels, and that emotional contagion has a significant role in burnout. Implications for social work education and practice are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

In this study, the attitudes toward and beliefs about serious mental illness (SMI) held by a group of graduate social work students in the northwestern United States were examined. Mental health stigma was examined with relation to the following factors: participants' level of social contact with SMI populations, adherence to stereotypes about SMI populations, belief in the ability to recover from SMI, and the belief that SMI defines an individual's identity. Measures used to identify mental health stigma included the desire for social distance and restrictions with relation to the SMI population. Survey results from 71 graduate social work students found that a significant number of participants who engaged in friendships with SMI-diagnosed individuals had less desire for social distance from and restrictions toward SMI populations. Participants who indicated that they believed in stereotypes of dangerousness and believed that SMI defines an individual's identity were more likely to express desire for both social distance and restrictions. Implications for social work and further research on the matter are discussed.

With the demographic shifts the United States faces, understanding the contributing factors to mental well-being among minority college students is crucial. This study examines the roles of parental and peer attachment, intergenerational conflict, and perceived racial discrimination on depressive symptoms while also analyzing the mediational role of sense of coherence (SOC) on depressive symptoms in Vietnamese American college students. Results from 134 Vietnamese American students surveyed showed that higher levels of parental and peer attachment predicted lower depressive symptoms; SOC partially mediated the effect of parental attachment on depressive symptoms; and SOC played a full mediational role via perceived racial discrimination on depressive symptoms. These findings provide implications for interventions targeting Vietnamese American students at institutions of higher education. (Contains 2 tables.)

The study examined variation in the prediction of adjustment in Taiwanese students by ethnic density. A total of 155 Taiwanese students were assessed via survey pre-departure and three times post-arrival in the United States. Hierarchical regression analysis showed students on campuses with fewer other Taiwanese peers formed more friendships with Americans and developed greater English competence by the second semester than those on campuses with more Taiwanese students. Furthermore, homesickness, affiliation with Americans, and English competence in the second semester predicted functional adjustment in the third semester among students at moderate ethnic density schools, while baseline English competence alone predicted adjustment in students on high ethnic density campuses. Implications for facilitating cross-cultural adjustment are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

The study assessed variation in cultural orientation among Asian American adolescents by age and ethnic density in the community. A total of 128 students at a public high school in Oakland, California, participated in the study. Of these early and middle adolescents, 86 were Chinese American and 42 were Southeast Asian American. They completed the General Ethnicity Questionnaire-Ethnic and American versions, which assessed cultural orientation in the domains of cultural pride, language, social affiliation, food, and recreation. Middle adolescents reported a stronger ethnic orientation in the domains of social affiliation and recreation and weaker American orientation in the domains of food and language use (English) than early adolescents. Furthermore, Chinese Americans, residing in an ethnically dense community, reported a stronger ethnic orientation in the domains of language and food and a weaker American orientation in language than their Southeast Asian American peers with less access to their ethnic community. (Contains 5 tables.)

Informed by acculturation, ecological, and social capital theories, the study examined the contribution of parental acculturation, parental involvement, and intergenerational relationship to well-being in Southeast Asian American adolescents. Using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, 491 Southeast Asian American adolescents and their parents comprised the sample. Path analysis showed that parental involvement fully mediated the effect of parental acculturation on intergenerational relationship, whereas intergenerational relationship mediated the effect of parental involvement on child outcomes. Service implications are discussed. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

A common challenge facing immigrant families is intergenerational-intercultural conflict. Social workers are in need of an easy-to-use but psychometrically sound measure to assess this phenomenon and evaluate treatment effectiveness. The Intergenerational Congruence in Immigrant Families (ICIF) Scale was created for this purpose. The ICIF has two parallel versions, one to assess the perspective of the parent (ICIF-Parent Scale) and the other to assess the perspective of the adolescent or young adult children of immigrants (ICIF-Child Scale, or ICIF-CS) of the intergenerational relationship. As Southeast Asian American refugee families are at increased risk of intergenerational-intercultural conflict, the current study assesses the psychometric properties of the ICIF-CS in 188 Southeast Asian American college students with refugee parents. The ICIF-CS was found to be a unidimensional measure with high internal reliability. Its construct validity was supported by its positive association with parental attachment and self-esteem and negative association with family conflict and depressive symptom level.

There are nearly 2 million Southeast Asians (SEAs) currently living in the United States. The overwhelming majority are refugees from the Southeast Asian wars and political turmoil in the latter half of the 20th century. While an abundance of literature has documented the significant war-related traumas that SEA refugees have suffered, very little is known about the transmission of trauma in these families. This phenomenon deserves our attention because children of SEA refugees may suffer negative mental health consequences through the intergenerational transmission of trauma. This paper empirically examined the effect of parental trauma on SEA American late adolescents' sense of coherence, as mediated by parent-child attachment. The findings demonstrated the deleterious effect of parental trauma on attachment and their offsprings' sense of coherence. Further, attachment mediated the effect of parental trauma on adolescent's sense of coherence. The findings demonstrate the reality that what happened in one generation will affect what happens in the following generation and emphasize the importance of working with SEA populations using a family system approach. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)