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The aging of immigrants is a critical component in the health dynamics of the nation's aging population. To date, few studies have addressed within-group diversity and linked contemporary contexts of global connectedness with the aging experiences of older immigrants. This study aims to conceptually understand the diversity in aging dynamics within a specific immigrant group: Indian immigrants in New York City. The impact of globalization and transnational connection on aging experiences on 2 within groups-Indians who came to the United States at age of 65 or older (LLIs) and those who came at an early age (ELIs) are analyzed. Implications for social work practice, research and policy are discussed.

This community-based, qualitative study explored social capital resources and their influences upon HIV risk behaviors in a sample of 17 heterosexual Asian Indian immigrant men residing in New York City. Our study defined social capital as the resources available to individuals and society through social relationships. At the family, peer, and community levels, social capital's influence appeared to reduce acculturative stress and HIV risks. However, participants who lacked sexually transmitted infection and HIV transmission knowledge and/or sought peer solidarity through adherence to negative peer norms (e.g., alcohol use with sex) had elevated sexual risks for HIV. These findings suggest the promise of a social capital approach in the development of HIV prevention programs, as well as the need for HIV risk and social capital researchers to examine multiple systems of social relationships in sociocultural context.

Health-related behavior is a function of the sociocultural and environmental contexts in which it occurs. With South Asian immigrants, a comprehensive approach that focuses on community and individual factors may be more effective than an individualistic one. This article explores the factors that may influence HIV/AIDS-related health care seeking by South Asian immigrants to the United States. It focuses on South Asians from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. The need to involve the community in any intervention process is discussed. An understanding of the determinants of HIV-related health care seeking and behavioral change factors can help social work practitioners develop effective interventions for and with South Asian immigrants.

This study retrospectively explored the links between preimmigration beliefs of life success and postimmigration experiences and their influence on acculturative stress among a group of parents who recently immigrated with their children from three non-English speaking countries-Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan-to the United States. The respondents, 75 sets of parents residing in New York City, participated in semistructured qualitative interviews. Discrepancies between the parents' anticipated life success in the United States and actual experiences after immigration were associated with the parents' expectations of their children fulfilling parents' own dreams of success. Two criteria specific to Asian culture that guided parental expectations were the responsibility of children in enhancing family pride and the role of education as a way to advance through the social class and the caste systems. Implications for understanding immigrant parents' sociocultural contexts, the potential negative impact of unrealistic expectations on children's development, and the significance of acculturative stress for parents as well as their children were discussed.

Immigrant parents and their U.S.-born children may experience stressful family conflicts over the disparate sociocultural norms of the United States and their country of origin. Such stresses may heighten adolescents' vulnerability to drug abuse. This article documents the extent of drug use in a sample of 200 U.S.-born Asian Indian adolescents. According to the study participants' self-reports on lifetime use, 28 percent had used alcohol on at least one occasion, 16.5 percent had used cigarettes, and 2.5 percent had used marijuana. Adolescents who placed importance on their parents' drug abuse prevention messages tended not to use drugs. The implications of the study's findings for drug abuse assessment, treatment, and prevention are discussed.

This study examined the school adjustment process among South Asian children who had immigrated to the United States with their parents, and who had below-average grades. Both risk and protective factors for dropping out of school were explored in the context of the traditions, familial values, and social norms of South Asians. Data were collected from 75 parents and 75 children in separate semistructured interviews. Content analysis revealed three major themes: congruence of the parents' and school's views on the value of education, congruence of the parents' and children's beliefs that education is the tool to achieve goals, and determination of the children to achieve goals. The low level of proficiency in English was found to be a critical factor in low achievement and school failure. It was concluded that parental encouragement to succeed, in conjunction with teachers' efforts, can be used to facilitate children's school adjustment. Strategies for assisting immigrant children are discussed.