Transition and Change in Collectivist Family Life

Strategies for Clinical Practice with Asian Americans

This research-to-practice volume grounds clinicians in a robust, culturally-informed framework for conducting effective therapy with Asian-American couples, families, and individuals. Family, cultural, social, and spiritual dynamics are explored across ethnicities, generations, relationships, and immigrant/citizen experience to reflect a diverse, growing population. Discussion and case examples focus on contrasts, conflicts, and balances involved in acculturation and change, notably the shift from collectivist cultural tradition to a more independent view of the self, gender, choices, and relationships. The contributors’ finely shaded guidance and accessible approach will help therapists provide appropriate services for Asian-American clients without minimizing or pathologizing their experiences.

Included in the coverage:

• How Asian American couples negotiate relational harmony: collectivism and gender equality.

• Through religion: working-class Korean immigrant women negotiate patriarchy.

• The role of Chinese grandparents in their adult children’s parenting practices in the United States.

• Balancing the old and the new: the case of second generation Filipino American women.

• Bicultural identity as a protective factor among Southeast Asian American youth who have witnessed domestic violence.

Transition and Change in Collectivist Family Life is a cogent clinical resource for practitioners and mental health professionals with interests in Asian-American family therapy, psychotherapy, collectivism, and faith-based community and counseling.