Identity‐Based Discussion Groups: A Means of Providing Outreach and Support for Asian Pacific American Students

This article explores the psychological issues experienced by Asian Pacific American students, illustrating the need to provide culturally relevant interventions. Cultural identity issues experienced by many of these students are salient challenges that can lead to psychological distress. Because some students avoid traditional counseling, discussion groups may be a viable method of outreach. Group formats from 2 universities are presented to illustrate the relevancy and efficacy of the approach. ********** Ethnic identity issues, cultural dissonance, and other complex psychological issues experienced by Asian Pacific American (APA) college students are salient developmental challenges that can lead to psychological distress if unaddressed. These same cultural factors make group discussion protocols a viable intervention in responding to psychological crises or creating institutional change. Examples of these programs at Brown and Duke universities are used to illustrate group design and efficacy. APA College Students and Mental Health APA individuals were once considered the "model minority" (Petersen, 1966, p. 21), held up to other people of color as an example of highly successful individuals needing little psychological support. Utilization rates of mental health treatment for this group have been consistently lower than those of other minority populations (Durvasula & Sue, 1996), and these low rates of help seeking have often been cited to support model minority claims despite other research findings suggesting that APA students actually experience high levels of distress. For example, researchers have reported unusually high rates of depression (Kuo, 1984) and suicide (Yu, Chang, Liu, & Fernandez, 1989) among APA youth, along with higher scores than those for White students on measures determining suicidal risk (E. C. Chang, 1998). Although, for cultural reasons, many APA students do not readily seek treatment (T. Chang & Chang, 2004), when they do enter treatment, their degree of distress tends to be significantly higher than that for other populations (Durvasula & Sue, 1996). Even APA students who arc not experiencing diagnosable mental disorders may be experiencing some degree of emotional distress. APA 1st-year students were found to experience lower self-appraisals in social and career spheres than were their White and African American peers (Chung & Sedlacek, 1999), and APA students reported greater social isolation on their campuses than did other groups (Bennett & Okinaka, 1990). In particular, when APA students come from families that have recently arrived in the United States, often they experience adjustment concerns associated with cultural dissonance (Wilton & Constantine, 2003). For example, Iwamasa and Kooreman (1995) found that APA college students experiencing lower levels of acculturation also were experiencing greater emotional distress. The Saliency of Ethnic Identity Ethnic identity issues are an important consideration associated with ethnic minority group members' psychological wellness and sense of positive self-concept (Helms, 1986). For example, Griffith (1995) reported that when students of color confront environments that are invalidating to cultural or racial differences, or when internalized White standards promote feelings of inadequacy among cultural minority students, their ability to develop positive racial identity is diminished (Griffith, 1995). In fact, researchers have reported that APA students (Alvarez & Yeh, 1999) and other minority students (Griffith, 1995) on college and university campuses in the United States often experience hostility, disregard, or negative stereotyping. On college campuses, where cultural bias or a lack of support for diverse cultural identities are present, disparities between the dominant culture and traditional APA values may contribute to negative self-concept and psychological distress among otherwise well-functioning students (Dunbar, Liu, & Horvath, 1995). …