Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 2:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Asian Americans: No Model Minority

The Impact of Parental Trauama on Psychological Well-Being in Southeast Asian American Young Adults

Purpose: Of the over the one million Southeast Asians (SEAs) living in the United States today, the overwhelming majority are refugees from the Southeast Asian wars and political turmoil in the latter half of the 20th century. The phenomenon of transgenerational traumatization has been empirically demonstrated in Holocaust survivors and their offsprings. While an abundant 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 deserves our attention because children of SEA refugees may suffer negative mental health consequences through intergenerational transmission of trauma. The current study empirically examines the effects of parental trauma on Southeast Asian American (SEAA) young adults' competence (as operationalized by sense of coherence), as mediated by parent-child attachment. Specifically, it was hypothesized that 1. parental trauma would diminish parent-child attachment; 2. parental trauma would decrease the young adults' sense of competence; 3. attachment would enhance their competence; and 4. attachment would mediate the negative effect of parental trauma on the young adults' competence.

Method: A purposive sample of 107 SEAA undergraduates attending a public university in Northern California were recruited through SEA student organizations, via flyers, and by word of mouth. Students completed a 'paper and pencil' survey. Of these, females accounted for 73% of the sample, and the majority were Vietnamese (66%), followed by Cambodian (22%), and Laotians (12%). More than half of the participants (57%) reported an annual family income below $50,000. Extent of parental trauma was measured by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, attachment was measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument, and sense of coherence was measured by a shortened version of Antonovsky's instrument that assessed the degree to which individuals experienced their world as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful.

Results: Using multiple regression analysis and controlling for ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status, all four hypotheses were supported. More extensive parental trauma was negatively associated with parent-child attachment (standardized beta = -.21, p=.04) and lower sense of coherence (standardized beta = -.24, p=.01). Furthermore, parent-child attachment was positively associated with sense of coherence (standardized beta = .25, p=.01). Finally, the mediating role of attachment was supported as parental trauma was no longer a significant predictor in the coherence model, once attachment was included (standardized beta =.21, p=.04).

Implications: The findings demonstrated the negative consequences of parental trauma on attachment and their offsprings' competence. While significant research has documented the deleterious effects of the traumas on the victims, much more research is needed in understanding their impact on the next generation. Furthermore, these findings suggest the importance of mental health interventions for both SEA refugees and their children.

See more of Asian Americans: No Model Minority
See more of Symposium

See more of Celebrating a Decade of SSWR (January 13 - 16, 2005)