Experiences of Reunification Between Older Chinese Immigrant Youth and Their Biological Parents

Background and Purpose:

The past three decades has yielded increased research about transnational families, however qualitative social work literature about the experiences of Chinese families, especially from the youths’ perspectives, is still limited. A steady number of Chinese migrants have come to Canada since the 1990s, and for some families, children are left behind for prolonged periods in their country of origin while their parents settle first in their new home. This study takes a phenomenological approach to examine the experiences of older Chinese adolescent immigrants who are reunifying with their biological parents in Canada. Study objectives include learning about what helps during reunification, and discovering how social workers can support these youth and their families during the transition period and beyond. Research questions included asking about: experiences of separation and reunion with biological parents; experiences of coming to Canada; how the adolescent was told and/or prepared for migration; how cultural values or beliefs helped navigate the new environment; and what coping mechanisms or supports were helpful.

Methods:

Fourteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with immigrant youth (ages 18-24; mean age at arrival was 17.4 years old) who identified as ethnic Chinese people from Hong Kong (21%), Taiwan (7%) or China (72%). Nine participants identified as female (65%) and five participants identified as male (35%). All had at least one parent who had come to Canada before them and had been separated for a minimum of one year. Participants were recruited via flyers and social media from post-secondary institutions in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, Canada. All interviews were transcribed either from audio or from live interview, verbatim. Open coding of the first six interviews in Atlas.ti yielded 1029 codes, which were categorized into 46 families. These families of codes guided the immersion/crystallization method (Borkan, 1999) for thematic analysis.

Results:

Half of the participants described challenges acclimatizing to living with their parents again. Older adolescents seemed to encounter less challenge as compared to those who arrived at a younger age, which is possibly attributed to an established sense of self and not experiencing the same pressure to be bicultural. Participants who had been separated for longer periods seemed to experience more struggle. Participants also described few details about how they were told about coming to Canada. In terms of adjustment, themes included new peer relationships, experiences of discrimination and perceptions of the Canadian education system. Cultural values did play a role in how people coped with the transition and other coping mechanisms, including the role of social workers, will also be highlighted.

Conclusions and Implications:

Findings demonstrate Chinese immigrant youths’ resilience and capacity to cope with the enormous transitions when reunifying with their parents. Social workers can assist in schools, community agencies and therapy settings. Future directions for social work research will be discussed, as well as the influence of the researcher’s own social location as a Chinese, Canadian-born person.

Borkan, J. (1999). Immersion/crystallization. In B.F. Crabtree & W.L. Miller (Eds.), Doing qualitative research (2^nd ed.) (pp. 179-194). USA: Sage Publications.