Does The Model Minority Stereotypes Affect The Mental Health Of Asian Americans?

In the selected readings that we were asked to do as a class, the most pertinent and interesting chapter that stood out to me was Chapter 38, “The Model Minority Myth”. In this chapter, the main subject of discussion is Asian Americans. In this discussion, the chapter tackles the discrimination that Asian Americans face due to the perception of media caricatures of them in the past as many other minorities have also had to unjustly endure. This in turn has made it harder for honest, hardworking minorities to shed the giant bullseye known as stereotyping from their backs. It can be noted that this model perception is in fact a stereotype that has easily hindered Asian Americans.

Asian-Americans have a stigma of being society’s “model minority.” The notion that is perceived of them being well off and successful is justified by their outstanding achievements and studies in school. However, Pan Suk Kim argues just how precarious this sentiment is. Not every Asian-American is well off and successful like how society depicts them to be. Kim’s main claim is that calling Asian-Americans a “model minority” disguises the diversity and discrimination that still goes on for many Asian-Americans today and it impacts many aspects of life for them like searching for jobs, getting promotions, etc.

Bernadette Lim, Harvard Undergraduate student, in her article, Model Minority" Seems like a Compliment, but It Does Great Harm, raises awareness that the term “Model Minority” does a lot of harm despite it’s positive connotation. The author points out the fact that many southeast Asian minorities are in poverty rates. Included in the southeast Asian category, there is a 40-50% drop out rate. Asian American female students have the highest suicide rates among college students from the pressure of performing really well. This article also points out a threat of Asian Americans in the college admissions process where Asian Americans are perceived as a threat to other applicants. It implies that society wants a control to racial contents where they only want enough that serves the main interest of society. When you are harming the mobility of mainstream Americans, you’re viewed as threatening. Harming, in the case, is Asian Americans taking the spots of college placements for “actual” or Caucasian American students.

“Hey you’re good at math”, “Hey you’re dumb for an Asian”, “Well of course he’s good at that, he’s Asian”. These are the phrases that defined my childhood and still are relevant to my daily life. These are phrases are a part of what society calls today “The Model Minority Myth”. This all started during World War II, where Chinese and Japanese Americans adopted a plan to promote assimilation with the American people. With this plan, they succeeded in proving to America, that they worked harder, were more focused on education to gain their success. While the other minorities protest to get civil rights, the Asians gained their rights by just

Due to Asian’s cultural values, it prevented them from becoming a “problem minority” and caused an argument from a study that argued African American communities can achieve similar success by complying with the rules and focusing on education (Shin). The model minority stereotypes impact on the Asian American and Black communities by stereotyping Asian Americans as the model minority which causes excessive pressure placed onto them and comparing them to African Americans to assimilate to the same traits despite both the communities being held back due being the

This stereotype impacts the well-being of Asian Americans because it is portrayed that Asian men cannot do anything else besides studying. This can cause mental health problems. The term minority stands for "lesser". So, Asian Americans being termed the model minority or lesser has impacted Asian Americans well-being because of racism causes the formation, the framing, the model minority myth, being high achievements, and the negative effects on individuals or a group who are stereotyped.

As you mentioned, I also think the stereotype of Asian Americans being perfect stem from the Asian culture itself that values on hard work and academic success. Because of this cultural value, Asian American parents expect their children to be a ‘straight As’ student and enter an elite college. In the past, as a minority in the U.S., the Asian Americans had to work harder than anyone in order to fully exert their power in the society. Having a better education and high-paid job have been the best way to get recognition from others, therefore, they have been focusing on academic accomplishment for better life. The stereotype of Asian Americans being geeky or nerdy shown in American films can be the portrayal of this American Asian cultural value.

Asian ethnicity, an ethnic group growing faster than any other in this country today (Lee, Martins, & Lee, 2015). Unfortunately, many Asian Americans perceive a mental illness diagnosis as shameful (Cheon and Chiao, 2012). As a result, many who suffer from mental illness in this community are often sequestered and do not receive mental health care services (Cheon and Chiao, 2012). As there are many different subgroups within Asian American culture, stigma, use of mental health services, access to care, and compliance rates tend to vary (Purnell, 2013). For instance, Chinese Americans view mental illness as more of a

All Asian Americans are good at math, or at least that’s what I heard. They are also good at anything involving technology, science, and medicine. They study all the time, work really hard and live a version of the American dream I never thought to dream of. Afterall they’re Asian, their parents wouldn’t allow for anything less. In his article “The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority” the ethnic studies expert Ronald Takaki writes about the idea that Asian Americans are more successful than other American minority groups. Takaki refutes this idea using reason and statistics to show that Asian Americans still face some of the same hardships and barriers as every other racially defined group in America.

Even though the stereotype that Asian Americans are high academic achievers comes across as being relatively positive toward Asian Americans, there are a number of negative consequences that result because of this belief. First, this stereotype can negatively affect the mental health status of Asian Americans by increasing the probability for the development of psychological disorders, including those relating to anxiety or depression. For instance, a study by Owens, Stevenson, Hadwin, and Norgate (2012), which evaluated the effects of anxiety and depression on working memory and executive processing of the brain with regard to test performance, found a positive relationship among factors of anxiety (e.g., negative affect, worry) and tasks

Everyone feels pressured to excel in school, and this is especially true for Asian American students. The stereotype that all Asians are smart is a common label that defines the model minority stereotype. It consists of Asians being labeled as one group where they are all intelligent in the sense of being naturally good at math, science, and technology, as well as being hard-working, self-reliant, uncomplaining, and never in need of help from anyone (“Model Minority Stereotype”). This racial stereotype has an adverse influence on college admissions, increases academic struggling, and raises mental health issues. Although the model minority stereotype may seem positive because it portrays Asian Americans as geniuses, it is actually quite harmful.

According to Spencer et al. Asian Americans often stigmatize mental health. As a result many individuals forgo taking advantage of mental health services because it promotes cultural feelings of shame or embarrassment.2 The article analyzed the connection between discrimination and the usage of mental health services on a national sample of Asian Americans.

One of the most critical stereotypes or perceptions of the Asian culture or minority is that they are not associated with crime and violence. Those are the more significant traits that this minority group has or does not have. However, the Asian minority is linked to attributes such as hard-working, disciplined, mathematical, smart, motivated, and gifted. White American views this minority group as more fitted for education, driven, with the possibilities for achieving greater success than themselves. This perspective was also echoed in the Black, Native American, and Hispanic communities concurring that the Asian race was, in fact, the model minority and the acceptance stretched across racial/ethnic lines(Franklin & Fearn, 2010). The Immigration

There is a model minority group called “Combating the stereotype,” which is based on ethnicity, race, or religion whose members are to achieve a higher degree on socioeconomic success than the population average. There is a myth that other races should not counted for and the Asian Americans are successful in life. Asian Americans are usually denied assistance if they need help in some ways. When Asian Americans are discriminated their society and their achievements are undstandable and ignored. Asian Americans are percepted of high income level and

In his essay “Paper Tigers,” Wesley Yang discusses his own experiences as an Asian American, tying them into the larger picture of Asians functioning in American society today. Yang’s argument is that even though Asian Americans are one of the most successful ethnicities in the country, stereotypes that Asian Americans are exposed to affect the way other Americans view them. Because of personal bias and racism, human society fails to see other people for who they are and put too much emphasis on what they are supposed to or not supposed to be in America today. Stereotypes cloud people’s vision and judgment and keep some from achieving their goals because others have a pre-created