This study retrospectively explored the links between preimmigration beliefs of life success and postimmigration experiences and their influence on acculturative stress among a group of parents who recently immigrated with their children from three non-English speaking countries-Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan-to the United States. The respondents, 75 sets of parents residing in New York City, participated in semistructured qualitative interviews. Discrepancies between the parents' anticipated life success in the United States and actual experiences after immigration were associated with the parents' expectations of their children fulfilling parents' own dreams of success. Two criteria specific to Asian culture that guided parental expectations were the responsibility of children in enhancing family pride and the role of education as a way to advance through the social class and the caste systems. Implications for understanding immigrant parents' sociocultural contexts, the potential negative impact of unrealistic expectations on children's development, and the significance of acculturative stress for parents as well as their children were discussed.

This article examines sociocultural expectations of sexual behavior and the reasons why not using condoms may be logical to married heterosexual couples in India. Married women who report monogamous sexual relationships with their husbands are a high-risk group for HIV infection in India. Based on the public health model and a population-based perspective on HIV infection prevention, this article illustrates the underlying mechanisms that link the role of women in society, holistic health beliefs, and cultural beliefs about the transmission of HIV with the precursors to nonuse of condoms. The author concludes that promoting condom use requires an emphasis on family health, not only as contraceptives. Challenges for reducing the social stigma and developing a comprehensive policy on HIV prevention and AIDS treatment and care are discussed.

This qualitative study explored the underlying psychosocial factors and conditions that may influence type 2 diabetes (T2D) self-management among adult T2D-diagnosed African Americans in the Arkansas Delta. Listening to participants' narratives in their own voices provided meaningful insights in their real-life experiences of T2D-related psychological and emotional challenges in African American social cultural contexts. Self-determination theory was used to conceptualize the participants' motivations for making health behavior changes. Using purposive sampling, 31 participants total (16 women and 15 men) were interviewed. The study participants described their (1) concern over prescribed dietary and physical exercise guidelines as impractical and culturally not relevant to them; (2) doubts over the availability of social supports necessary to implement T2D self-management; and (3) fatalistic expectations of negative outcomes that undermined their self-motivation to follow self-management guidelines. Specific strategies for developing culturally competent T2D self management guidelines and community-based communication outreach initiatives are discussed.

This qualitative study explored underlying factors influencing the promotion of type 2 diabetes (T2D) self-management among adult African Americans diagnosed with T2D in the Arkansas Delta. Our narrative approach gathered insights in the participants' own voices and placed their T2D self-management experiences in social-cultural-historical contexts. Using purposive sampling, 31 participants (16 women and 15 men) were selected and interviewed. The participants showed low awareness of T2D's chronic nature because of its asymptomatic or nonspecific symptoms. They interpreted medically prescribed dietary and physical exercise guidelines as impractical and culturally irrelevant for them. Medication non-adherence was due to inadequate knowledge and awareness of T2D as a chronic disease, and suspicion and mistrust of the formal medical system. To develop culturally-targeted interventions to advance self-management outcomes, we must understand from and with African Americans the strengths of social-cultural contexts in which they live and make their health behavior choices. Engaging African Americans diagnosed with T2D in community-based programs may be a promising approach.

This community-based, qualitative study explored social capital resources and their influences upon HIV risk behaviors in a sample of 17 heterosexual Asian Indian immigrant men residing in New York City. Our study defined social capital as the resources available to individuals and society through social relationships. At the family, peer, and community levels, social capital's influence appeared to reduce acculturative stress and HIV risks. However, participants who lacked sexually transmitted infection and HIV transmission knowledge and/or sought peer solidarity through adherence to negative peer norms (e.g., alcohol use with sex) had elevated sexual risks for HIV. These findings suggest the promise of a social capital approach in the development of HIV prevention programs, as well as the need for HIV risk and social capital researchers to examine multiple systems of social relationships in sociocultural context.