“The Normal American Family” as an Interpretive Structure of Family Life Among Grown Children of Korean and Vietnamese Immigrants

Abstract

This article examines the ways that children of Korean and Vietnamese immigrants describe growing up in their families and their plans for filial care. Based on an analysis of 73 in‐depth interviews, this study finds that respondents repeatedly invoked a monolithic image of the “Normal American Family” as an interpretive framework in giving meaning to their own family life. The Family served as a contrast structure in respondents' accounts of parents—and Asian parents in general—as overly strict, emotionally distant, and deficient. However, when discussing plans for filial care, respondents relied on favorable images of the close family ties associated with Asian immigrants, such as those depicted in “model minority” stereotypes. In so doing they generated positive descriptions of their families, particularly in contrast to mainstream American families. The findings suggest that narrow and ethnocentric images of the Family promulgated throughout mainstream culture compose an ideological template that can shape the desires, disappointments, and subjective realities of children of immigrant minorities.

Gender, Culture, and the Educational Choices of Second Generation Hmong American Girls

“…Thus, the American family and Western culture are normalized and serve as the ideological template for which they ascribe and measure their negative experiences in the Asian family and ethnic culture. For instance, Pyke (2000) found that the children of immigrants in her study adopted mainstream American values that included preference for parents who provided more freedom, being less strict, more liberal and open-minded, less traditional, and more emotionally expressive and affectionate. Similarly, the girls in this study equated greater personal freedom and gender equality with mainstream American culture, as they rejected and expressed their discontent of the gender norms within Hmong culture.…”

“…The racial discourse in education scholarship normalizes mainstream American culture or White middle-class America as superior while subordinating minorities and immigrants as "other" (Lee, 2005;Pyke, 2000). As mainstream American culture or whiteness is maintained as successful, those that deviate from this norm are blamed for their own plight.…”

“…While children of immigrants adopt mainstream images of the American family and culture as the norm, they perceive the Asian family and ethnic culture as deficient (Pyke, 2000). Thus, the American family and Western culture are normalized and serve as the ideological template for which they ascribe and measure their negative experiences in the Asian family and ethnic culture.…”

Exploring Adolescent-parent Relationships in Asian American Immigrant Families: An Ecological Perspective

“…Instead of expressing affection openly through words or physical affection, AA parents, compared to White European parents for example, tend to demonstrate their love and affection to their children through their instrumental support and sacrifice for their children (Chao & Tseng, 2002;Uba, 1994). However, these parenting practices may be misinterpreted by AA youth as lacking parental warmth due to their exposure to, and adoption of, mainstream American parenting practices which are usually characterized by direct and open expression of parental love and affection (Pyke, 2000;Wu & Chao, 2005).…”

Teaching Family Science Students about Immigrant Families in the U.S.: A Course to Reflect the Diversity of the Immigrant Population

“…First-generation immigrants are foreign-born individuals who immigrate to the United States as adults and often live with emotional attachment to two worlds. Their U.S.-born children are the second generation, socialized in the U.S. yet raised by the immigrant parents, both experiencing two (or three) cultures and having to deal with selfdefinition, ethnic identity formation, heritage language, and finding their place in community (e.g., Portes & Rumbaut, 2006;Pyke, 2000;Wong Fillmore, 2000). The third, or "native," generation is comprised of the U.S.-born child of U.S.-born parent(s) or the grandchild of the first-generation immigrants.…”