Citation

Pyke K. J. Marriage Fam. 2004; 62(1): 240-255.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, National Council on Family Relations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00240.x

PMID

unavailable

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.

Language: en