News – Page 15 – Asian American Psychological Association

Oct 03 2015

50th Anniversary of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

By Announcements

October 3, 2015 marks the fifty-year anniversary of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This law holds great significance for many Asian Americans because it abolished the quotas based on national origin. Prior to this act, people from China, Japan, India, the Philippines, and other Asian countries were targeted by the Asian Exclusion Act, which limited their immigration and naturalization in the United States.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened the doors for highly educated and highly skilled workforce to immigrate to the U.S. from Asian countries. To highlight the ways that this Act have shaped our families and our nation, AAPA members will be sharing their stories about how the Act has impacted their families. Please add your stories to the conversation on Facebook and @AAPAOnline. Together, we can raise awareness of how immigration laws that are welcoming to the diversity of this country create a stronger, richer, and inclusive nation. #1965ImmigrationAct

Sep 21 2015

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$100 off to post on new AAPA jobs board, ends 9/30!

By Announcements

The AAPA website has launched a Job Board posting service at https://jobs.aapaonline.org! You can reach this job board via a single click on “Visit Our Job Board” button on the top right corner of our website home page, or directly at AAPA Jobs.

Jobs can be posted for 30 Days for $100, 60 days for $180, and 90 days for $250. And to celebrate the launch of this new feature, we are offering a $100 off promotion for a new job posting until September 30th.

The AAPA Job Board also hosts a resume posting service — this benefit is only open to AAPA members.

Now — we need your help to make this job board a successful site. Please spread the word! For those who have shared ads for job openings at your institutions via our AAPA members email group, please let your employers know that we now offer this new job posting service (which is open to public) and that we have a promotion during the month of September — any job posted during the month of September with the discount code will remain visible for 30 days from the date of posting for no fee!

We encourage AAPA members seeking jobs to take advantage of the new member benefit and post their resumes or CVs on this site.

AAPA members may continue to share job ads on our email group, but please limit the forwarding to just one time for each job.

If you have any questions contact our Communications Officer Steph Pituc at stephpituc@gmail.com.

All the Best,
AAPA-EC

Sep 17 2015

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AAPA Statement on Xenophobia Targeting Scientists

By News, Statements

The Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA) condemns the recent arrest and school suspension of a Texas 14-year old student, Ahmed Mohamed, for bringing a self-initiated engineering project to school that the school authorities and the local police believed to be a bomb. We are heartened by the chorus of support for Ahmed, and we hope that his ingenuity and interest in the sciences will continue to be encouraged and nurtured despite this incident of egregious injustice.

We believe Ahmed’s case represents a wider climate of fear pervading our nation that disproportionately targets scientists of color and scientists of immigrant origin as possible suspects in espionage and terror. Just recently, Professor Xiaoxing Xi, a former chair of Temple University’s physics department, was arrested and accused of sharing sensitive data with Chinese scientists. In 2014, Sherry Chen, a Chinese American hydrologist at the U.S. National Weather Service, was accused passing on information about American dams to China and lying about meeting with a high-ranking Chinese official. In both cases, Prof. Xi and Ms. Chen – who are both American citizens – were arrested and led away in handcuffs and suffered devastating effects of unjust incarceration. Both scientists were cleared of espionage-related charges and all other charges, yet both incidents clearly jeopardized the work and family lives of the scientists. Despite being cleared of charges, Ms. Chen was dismissed from her government job and Dr. Chen was relieved of his chairmanship at the department. These cases are reminiscent of the wrongful persecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, another Chinese American scientist accused of espionage in 1999.

As a national psychology organization committed to promoting the well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, we express our concern that scientists and budding scientists of immigrant origin are being targeted unfairly because of their race, ethnicity, and/or religion. There is ample evidence from psychological research that Asian Americans and others of immigrant origins are seen as “foreign” regardless of their citizenship status. These “forever foreigner” stereotypes, when applied to scientists, can have devastating effects not only on the scientists themselves but also on AAPI communities and scientific communities more broadly. Asian American and Pacific Islander Americans are diasporic communities with kinship and cultural ties to Asia and beyond. Scientific progress rests on collaborations within and across borders. And students who dream of future careers in STEM fields must be encouraged rather than criminalized. We call on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the possible ethnic bias in the arrests of multiple scientists of immigrant origins. We call for schools to engage in open dialogue with families and community about their experience with the schools and a transparent and critical review of disciplinary actions against students of color. Finally, we stand with our communities of color to promote greater awareness of the damages that xenophobia and racial stereotypes can inflict on our society.

[AAPA Statement on Xenophobia Targeting Scientists]

Sep 13 2015

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AAJP September 2015 Feature Article and TOC

By AAJP, Announcements, Member Spotlight, Research

The Asian American Journal of Psychology (AAJP) Editorial Board is pleased to share the contents of the September 2015 issue. The Feature Article for this issue is Racial Identity Profiles of Asian‐White Biracial Young Adults: Testing a Theoretical Model With Cultural and Psychological Correlates.

Dr. Chong was interviewed by AAPA and Division on Students member, Chak Wong. Learn more about Dr. Chong and the inspiration for this study below. You can also peruse the rest of the issue’s Table of Contents.

Q & A with Dr. Vanessa Chong

Dr. Vanessa Chong

General Background:
Dr. Vanessa Chong, PhD grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and attended graduate school for Clinical Psychology at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, where she became interested in cross-cultural research. Particularly, her master’s thesis explored the perceived acculturation discrepancies between Asian-Canadian young adults and their parents how family variables correlated with psychological adjustment. Her Asian-White biracial Canadian identity sparked further exploration of the extent to which Asian-White biracial experiences are similar and different from monoracial Asian individuals. In collaboration with her supervisor, Dr. Ben Kuo PhD, a full professor at the University of Windsor, her doctoral research (a portion of which was recently published in the AAJP) utilized a mixed methods study to investigate the interrelationships between biracial identity, family variables, psychological adjustment, and internalized oppression. Currently, she is working as a Clinical Psychologist in a community mental health clinic in Calgary.

How did you become interested in this topic?
Psychology researchers are known for studying themselves, and I was no exception! I primarily became interested in this topic due to my own experiences with growing up as a biracial individual. Although interracial marriages and biracial children are becoming increasingly common, when I was growing up, my sister and I were the only biracial kids in our school. Being biracial truly shaped our growing up years. I can vividly remember an encounter when I was about 6 when my sister and I were in a mall and a homeless man insisted on giving us each $5 “for the children of Vietnam.” He had assumed that our White mother must have adopted us because we didn’t look like her! I have always been curious about whether other biracial people had similar experiences.

Can you tell us a little bit about your current line of research?
In my current work I am primarily a clinician, but I believe that an important part of being a good Psychologist is applying research to clinical practice. I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with a number of clients from various ethnic backgrounds, including some biracial clients. I think it is especially important to discuss and normalize the biracial identity development process in therapy, as it can sometimes be complicated and challenging. There are some experiences that are unique to biracial individuals and should be discussed in therapy,. Coming to terms with one’s racial identity is a therapy goal that can be overlooked. In addition, my research looks at internalized oppression. I find it interesting that this is a relatively common experience among both monoracial minorities and biracial individuals, yet there is relatively little research on this topic. What’s more, it is a topic that clients may not bring up in therapy, as they may have shame associated with it. In the future, I may consider publishing some really interesting qualitative data on internalized oppression from my dissertation.

Any interesting tidbits you would like to share?
My research on Asian-White biracial individuals has been a really personally meaningful endeavor. I was able to collect a large amount of data from a fairly large sample (330 participants) from all over the US and Canada in a span of only three months. My participants were eager to answer questions about their experiences, and I actually received several messages thanking me for doing this research. I think this is because biracial people are so rarely studied and a common experience for biracial people involves feeling overlooked and not included. I feel honored that I was able to give them a voice through my research. In doing this research, I also felt increasingly connected to a community of people that I didn’t even know I was part of! This research helped me in my own journey of biracial identity development and, because of that, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

(Interview by Chak Wong, AAPA and Division on Students Member)

ASIAN AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY
Table of Contents – June 2015

Feature Article: Racial Identity Profiles of Asian‐White Biracial Young Adults: Testing a Theoretical Model With Cultural and Psychological Correlates
Vanessa Chong and Ben C.H. Kuo

Moderating Effects of Perceived Language Discrimination on Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese International Students
Meifen Wei; Ya-Shu Liang; Yi Du; Raquel Botello and Chun-I Li

Asian Values, Personal and Family Perfectionism, and Mental Health Among Asian Indians in the United States
Bindu Methikalam; Kenneth T. Wang; Robert B. Slaney and Jeffrey G. Yeung

Maternal Meta‐Emotion and Child Socio‐Emotional Functioning In Immigrant Indian and White American Families
Suchi S. Daga; Vaishali V. Raval and Stacey P. Raj

Asian American Phenotypicality and Experiences of Psychological Distress: More Than Meets the Eyes
Matthew Lee and Christina J. Thai

Changes in Academic Aspirations and Expectations Among Asian American Adolescents
Lisa Kiang; Melissa Witkow; Laura Gonzalez; Gabriela Stein and Kandace Andrews

The Sociocultural Context of Caregiving Experiences for Vietnamese Dementia Family Caregivers
Oanh L. Meyer; Kim Hanh Nguyen; To Nhu Dao; Phuoc Vu; Patricia Arean and Ladson Hinton

Pathways Among Asian Americans’ Family Ethnic Socialization, Ethnic Identity, and Psychological Well‐Being: A Multigroup Mediation Model
Chi P. Nguyen; Y. Joel Wong; Linda Juang and Irene J.K. Park

A Long‐Term Therapeutic Journey With an Asian “Parachute Kid”
Teresa A. Mok

Book Review: Brown Skin, White Minds: Filipino‐American Postcolonial Psychology
Gauthamie Poolokasingham

Sep 01 2015

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Gratitude and Greetings: AAPA EC Transitions

By Announcements, Member Spotlight, News

On September 1st, several members of the 2013-2015 AAPA Executive Committee will be passing the torches to their successors. AAPA thanks Jocelyn Buhain and Nellie Tran for their service on the Board of Directors and to Kelly Liao as Finance Officer.

Joceyln Buhain, Ph.D.

Nellie Tran, Ph.D.

Kelly Liao, Ph.D.

Joining the Board of Directors for 2015-2017 will be Glenn Matsuda and Ulash Dunlap, and Razia Kosa will serve as Finance Officer.

Razia Kosi, LCSW-C

Ulash Dunlap, LMFT

Glenn Matsuda, Ph.D.

Please join in special thanks to 2013-2015 President Sumie Okazaki for her leadership and vision for AAPA to “give Asian American Psychology away.” In this year’s Annual Report, Sumie summarizes how AAPA fulfilled her presidential goal to play a larger role in public and professional dialogue about the psychological experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. In the report, you can also learn more about the rest of the accomplishments of AAPA and its leadership this past year.

Last, but not least, please join in welcoming Kevin Nadal as AAPA’s 20th President! Kevin is no stranger to leadership within AAPA, having served previously as AAPA Vice-President and organizing the establishment of the Division on Filipino Americans and the Division on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning. Check out his Presidential Message on our website, detailing his threefold mission to:

Make AAPA known as the Leader in Asian American Mental Health,
Mentor and Recruit the Next Generation of Asian American Psychologists, and
Represent the Diversity of our Community

AAPA expresses deep gratitude to our outgoing officers for their service to the organization, their thoughtful discussion, and hard work. The incoming leadership will certainly build upon the accomplishments of your respective terms. We look forward with a renewed commitment to our mission to enrich and serve our community!