By Paris Huynh, AsAmNews Intern
Mental health challenges among AANHPI youth have long been overlooked, largely due to the lack of attention and research dedicated to their unique struggles. This oversight has led to a significant gap in understanding the pressures they face and the mental health resources available to them.
The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) brought AANHPI youth into the mental health conversation with their recently released study titled “Beyond the Surface: Understanding Mental Health Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Youth.”
The study explored the unique stressors affecting AANHPI youth, highlighting potential solutions for groups that are often misunderstood and underserved.
According to the study, academics were identified as one of the most significant sources of stress for AANHPI youth. This pressure stems from the cultural expectation that success in school is the key to upward mobility and respect. This burden is often compounded by the stereotype of the model minority myth, which suggests that all AANHPI youth should excel in academics, leaving little room for failure or emotional vulnerability.
“The biggest stressor on mental health that youth reported was actually pressure to succeed, both self-imposed and from families,” explained Dr. Charissa Cheah, one of the study’s lead researchers.
The pressure to perform academically is particularly strong in immigrant families. For these youth, the weight of their parents’ sacrifices and hopes for a better life can create an overwhelming emotional burden.
Cheah also highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the mental health struggles faced by AANHPI youth. She notes that the rise in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic further complicated the process of identity development, making it harder for youth to navigate their cultural heritage in a climate of racism. The added stress of discrimination, coupled with the pressures of academic success, created a perfect storm for many AANHPI youth, intensifying feelings of isolation and anxiety.
The consequences of these pressures are reflected in troubling statistics: one in three AANHPI youth has considered or attempted suicide, a rate aligned with data from the CDC showing suicide as the leading cause of death among young AANHPI individuals, according to Cheah.
For LGBTQ+ AANHPI youth, these struggles are even more pronounced. The survey revealed that 51% of AANHPI youth who identified with the LGBTQ+ community had attempted or planned suicide, a stark contrast to the 24% of their non-LGBTQ+ peers. This alarming statistic underscores the need for greater attention to the intersectional challenges faced by LGBTQ+ youth within the AANHPI community, who are often doubly marginalized.
Cheah is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland and President of the Society for Research on Adolescence. An expert in cultural developmental science, she explores the development of youth and families, emphasizing the role of culture in shaping their experiences in her work.
Cheah migrated from Malaysia to Canada at 14.
“My core interest has always been understanding development over time, particularly in immigrant youth, and how they negotiate their identity in a context shaped by culture, racism, and the pressure to succeed.”
Kawaialoha Yamamoto, a graduate student studying to be a mental health counselor, also contributed her own lived experiences to this research. As one of the study’s youth advisors, she worked with participants, facilitating discussions on mental health and the participants’ experiences.
Her career aspirations and involvement in this study are deeply rooted in her own journey of navigating her cultural identity and mental health. Yamamoto’s personal struggles mirror many of the stressors highlighted in the study.
“I started getting into the topic of mental health and wanting to pursue it myself,” she reflected. “Doing these studies was just interesting and really important to me because I realized there weren’t a lot of culturally sound counselors around. That made it important for me to start looking into being a resource for other Native Hawaiian youth as I got older.”
Throughout middle school and high school, Yamamoto faced bullying and struggled with body image issues shaped by societal beauty standards. As a Native Hawaiian and Japanese woman, Yamamoto felt the tension between her identity and the Western ideals imposed by mainstream society. This sense of disconnection from both her Hawaiian and Asian American identity led to feelings of isolation and an internal battle with self-worth, issues that are common among Native Hawaiian and Asian American youth.
Her mental health struggles were further complicated by the impact of historical trauma and the underrepresentation of Native Hawaiians in mental health.
“Because there’s so much commonality and the Native Hawaiian culture has kind of been intersecting with Asian Americans because of the large population here [in Hawaii], sometimes I think the unique experiences in Native Hawaiians, specifically, and Pacific Islanders can be overlooked,” she expressed.
For Yamamoto, the aftermath of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s overthrow continues to impact her community’s collective well-being. She described how the intersection of Native Hawaiian and Asian American cultural experiences creates unique pressures.
“It’s not that Asian Americans haven’t faced their own struggles,” she noted, “but there’s often little focus on how the historical trauma of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s overthrow impacts our physical, mental, and emotional well-being.”
Yamamoto pointed out that the unique experiences of Native Hawaiians are often overlooked in broader discussions about AANHPI mental health. While there is some focus on the challenges faced by Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are frequently left out of the conversation, despite their distinct cultural and historical experiences.
Dr. Cheah echoed that same sentiment and also emphasized that AANHPI youth often face unique challenges when trying to balance cultural demands from their families and communities.
The two stressed that the pressure to succeed, whether self-imposed or family-imposed, is a key factor in the mental health struggles of AANHPI youth. Pressure to live up to the model minority stereotype often forces individuals to suppress their struggles, preventing them from seeking help and exacerbating feelings of inadequacy and failure.
Such stereotypes have also contributed to the underfunding of research focused on the unique mental health challenges of AANHPI individuals, perpetuating a lack of resources and understanding.
“Mental health research and services have been insufficiently funded by the National Institute of Health, where only .17% of NIH funding has focused on Asian American clinical research over the last few years,” Cheah reveals.
Despite AANHPI individuals making up approximately 8% of the total U.S. population, the demographic remains severely underfunded. The TAAF survey, Cheah asserts, is vital because it helps bridge a longstanding gap in research one of the most comprehensive national studies focused on mental health specifically in AANHPI youth.
In addition to these insights, the two researchers point out the lack of culturally competent mental health resources, calling for the development of diversified support systems that are sensitive to the unique and diverse needs of AANHPI youth.
Yamamoto aspires to bridge the gap in mental health as a future mental health counselor, offering counseling services that consider the intersection of cultural identity, historical trauma and current struggles.
“I just think that there hasn’t been a lot of culturally sound resources that take into account each individual ethnicity, backgrounds or historical trauma,” Yamamoto addressed.
Cultural competency in mental health is multifaceted, with no one-size-fits-all solution, explained Cheah. She advocates for the development of mental health systems that not only offer services but also deeply understand the cultural dynamics at play.
Cheah asserts that effective care requires sensitivity to each person’s unique context, whether through addressing cultural identity, immigration history, intersectionality or the impact of systemic issues like linguistic barriers and racism.
“The cultural competence piece is having a provider who is able to understand that culture, like immigration history, intersectionality, race, internalized racism, are all important factors that needs unpacking,” Cheah discussed.
Yamamoto is committed to diversifying mental health resources. Studying to become a counselor, she aims to provide culturally informed care that addresses the historical and cultural challenges faced by marginalized communities, especially Native Hawaiian communities.
Cheah and Yamamoto stress that bridging the gap in culturally competent mental health resources is essential for the well-being of AANHPI youth and for the future of these communities.
“Using this powerful knowledge within the communities to be able to empower them and to heal them,” Cheah envisions the potential impact and community power unlocked by meaningful mental health research. “This idea of autonomy, giving power back to people and communities to be able to take care of themselves. You know, that’s where we need to go.”
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