Received 09/18/11

Revised 02/25/12
Accepted 10/12/12
DOI:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2013.00030.x

Family and Cultural Predictors of

Depression Among Samoan American
Middle and High School Students
Christine J. Yeh, Noah E. Borrero, and Patsy Tito
This study investigated family intergenerational conflict and collective selfesteem as predictors of depression in a sample of 128 Samoan middle and
high school students. Simultaneous regression analyses revealed that each
independent variable significantly contributed to an overall model that accounted for 13% of the variance in depression. Implications for counseling
research and practice are discussed in terms of how schools may consider
ways to promote these youth's cultural worth and positive family dynamics.
Keywords: Samoan, high school, depression, family conflict
Este estudio investig el conflicto familiar intergeneracional y la autoestima
colectiva como predlctores de depresin en una muestra de 128 estudiantes
samoanos de enseanza media y secundaria. Los anlisis simultneos de
regresin revelaron que cada variable independiente contribuy de forma
significativa a un modelo general que explic un 13% de la varianza en
depresin. Se discuten las implicaciones para la investigacin y prctica de la
consejera, en trminos de cmo las escuelas pueden considerar formas de
promover el vaJor cultural de estos jvenes y una dinmica familiar positiva.
Palabras C/ave. samoano, escuela secundaria, depresin, conflicto familiar

n urban public schools in the United States, many ethnic minority groups
remain understudied despite their growing numbers and the demonstrated need for scrutiny. Samoan American youth represent many of the
marginalized students who continue to be neglected in mental health and
educational research, and these students warrant empirical attention. Specifically, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Samoan Americans are overrepresented
in thejuvenilejustice system (Stewart, 2005) and have the highest high school
dropout rate in comparison with all other ethnic minority groups (Samoan
Community Development Center, 2008). Samoans and Tongans share the
lowest per capita incomes across all major ethnic and racial groups (Stewart,
2005) according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2008). These findings are important because poor mental health, including depression, has been linked
to school dropout (Nair, Paul, &John, 2004) and juvenile detention (Fazel,
Doll, & Lngstrom, 2008).
Individuals from American Samoa, Western Samoa, and Tonga are all from
the Pacific Islands. Pacific Islanders are individuals whose origins are from

ChrislineJ Yeh, Department of Counseling Psychobgy, andNoahE. Borrew, School ofEducation, Universityof
San Francisco; Patsy Tito, Samoan Community Development Center, San Francisco, California. Correspondence
concerning this article should be addressed to Christine J Yeh, Department of Counseling Psychology, University
of San Francisco, 2130 FuUon Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 (e-mail: cjyeh@iisfca.edu).
2013 American Counseling Association. All rights reserved.
96

JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

one of three subregions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.

Pacific Islanders (including Samoans) have a college graduation rate well
below the U.S. average. This highlights Samoan American students' marginal status in schools and in society. However, there is almost no research
on this group, or more specifically, on their mental health in schools.
Although recent and emerging research has discussed the critical role of
cultural and family variables in Samoan identity (Borrero, Yeh, Tito, & Luavasa, 2010; Poasa, Mallinckrodt, & Suzuki, 2000), it has not yet explored
factors associated with Samoan mental health. Hence, in the current study
we investigated collective self-esteem and family intergenerational conflict
as predictors of depression in a sample of Samoan American middle and
high school students.
For Samoan American families, conflict occurs when the children assimilate to the cultural norms of U.S. society at a faster rate than they
assimilate to the more traditional norms of their parents (Borrero et al.,
2010). Because schools generally represent White, middle-class values and
expectations, ethnic minority youth might believe that they must shift their
ethnic behaviors and expectations to succeed and belong, and they feel
the pressure to "act White" (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986, p. 177). As children
continue to mature, the cultural gap between them and their parents becomes more prominent (Huang, Ying, & Arganza, 2003), in part because
youth adopt "American" individualistic values that contradict their parents'
more traditional cultural beliefs. For example, traditional cultural beliefs
include respect for elders, filial piety, obedience to parents, and caring
for family members (Lee & Liu, 2001; Yeh, Kim, Pituc, & Atkins, 2008;
Yeh, Okubo, et al., 2008).
In Asian American families, intergenerational family tensions may occur
and may have negative consequences on the youth's psychological functioning (Crane, Ngai, Larson, & Hafen, 2005; Farver, Narang, & Bhadha, 2002;
Yeh, 2003). Although research has found that family conflict is significantly
correlated with psychological symptoms (e.g., Lee & Liu, 2001), including
anxiety and depression (e.g., Cho & Bae, 2005), the research was focused
on Asian American college and high school students and did not include
Samoan middle and high school student samples. For example, Formoso,
Gonzales, and Aiken (2000) found a highly significant relationship (/x.OOl)
between family conflict and depression in a low-income, multiethnic sample
of 284 adolescents (percentages in Formoso et al., 2000, were listed as 27.5%
White American, 21.8% African American, 39.8% Mexican American, 1.8%
Native American, 0.7% Asian American, and 8.1% other).
The emerging research on Samoan American students' experiences in
schools has found that, like many other ethnic minority groups, these students are often caught between incongruous academic and ethnic identities
(Tyler et al., 2008); that is, their perceptions of themselves as students are
JOURNALOF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT-April 2013 Vol. 41

97

in opposition to their perceptions of themselves as Samoans (Borrero et

al., 2010). Borrero et al. (2010) also found that Samoan students reported
feeling alienated and discriminated against. In fact, Borrero et al.'s work
highlighted how Samoan high school students feel "othered" in schools,
reflecting previous theory (Kumashiro, 2000) and research with youth of
color who feel they must choose between an academic identity and an ethnic identity (Nasir & Saxe, 2003). Samoan students also reported feeling
stereotyped in school as "dumb," "lazy," "dangerous," "gang members," and
"troublemakers" (Borrero et al., 2010, p. 51). Such stereotypes contribute
to negative feelings about their cultural group, also referred to as collective
self-esteem. In school-based programs, it is important to consider ways to
encourage feelings of cultural worth and identity that may contribute to
positive mental health. Hence, in the current study, we focused on family
and cultural dynamics that are often neglected in the school counseling
literature on ethnic minority students.
Collective self-esteem refers to positive feelings about one's cultural or social
group membership (Luhtanen 8c Crocker, 1992). For Samoan high school
students, this focus on cultural worth may be pertinent because they often
feel alienated and alone in schools (Borrero et al., 2010). Samoan culture
has typically been described as interdependent, with a strong priority on
relationships and family (Mageo, 1995; Poasa et al., 2000). Lam's (2007)
study found a relationship between collective self-esteem and depression
that was mediated by a sense of coherence (meaningfulness, manageability,
and comprehensibility) about one's life. However, Lam's research focused
specifically on 122 Vietnamese American high school students and did not
include Samoan youth. In a sample of 54 Chinese immigrant youth participating in a culturally responsive career development program. Shea, Ma, Yeh,
Lee, and Pituc (2009) found that participation contributed to an increase
in collective self-esteem. Again, although the sample included diverse high
school students from an urban public school, it did not include any Samoan
American students.
Results of recent quantitative and qualitative research on Samoan high
school students have revealed a cultural focus on unity, in which Samoan
families and communities feel interconnected through a shared cultural
identity (e.g., Borrero etal., 2010). Because of this cultural emphasis on collective worth, we investigated the predictive value of collective self-esteem on
Samoan students' depression.
The purpose of the current study was to investigate Samoan middle and
high school students' perceptions of family conflict and collective self-esteem
as predictors of mental health. Although previous research focused on
educational outcomes and experiences of Samoan youth (Stewart, 2005),
the potential contributors to depression in low-income Samoan middle
and high school students remain unexamined. We sought to expand the
98

JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

current empirical school health research on ethnic minority students by

including an underrepresented, yet growing group, especially in urban
public schools. This is one of the few studies focusing on family and cultural
predictors of mental health in this important adolescent community. It is
our hope that our work will provide much needed direction for schoolbased counseling services and interventions (Hoganbruen, Clauss-Ehlers,
& Nelson, 2002), especially with Pacific Islander youth (Sandhu, 1997;
Yeh, Borrero, & Shea, 2011).

PARTICIPANTS

The sample included 128 students from six urban public middle and high
schools in San Francisco, California. There were 68 (53.1%) male and 60
(46.9%) female students who had a mean age of 15.15 years (range 11-20
years, SD = 1.8 years). In terms of grade level, there were 15 (11.7%), 28
(21.8%), 22 (17.2%), 17 (13.3%), 17 (13.3%), and 29 (22.7%) students in
Grades 7 through 12, respectively. We also inquired about generation level
and found that 15 (11.7%) students were first generation (born in Samoa
or American Samoa), 50 (39.1%) were second generation (born in the
United States, parents born in Samoa/American Samoa), 27 (21.1%) were
2.5 generation (one parent born in the United States and one in Samoa/
American Samoa), and 29 (22.7%) were third generation (both parents
born in the United States). Two students did not report their generation
level, and five students listed their generation level as "other."
INSTRUMENTS

Demographic information. The demographic form inquired about age,

gender, grade level, generation level, language use, and cultural background.
Family conflict. The Family Conflict Scale-Likelihood (Lee, Choe, Kim, &
Ngo, 2000) is a 10-item scale used to measure the intergenerational family
conflict between Asian American children and their parents. We adapted
one sentence of the scale so the term Samoan Americans 2LS opposed to Asian
Americans was used in the initial introduction. Each item is rated for its
likelihood of occurrence using a 5-point rating system (1 = almost never to
5 = almost always). A sample item is 'Your parents tell you what to do with
your life, but you want to make your own decisions." Higher scores indicate
greater likelihood of family conflict. This scale has demonstrated convergent validity with acculturative stress and the child's and parent's level of
acculturation (Lee et al., 2000; Lee & Liu, 2001). The alpha coefficient in
JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

99

previous research with Asian American/Pacific Islander students ranged

from .81 to .91 (Lee &: Liu, 2001; Tsai-Chae & Nagata, 2008). The coefficient
alpha for the current study was .84.
Collective self-esteem. Collective self-esteem was assessed using the total score
of the Collective Self-Esteem Scale Revised (CSES-R; Luhtanen & Crocker,
1992), a 16-item scale that measures the empathie aspects of collective or
social identity by assessing how self-esteem is related to group membership.
The questions were all reworded so they pertained to students' feelings
about being part of the Samoan cultural group. The items are anchored on
a 6-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Scores
are achieved by summing responses to the subscales or all of the scale items.
The CSES-R is composed of four subscales of collective self-esteem: Membership, Private, Public, and Identity. The scale replaced the term cultural group
with Samoan cultural group. A sample item includes "I am a worthy member
of the Samoan cultural group." We were interested in the students' overall
feelings of cultural worth, so we used the total score ofthe CSES. Concurrent validity was established with moderate correlations between the CSES-R
and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), which measures
personal self-esteem. Previous research has demonstrated strong reliability
coefficients (Lam, 2008; Yeh, 2002). The alpha for the total score in the
current study was .83.
Depression. Depression was measured using the Depression subscale of the
Brief Symptom Inventoiy (BSI; Derogatis & Melisaratos, 1983). The Brief
Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18) is an 18-item self-report inventory designed
to screen for symptoms of psychological distress and psychiatric disorder. It is
an abbreviated version ofthe 53-item BSI. The BSI-18 assesses three symptom
dimensions (Somatization, Depression, and Anxiety) and a Clobal Severity
Index. Because of our primary interest in depression, only the scores from the
Depression subscale were used in the study. Participants are asked to rate their
level of distress over the past week on a 5-point scale of distress (0 = not at all
to 4 = extremely). The Depression subscale asks participants to rate the following symptoms: "Feeling no interest in things," "Feeling lonely," "Feeling blue,"
"Feelings of worthlessness," "Feeling hopeless about the future," and "Thoughts
of ending your life." Previous research has indicated that the BSI has strong
reliability coefficients ranging from .70 to .88 (Broday & Mason, 1991). The
alpha for the current study was .79.
LANGUAGE OF SURVEYS

The surveys were given in English because all of the participants were fluent in English. American Samoa has been recognized as a U.S. territory
since 1911, so participants from American Samoa are taught English in
school. Western Samoa, also known as the Independent State of Samoa,

100

JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

is an independent country, but the students still learn English as well as

Samoan in school.
PROCEDURE

The study received full institutional review board approval prior to recruitment of participants. Students were administered survey packets at an urban
community-based center that provided after-school programs, tutoring, and
school-based case management and programming for Samoan students. We
explained consent procedures to students and gave instructions in English.
Parent or guardian consent was completed for students who were minors.
The survey took about 20 minutes to complete, and the students received $10
compensation for their participation. The order of the surveys varied across
packets to decrease ordering effects.
POWER ANALYSIS

We conducted a power analysis using GPower 3.1.2 (Erdfelder, Faul, &

Buchner, 1996) to approximate the sample size. The power analysis was
set at .95, an alpha level of .05, and a medium effect size (i.e., .15). The
results indicated a sample size of 107 is needed for a medium effect size.
Our sample size of 128 is likely to detect an effect with a medium effect
size and a power of .95.
DATA ANALYSIS

We conducted data analysis using SPSS 19.0. Regression analyses were

conducted under the assumption of multivariate normality of the dependent variable and all predictor variables. We assessed our data to examine
normality, linearity, and homoscedasticity (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken,
2003; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). Our regression analyses revealed that
there was no violation of the assumption of residual normality, linearity,
and homoscedasticity. In addition, preliminary multivariate analyses of
variance revealed no main effect of the demographic variables (gender,
age, generation level, and grade level) on the variables of interest (family
conflict, collective self-esteem, and BSI-Depression), so no further post hoc
analyses of variance were performed.

rp Sil Its
The means, standard deviations, and correlations of the main variables are
provided in Table 1. Depression was significantly correlated with family conflict and collective self-esteem. Specifically, there was a significant negative

JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

101

TABLE 1
Correlation Matrix for Main Variables of the Study
Variable
1. Depression
2. Family conflict
3. Collective self-esteem

a
.79
.84
.83

SD

4.95
3.01
5.33

5.34
0.78
0.92

Range
0-22
1-5
1-7

2
.23*

3
-.27**
.01

Note. N= 128. Depression score is sum of Brief Symptom Inventory-Depression items.

*p< .05. **p< .01.

correlation between depression and collective self-esteem (r = -.27, p< .01)

and a positive correlation with family conflict (r= .23, p < .05). There was
no significant correlation between family conflict and collective self-esteem.
Next, we conducted a simultaneous regression analysis to investigate the
strength of the relationships between the predictor variables and the criterion variable. Our hypothesis stated that collective self-esteem and family
conflict would significantly predict depression in the expected directions.
The independent variables were entered into a simultaneous regression
model predicting depression (see Table 2). The results indicate that the
model was significant, F{2, 125) = 8.88, /7< .001, and accounted for 13% of
the variance in depression (adjusted /? = .12). Collective self-esteem and
family conflict were each found to be significant and unique predictors of
depression.

disnission
The results of this study provide useful information on family and cultural
predictors of depression in a sample of Samoan American middle and high
school students in several urban public schools in low-income settings. Specifically, we found that family conflict and collective self-esteem significantly
predict depression in the expected directions. This suggests that (a) higher
levels of family conflict are significantly associated with higher levels of depression and (b) higher levels of collective self-esteem are significantly associated
with lower levels of depression.
TABLE 2
Simultaneous Regression for Variables Predicting Depression
Variable
Family conflict
Collective self-esteem

B
1.6
-1.6

SEB

.58
.49

.24*
-.27*

.13

.12

Noie. N=128.
" p < .01.

102

JOUFWAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

These findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating the

important and significant connection between family intergenerational
conict and psychological symptoms (such as depression) in Asian immigrant and Asian American samples (Cho & Bae, 2005; Lee & Liu, 2001) as
well as low-income White American, African American, Mexican American,
Native American, Asian American, and multiracial youth (Eormoso et al.,
2000). The current study also supports previous research that has shown
that higher collective self-esteem is related to lower levels of depression
(Lam, 2007, 2008).
Although many samples from previous research were from low-income,
diverse public high schools, they did not include any Pacific Islanders, which
speaks to the importance of having a Samoan sample of low-income high
school students. Our study represents one of the first to examine depression
in this understudied, yet growing population in urban schools (Borrero et
al., 2010; Stewart, 2005). Our research also illuminates the importance of
familial and cultural factors in students' mental health.
The results of our study reveal that family conflict is significantly associated with depression. This finding extends previous research indicating
that Samoan students often experience family problems when the pressures
of having an academic identity compete with family and cultural obligations (Borrero et al., 2010). In Borrero et al.'s (2010) work, Samoan high
school students reported a lack of support from teachers and school staff
for important cultural activities and responsibilities. This lack of support
may cause Samoan students to feel depressed because they feel alienated
by important social systems and feel stuck between their educational world
and their cultural world.
Similarly, our regression analyses determined that collective self-esteem
negatively predicted depression. When Samoan students have negative
feelings about their cultural worth, they feel more depressed. This finding
may also relate to Borrero et al.'s (2010) qualitative research on Samoan
high school students that found the students did not feel their culture
was valued or appreciated in the school context, and they experienced
many negative stereotypes about Samoans. Stereotypes describing Samoan
students as "dumb," "unmotivated," and "nonacademic" contribute to
feelings of low cultural self-esteem among the students. Samoan students
may not feel they have control over these experiences with discrimination
and may not have the coping strategies to deal with subsequent feelings
of depression. In addition, these students reported that they did not feel
their culture was represented in any of the school curriculum, teaching
strategies, or school programs and activities. This cultural oversight in the
school context may further add to the students' feelings of low cultural
worth and depression.

JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

103

LIMITATIONS

Our study's results should be considered in the contextof a few limitations.

First, the sample included Samoan American students in seventh through
12th grades from urban public schools in San Francisco, so generahzing
the findings to other ethnic minority youth (or Samoan Americans) who
may vary in terms of geographic location, ethnicity, school setting, and
grade level is cautioned. Our study is also limited by the self-report nature
of the surveys, which may be subject to social desirability and inaccurate
reporting of symptoms. We also did not include a measure of acculturation,
which would have provided much more specific information on the impact
of cultural adjustment and negotiations on family conflict and psychological concerns. Future studies should include an investigation of the role of
acculturation as well as comparisons across different marginalized student
groups, grade levels, and school sites. Additional studies may also incorporate more dependent variables that tap into other issues that affect the
Samoan community, such as healthy eating, obesity, academic achievement,
violence, and living in poverty.
The results from this study confirm that family conflict and collective selfesteem are both significant predictors of depression in a sample of middle and
high school Samoan American students. Future research could focus on using
mixed-methods and multi-informant data to understand additional factors
contributing to Samoan American school mental health. In addition, there
are many factors, such as hope, optimism, and self-esteem, that may have an
impact on the psychological well-being of ethnic minority, low-income youth
(Vacek, Coyle, & Vera, 2010).
IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL COUNSELING

The results of this study underscore how Samoan students' depression may
be influenced by family conflict as well as their feelings of cultural worth.
Because schools may be places where students experience a disconnect between their family and cultural lives (Borrero et al., 2010; Kumashiro, 2000;
Nieto, 2002), school personnel (counselors, teachers, administrators, etc.)
must acknowledge their responsibility to focus on both academic and sociocultural outcomes to promote students' self-esteem. Furthermore, schools
must develop partnerships to create site- and community-based programs
that focus on students' mental health and the role that school climate has on
students' depression (Hoganbruen et al., 2002). For example, school-based
programs can consider ways to integrate Samoan cultural values such as unity,
respect, and collectivism into their interventions, activities, curriculum, and
pedagogical philosophy (e.g., Camangian, 2010). Moreover, counseling programs may try to help students more effectively negotiate school, home, and

104

JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

community obligations as part of the learning and development process for

students (Borrero & Yeh, 2010).
Addressing important cultural issues facing students is an obligation for
schools as well as for communities (Irwin, Irwin, Miller, Somes, & Richey,
2010). This goal requires active engagement by all constituenciesstudents,
parents, teachers, counselors, school administrators (Swahn, Bossarte,
West, & Topalli, 2010), and Samoan community membersto reduce the
triggers for family conflict and negative cultural self-esteem. Such a collaboration with the Samoan community may help to identify priorities in
the development and implementation of school- and community-based
prevention and intervention programs for Samoan mental health and positive social and academic development. This ecological and sociocultural
approach also fosters resilience and positive coping strategies in schools
(Clauss-Ehlers, 2008; Clauss-Ehlers & Levi, 2002) as well as community
agencies and centers.

Borrero, N. E., & Yeh, C.J. (2010). Ecological language learning among ethnic minority youth.
Educational Researcher, 39, 571-581. doi:10.3102/0013189X10389810
Borrero, N. E., Yeh, C. J., Tito, P., & Luavasa, M. (2010). Alone and in between cultural worlds:
Voices from Samoan students. Journal of Education, 190, 47-56.
Broday, S. F., & Mason, J. L. (1991). Internal consistency ofthe Brief Symptom Inventory for
counseling-center clients. Psychological Reports, 68, 94. doi:10.2466/PR0.68.1.94-94
Camangian, P. (2010). Starting with self: Teaching autoethnography to foster critically caring
literacies. Research in the Teaching of English, 45, 179-204.
Cho, S., & Bae, S. W. (2005). Demography, psychosocial factors, and emotional problems of
Korean American adolescents. Adolescence, 40, 533-550.
Clauss-Ehlers, C. (2008). Sociocultural factors, resilience, and coping: Support for a culturally sensitive measure of resilience. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29, 197-212
doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2008.02.004
Clauss-Ehlers, C, & Levi, L. L. (2002). Working to promote resilience with Latino youth in
schools: Perspectives from the U.S. and Mexico. Intemational Journal ofMental Health Promotion
4, 14-20. doi:10.1080/14623730.2002.9721884
Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. C , & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis
for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Crane, D. R., Ngai, S. W., Larson, J. H., & Hafen, M. (2005). The influence of family functioning
and parent-adolescent acculturation on North American Chinese adolescent outcomes. Eamily
Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 54, 400-410. doi:10 1111/i 17413729.2005.00326.x
Derogatis, L., & Melisaratos, N. (1983). The Brief Symptom Inventory: An introductory report.
Psychological Medicine: Ajournai of Research in Psychiatry and the Allied Sciences, 13, 595-605.
Erdfelder, E., Faul, F, & Buchner, A. (1996). CPOWER: A general power analysis program. Behavior
Research Methods, Instruments, f Computers, 28, 1-11. doi:10.3758/BF03203630
Farver, J. A. M., Narang, S. K., & Bhadha, B. R. (2002). East meets West: Ethnic identity, acculturation, and conflict in Asian Indian families. Journal oJEamily Psychology 16 338-350
doi:10.1037/0893-3200.16.3.338

JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

105

Fazel, S., Doll, H., & Lngstrom, N. (2008). Menial disorders among adolescents in juvenile detention and correctional facilities: A systematic review and metaregression analysis of 25 sur\'eys.
Joumal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 47, 1010-1019. doi:10.1097/
CHI.0b013e31817eecf3
Fordham, S., &Ogbu,J. U. (1986). Black students' success: Coping with the burden of "acting
White." Urban Review, 18, 176-206. doi:]0.1007/BF01112192
Formoso, D., Gonzales, N. A., & Aiken, L. S. (2000). Family conflict and children's internalizing
and externalizing behaxior: Protective factors. American foumal of Community Psychology, 28,
175-199. doi:10.1023/A:1005135217449
Hoganbruen, K., Clauss-Ehlers, C , & Nelson, D. (2002). Effective advocacy for school-based
mental health programs. In P. Pedersen &J. C. Carey (Eds.), Multicultural counseling in schools
(pp. 103-120). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. doi:10.1007/97S-0-387-73S13-5_4
Huang, L. N., Ying, Y. W., & Arganza, G. (2003). Chinese American children and adolescents.
In J. T. Cibbs & L. N. Huang (Eds.), Children ofcolor: Psychological interventions loith minority
children (pp. 187-228). San Francisco, GA:Jossey-Bass.
tnvin, C. C , Imin, R. L., Miller, M. E., Somes, G. W., & Richey, P. A. (2010). Get fit with the
Grizzlies: A community-school-home initiative to fight childhood obesity./ouma/ of School
Health, 80, 333-339. doi:10.111 l/j.l746-1561.2010.00510.x
Kumashiro, K. K. (2000). To\vard a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of Educational
Research, 70, 25-53. doi:10.3102/00346543070001025
Lam, B. T. (2007). Impact of perceived racial discrimination and collective self-esteem on
psychological distress among Vietnamese American college students: Sense of coherence as
a mediator. American foumal of Orthopsychiatry, 77, 370-376. doi:10.1037/0002-9432.77.3.370
Lam, B. T. (2008). The function of acculturation and collective self-esteem on prejudicial attitudes
among Vietnamese American young adults.Tourna/ of Human Behavior in the Sodal Environment,
18, 350-363. doi:10.1080/10911350802427621
Lee, R. M., Choe, J., Kim, G., & Ngo, V. (2000). Construction of the Asian American Family
Conflicts Sc^\e.Jourtial of Counseli7igPsychology, 47, 211-222. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.47.2.211
Lee, R. M., & Liu, H. T. (2001). Coping with intergenerational family conflict: Comparison of
Asian American, Hispanic, and European American college students, youniii/ of Counseling
Psychology, 48, 410-419. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.48.4.410
Luhtanen, R., & Crocker, j . (1992). A collective self-esteem scale: Self-evaluation of one's social
idenmy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 75, 302-318. doi:10.1177/0146167292183006
Mageo, J. (1995). The reconfiguring self. American Anthropologist, 93, 405-418. doi:10.1525/
aa.l995.97.2.02a00070
Nair, M. K. C , Paul, M. K., &John, R. (2004). Preralence of depression among adolescents. The
fndianjoumal of Pediatrics, 71, 525-524. doi:10.1007/BF02724294
Nasir, N. S., & Saxe, G. B. (2003). Emerging tensions and their management in the lives of minority students. Educational Researcher, 32, 14-18. doi:10.3102/0013189X032005014
Nieto, S. (2002). Language, culture, and teaching: Critical perspectives for a neiu century. Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Poasa, K. H., Mallinckrodt, B., & Suzuki, L. A. (2000). Causal attributions for problematic family
interactions: A qualitative, cultural comparison ofWestern Samoa, American Samoa, and the
United States. The Counseling Psychologist, 28, S2'Q0.
do\.l0.M7'?/00\i00000028\00Z
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, Nj: Princeton University
Press.

Samoan Community Development Center. (2008). Summary: Samoans in public schools. San Francisco, CA: Author.
Sandhu, D. S. (1997). Psychocultural profiles of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans: Implications for counseling and psychotherapy. Toumii/o/Mu/iiCM/iura/CowiWi/in^ and Dffu/o/nCTi, 25,
7-22. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.1997.tb00312.x

106

JOUFNALOF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

Shea, M., Ma, P.-W., Yeh, C. J., Lee, S., & Pituc, S. T (2009). Exploratory studies on the effects
of a career exploration group for urban Chinese immigrant youth. Journal of Career Assessment,
17, 457-477. doi:10.1177/1069072709334246
Stewart, J. Y. (2005, September 26). Data reveal hard truths for islanders: No longer lumped
in studies with immigrants from Asia, Samoans see a portrait of a troubled community. Los
Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com
Swahn, M., Bossarte, R., West, B., & Topalli, V. (2010). Alcohol and drug use among gang members: Experiences of adolescents who attend school. Journal of School Health, 80, 353-360.
doi:10.1111/j.l74&-1561.2010.00513.x
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn
& Bacon.
Tsai-Chae, A. H., & Nagata, D. K. (2008). Asian values and perceptions of intergenerational family
conflict among Asian American students. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 14,
205-214. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.14.3.205
Tyler, K. M., Uqdah, A. L., Dillhunt, M. L., Beatty-Hazelbaker, R., Conner, T., Gadson, N
Stevens, R. (2008). Cultural discontinuity: Toward a quantitative investigation of a major
hypothesis in education. Educational Researcher, 37, 280-297. doi:10.3102/0013189X08321459
U.S. Census Bureau. (2008). We thepeople: PadficIslanders in the United States. Washington, DC: Author.
Vacek, K. R., Coyle, L. D., & Vera, E. M. (2010). Stress, self-esteem, hope, optimism, and wellbeing in urban, ethnic minority ado\escents. Journal ofMulticultural Counseling and Development
38, 99-111. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2010.tb00118.x
Yeh, C.J. (2002). Taiwanese students' gender, age, interdependent and independent self-construal,
and collective self-esteem as predictors of professional psychological help-seeking attitudes.
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8, 19-29. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.8.1.19
Yeh, C.J. (2003). Age, acculturation, cultural adjustment, and mental health symptoms of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese immigrant youth. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Journal, 9, 34-48. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.9.1.34
Yeh, C. J., Borrero, N. E., & Shea, M. (2011). Spirituality as a cultural asset for urban youth in
schools. Counseling and Values, 55, 185-198. doi:10.1002/j.2161-007X.2011.tb00031.x
Yeh, C.J., Kim,A. B., Pituc, S. T, & Atkins, M. (2008). Poverty, loss, and resilience: The story of
Asian immigrant youth. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55, 34-48. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.55.1.34
Yeh, C. J., Okubo, Y, Ma, P-W., Shea, M., Ou, D., & Pituc, S. T. (2008). Chinese immigrant high
school students' cultural interactions, acculturation, family obligations, acculturation, language
use, and social support. Adolescence, 43, 775-790.

JOURNAL OF MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT April 2013 Vol. 41

107

Copyright of Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its
content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's
express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.