The social adjustment of Vietnamese American adolescents : Evidence for a segmented-assimilation approach

Abstract

The segmented-assimilation approach to immigrant adjustment suggests that the benefits of assimilation for immigrant youth depend on the segment of society into which they assimilate. The purpose of this article is to examine how young Vietnamese Americans may be affected by association with peers of major American racial groups and with Americanized coethnics. This research uses U.S. Census data to establish that racial groups surrounding a particular Vietnamese community constitute relatively privileged and relatively underprivileged segments. The research analyzes data from a survey administered to Vietnamese students in public schools to examine how they are affected by association with peers of different races and with culturally assimilated Vietnamese. Peer-group association is a strong predictor of adjustment. The advantages of association with members of different racial groups depend on the socioeconomic privileges of those groups. Association with Americanized coethnics has a negative effect on adjustment. The authors' findings offer support for the segmented-assimilation argument. For the Vietnamese American adolescents in their study, following the traditional path of assimilation by increasing contact with native-born groups and losing original cultural traits may turn out to be assimilation into an underprivileged segment of American society

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