Influences of Personal Standards and Perceived Parental Expectations on Worry for Asian American and White American College Students

worry;anxiety;Asian American;parental expectations;standards;racial differences;family;school;college students

Saw, Anne

关键词: worry;    anxiety;    Asian American;    parental expectations;    standards;    racial differences;    family;    school;    college students;   

Others  :  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/16880/Saw_Anne.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Previous research suggests that Asian American college students experience higher levels ofpressure for academic success and higher levels of parental expectations and criticism comparedto White Americans. Moreover, perceived discrepancies between parental expectations andacademic outcome have been found to be related to psychological distress for Asian Americans.In studies with White Americans, discrepancies between expectations and outcome have beenspecifically connected to worry, a central feature of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. However,worry remains an understudied psychological phenomenon in Asian Americans, who may beparticularly vulnerable to this form of distress. The current study examines perceptions of livingup to parental expectations and personal standards as possible mediators of the relationshipbetween race and worry in a sample of 836 Asian Americans and 856 White Americans. Resultsindicate that Asian Americans and White Americans do not differ in levels of pathological worryas measured by the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, but Asian Americans report higherfrequency of worry across multiple domains as measured by the Worry Domains Questionnaire.Perceptions of living up to parental expectations of current academic performance and personalstandards for preparation for a future career partially explain racial differences in frequency ofworry about school. Standards for respect for the family partially explain racial differences infrequency of worry about the family. The findings highlight the importance of consideringpersonal and perceived parental expectations to understand Asian Americans’ worry.