From CNN:
Push to achieve tied to suicide in Asian-American women
By Elizabeth Cohen
POSTED: 8:45 p.m. EDT, May 16, 2007
Story Highlights
• Suicide second-leading cause of death for Asian-American women 15-24
• Highest suicide rate among women of any race, ethnicity for that age group
• Experts cite "model minority" expectations, family pressures as factors
"ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- One evening in 1990, Eliza Noh hung up the phone with her sister. Disturbed about the conversation, Noh immediately started writing a letter to her sister, a college student who was often depressed. "I told her I supported her, and I encouraged her," Noh says.
But her sister never read the letter. By the time it arrived, she'd killed herself.
Moved by that tragedy, Noh has spent much of her professional life studying depression and suicide among Asian-American women. An assistant professor of Asian-American studies at California State University at Fullerton, Noh has read the sobering statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services: Asian-American women ages 15-24 have the highest suicide rate of women in any race or ethnic group in that age group. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Asian-American women in that age range. (Watch more about Asian-Americans' feelings of pressure to hide depression Video )
Depression starts even younger than age 15. Noh says one study has shown that as young as the fifth grade, Asian-American girls have the highest rate of depression so severe they've contemplated suicide."
Fellas, wow, this is very interesting. . .
Posted by anthony at May 17, 2007 12:20 PM | TrackBackAnthony, can you repost the link - I think that URL is broken.
Posted by: scott Cunningham at May 17, 2007 02:37 PMFixed it. Thanks!
Posted by: anthony Bradley at May 17, 2007 04:37 PMThis just breaks my heart. I've seen the damage that can be done by a overbearing father who is always holding up his daughters to impossible expectations. And it is generally true that Asian families are obsessively acheivement oriented. I can't imagine that pressure such a combination would make. And expressing the difficulties and depression that would come would certainly be seen as weakness--another failure. I wonder if these fathers/families realize how much damage they inflict on young girls when fear of failure and dissappointment are used as motivation tools.
Posted by: dramaturge at May 17, 2007 05:30 PMIt could be less a matter of "model minority" and simply some jacked up family dynamics and patterns engrained in the Asian culture - poor father-daughter relationships, domineering or passive-aggressive (maybe borderline) moms, and devaluing of girls to start with. Researchers may not be digging deep enough, and subjects may just be using "model minority" as a convenient camouflage for what's really going on.
Posted by: avitar at May 18, 2007 02:11 AMTwo things worth noting;
1. What are the actual numbers? The lack of numbers suggests that this could be a report made in the face of statistical insignificance.
2. Which kind of Asian? Reality is that the differences between Indians, Chinese, and Malays are as big as the things that unite them.
Now I've personally interacted with many Chinese and Korean young men & women, and it's true that the parental pressure can be immense. I just think that people need to be a bit more specific here.
Posted by: Robert Perry at May 21, 2007 03:11 PMJesus Christ is the answer to everything, without him people have no hope. He will see us through every situation. All we have to do is confess with our mouths that He is the son of God and believe in her hearts that he died on the Cross for us. He will come into your life like a flood and fill every empty space. God bless you and your family!!!
Posted by: Camille Taylor at January 4, 2008 08:55 PM