Intergenerational trauma and mental health in Asian American immigrant families Cai, Jieyi author Hayden, Brian advisor Operario, Don reader Brown University Department of Cognitive Linguistics & Psychological Sciences sponsor text theses 2017 35 p. reformatted digital eng Senior thesis (AB)--Brown University, 2017 Psychology This study investigates how the mental health of Asian American college students relates to their immigrant parents' pre-migration trauma using the framework of intergenerational trauma. Asian American immigrants often come to the United States to escape adverse conditions in their countries of origin, such as war, poverty, and political persecution. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of trauma and related mental health issues among parents and children in Asian American immigrant families and to investigate the relationship between parents' trauma, children's perceptions of and relationships with their parents, and children's mental health. Data was collected through an online survey from Asian American undergraduates who had at least one Asian immigrant parent. Participants completed measures concerning their mental health, family conflict, communication with their parents about the past, and their parents' parenting styles. Participants showed a high prevalence of mental health issues, with 23.4% scoring as experiencing high psychological distress and 65.8% scoring as being at risk for depression. The findings also showed support for intergenerational transmission of trauma, as there was a significant relationship between parents' trauma exposure and participants' trauma exposure, and parents' trauma exposure was also correlated with overprotective parenting and parent care (an inverse measure of rejecting parenting). Other parenting factors were also independently associated with participants' trauma exposure, including rejecting and role reversing parenting. Implications for further research on Asian American mental health are discussed. Asian Americans Intergenerational trauma Emigration and immigration Mental health 10.7301/Z0R78CNDIn CopyrightCollection is open for research.