An integrative approach to clinical assessment and intervention with Asian-American adolescents

Abstract

Straddling multiple cultures, the Asian-American adolescent is confronted with the complex task of integrating the mainstream culture, the ethnic culture of origin, and the culture of adolescence. Core developmental issues far these youth, such as identity formation and acculturation, are complicated by conflicting cultural values and status as a minority person of color. The negotiation of these developmental issues is often an antecedent to psychologica1 problems. The assessment of these clinical problems is facilitated by an integrative ecological approach that bridges standard and ethnocultural assessment strategies. In this article, a detailed discussion of this integrative assessment and intervention, representing a blend of the cultures, is presented. This intervention builds upon the concepts of cultural bridging, reframing, and brokering, while simultaneously considering the interplay of sociocontextual and developmental factors in the clinical presentation.