| The challenge of ethnic diversity is one of the most critical issues facing higher education today. With proliferating numbers of Asian Americans enrolling in colleges and universities, higher education must more effectively address the needs of this group.; The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of second-generation Chinese-American undergraduates as they are confronted with self- and perceived parental educational and career expectations. The research questions were: (1) What are the educational and career expectations of the student? (2) What are the perceived parental expectations, and how do these perceived expectations relate to birth order and gender? (3) If the student perceives differing self- and parental expectations, how do the differences relate to differing self- and perceived parental ethnic identity and acculturation? (4) What are the effects of the perceived differing expectations upon the student, and how does the student manage these perceived differing expectations?; Individual interviews were conducted with 30 students at a highly selective West Coast university. The findings revealed high self- and parental educational and career expectations. A predictable pattern of parental pressure for educational achievement emerged. The findings suggest a relationship between birth order and parental expectations, with higher and more definitive parental expectations experienced by firstborns than laterborns. In terms of gender and parental expectations, achievement-oriented expectations were equally high for males and females, but gender-role behavior-orientated expectations remained distinctly bifurcated.; In the event of differing expectations, the effects upon the student was traced to a three-stage sequential process, resulting in a cyclic pattern of effort to eliminate the difference until a break was effected through an identified set of six intervening factors. Management of differing expectations involved the student's use of identified strategies, which, although not always effective, nevertheless were reported to be satisfactory. No relationship was found between ethnic identity/acculturation and differing expectations.; The students' intellectual and emotional resources appeared to be serving them well. Moreover, their flexibility to accommodate multiple expectations from multiple sources, and their ability to be situation-appropriate in operationalizing cultural values contributed to the success with which they negotiated this period of their lives. LaFromboise, Coleman, and Gerton's (1993) bicultural competence model and Bennett's (1993) intercultural development model provide an explanatory theoretical basis of the students' high level of functioning in both cultures.; This study informs higher education of some of the salient impingements upon second-generation Chinese-American undergraduates as they attempt to manage internal and external educational and career expectations at this critical juncture in their lives. |
