Asian American Substance Abuse Essay

2022 Words9 Pages

Abstract This paper explores the topic of substance abuse among Asian American college students. Exploring the implications on their mental and physical health and their academic performance there are many challenges that this population goes through including family expectations, cultural norms, and the model minority myth. By comparing the Asian American college student population to the US population distinct differences are shown by the unique characteristics of the population. Then the paper focuses on the research methodologies and inaccurate data that misrepresent the Asian American population. Categorizing all people of Asian descent into a single category dismisses certain populations’ struggles because there may be a high concentration …show more content…

Asian American is a very general term and with rapid growth, the Asian American population is expected to reach 41 million by 2050, and the 18 and under population is 6.2 million from 3.3 in 2060 (Iwamoto, Le, Brady & Kaya, 2019). This includes people in the United States that identify their ethnicity with a country in Asia when they were born in the States or immigrated to the States before adulthood. This population would also factor in educational status as they must be attending a college in the States which allows the majority of subjects to be around the ages of 18 to 26 or 7.1% of all college students. Substance abuse is a general term but this would include using illegal or over-the-counter drugs in ways where they weren’t attended to be used or in excessive amounts which lead to physical, mental, or emotional …show more content…

Understanding the specific limitations that come with different cultural backgrounds is important in understanding the reasons why people fall into substance abuse or why people can’t leave substance use. For college students especially the implication of substance abuse is damaging to their mental and physical well-being and detrimental to academic performance. Along with family expectations and cultural norms, students dealing with substance abuse aren’t able to find a safe place to seek help causing more stress and difficulties. The limitations have also been opposed institutionally by diminishing the statistics of Asian Americans dealing with substance abuse into one category unable to see the real population of people in need. Prevention programs must be instilled to educate and help Asian parents with resources to increase awareness and encourage open discussion so that students that need help can seek help and others can be educated regarding substance abuse. By focusing on the specific needs of this population there can be measures to promote a healthier lifestyle by reducing substance abuse and improving the well-being of Asian American college