Psycho-Social Adaptation and the Meaning of Achievement for Chinese Immigrants

Chua explores what it means to be Chinese or to raise a Chinese-American child in contemporary American society. He addresses how immigrant children rely on different cultural capital and symbolic resources to construct their achievement motivation. The children's psycho-social adaptation offers insights into the fusion of culture and personal dimension. They shared how they made sense of their old and new symbolic worlds, the difficulty of leaving China, and the difficulty of beginning anew in America. They spoke of maintaining identification with their homeland, of adhering to "old ways," and of the pressure to accommodate the host culture.