Adjustment And Adaptation Among Southeast Asian Refugees In The United States
Author(s):
Goza, Franklin William
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1987.
Pages:
311
Language:
English
Abstract:
This thesis reviews various theoretical perspectives on the integration experiences of immigrants and evaluates their explanatory power among Southeast Asian refugees. The first analytical section challenges the notion that the integration experiences of refugees are largely similar to those of voluntary labor migrants. The importance of mode of entry and reception conditions for integration experiences are documented by differences in socioeconomic outcomes between Vietnamese labor migrants and refugees after similar periods of U.S. residence. Next, I examine various socioeconomic experiences of Southeast Asian refugees after four months to eight years of U.S. residence. After documenting the acquisition of English ability, its determinants are examined. To capture a form of structural assimilation, residence patterns and secondary migration are then examined. The western states, especially California, continue to attract a high volume of secondary migrants from all other regions of the country, indicating that the government policy of refugee dispersal has largely failed. An examination of occupational adjustment finds that downward mobility was the norm. However, with time and increased English ability some positive occupational adjustment has begun among the earliest cohorts. Economic integration is studied via analyses of labor force participation, earnings determination, attainment of economic self-sufficiency, and poverty status. Economically the refugee population remains extremely disadvantaged, and this condition will likely persist for some time to come. Acculturation is occurring quickly among some ethnic segments of the Southeast Asian population (e.g., Vietnamese), while others have adapted little (e.g., Hmong). However, for most Southeast Asian refugees structural assimilation will not occur in the near future. Lastly, the ethnic enclave hypothesis received some support as several areas of such ethnic concentration and economic activity were discerned. This study concluded that the assimilation and ethnic enclave frameworks best explained the incorporation and adjustment experiences of the Southeast Asian refugee population.