Ying Y W, Lee P A, Tsai J L, Hung Y, Lin M, Wan C T
School of Social Welfare, 120 Haviland Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-7400, USA.
Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2001 Feb;7(1):59-74. doi: 10.1037/1099-9809.7.1.59.
Educational success among Asian Americans has led to their being labeled the "model minority." At the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Asian American students have higher grade point averages (GPAs) than Hispanic and African American but not White students, supporting the notion that Asian Americans are more successful compared with other racial minorities. However, success in the classroom does not implicate effective functioning in life, and nonacademic criteria ought to be considered in assessing the validity of the model minority image. Given the increasing diversification of the United States, cross-racial engagement may be an additional contributor to overall competence. This was empirically tested in a group of 642 undergraduates at UCB, including 291 Asian, 197 White, 20 African American, 67 Hispanic, and 56 multiracial students. Overall competence was operationalized by sense of coherence, that is, the extent to which the world is experienced as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful (A. Antonovsky, 1979, 1987). As predicted, Asian Americans had significantly fewer numbers of cross-racial groups represented in their friendship network than did students of all other races. Lower cross-racial engagement and being Asian (as compared with White) were related to a lower sense of coherence, whereas lower GPA was not. Within the Asian American subsample, cross-racial engagement was again significantly associated with greater coherence, whereas GPA again was not. Thus, extending the definition of success to overall competence, these findings raise questions about the applicability of the model minority label to Asian Americans, despite their academic achievement. Future studies need to assess the reasons for their limited cross-racial engagement and lower sense of coherence and to examine means to assist the development of these strengths.
亚裔美国人在学业上的成功使他们被贴上了“模范少数族裔”的标签。在加州大学伯克利分校（UCB），亚裔美国学生的平均绩点（GPA）高于西班牙裔和非裔美国学生，但低于白人学生，这支持了一种观点，即与其他少数族裔相比，亚裔美国人更成功。然而，课堂上的成功并不意味着在生活中也能有效发挥作用，在评估模范少数族裔形象的有效性时，应该考虑非学术标准。鉴于美国日益多样化，跨种族交往可能是整体能力的另一个促成因素。这在UCB的642名本科生中进行了实证测试，其中包括291名亚裔、197名白人、20名非裔美国学生、67名西班牙裔学生和56名多族裔学生。整体能力通过连贯感来衡量，即世界被体验为可理解、可管理和有意义的程度（A. 安托诺夫斯基，1979年，1987年）。正如预测的那样，亚裔美国人在其友谊网络中所代表的跨种族群体数量明显少于其他所有种族的学生。较低的跨种族交往和身为亚裔（与白人相比）与较低的连贯感有关，而较低的GPA则无关。在亚裔美国子样本中，跨种族交往再次与更高的连贯感显著相关，而GPA再次无关。因此，将成功的定义扩展到整体能力，这些发现引发了关于模范少数族裔标签对亚裔美国人适用性的问题，尽管他们在学业上取得了成就。未来的研究需要评估他们跨种族交往有限和连贯感较低的原因，并研究帮助发展这些优势的方法。
