A qualitative exploration of stress, coping, support-seeking, and help-seeking among Chinese migrant youth in New Zealand

Abstract

This research uses qualitative methodology to explore how Chinese migrant youth in New Zealand experience and manage stress. Data was collected through focus groups and interviews with 13 young people, aged between 16 and 18 years, who had migrated from China to New Zealand with their families. A thematic analysis addressed the four areas of focus in this research: stress, coping, support-seeking, and help-seeking from psychological services. In the area of stress, participants described tensions associated with differences between their experiences and those of their European peers, and with immersing themselves in dominant culture while also holding on to their migration stories and ethnic culture. Although they developed hybrid identities and tried to fit in to dominant society, discrimination constrained their fitting in and the identities they were able to construct. In relation to coping, participants spoke about hybridisation of their migration stories, ethnic culture, and dominant culture in their negotiations of coping. Although they valued dealing directly with stress, they also valued closing off emotion and finding acceptance and gratitude, as well as actively rejecting ‘bad’ ways of coping used by their European peers. In relation to support-seeking, participants described how they preferred to rely on their own resources. This related to autonomy and concerns that talking with others does not help, but was also overlaid with Chinese values regarding emotions and relationships. In the area of help-seeking, participants spoke about their reluctance to use psychological services. They related this to lack of knowledge about services, concerns about trusting professionals, minimisation of their problems, and fear of the erosion of their autonomy, but also highlighted lack of familiarity with services, poor cultural fit, and wanting to be resilient like their parents. Therefore, they emphasised the need for both general and culturally-specific solutions to mitigate these barriers. Overall, the young people were active agents who negotiated their migration stories, ethnic culture and minority status, and dominant culture and discourses in how they experienced and managed stress. Harnessing their resourcefulness and understanding their social and cultural contexts is critical for working meaningfully with these young people.