ASIAN CULTURE

Asian Culture

Abstract

The terms Asian and Asian American refer to people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, for example, people from China, India, Japan, Cambodia, Korea, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Asians represent a large—and the fastest-growing—ethnic group of the U.S. population. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Asians constitute approximately 11.9 million or 4.2% of the U.S. population, an increase of 72% or 5 million people from 1990 to 2000. The Census Bureau projects that by 2050; the Asian population will grow to approximately 37.6 million and account for 9.3% of the nation's population. It is important to understand the perspectives and values of the Asian culture and how the cultural values intersect with health care among Asian families. In this paper we are trying to focus on Asian Culture.

Asian Culture

Introduction

Asian populations are extremely heterogeneous and the most diverse groups in the United States. They represent nearly 50 countries and ethnic groups, each with distinct languages, cultures, traditions, histories, and politico-economic environments. Asians speak over 100 different languages and dialects. Asian groups differ in their reasons for immigration to and length of residence in the United States. The variation also extends to educational and socioeconomic levels. Following an introduction to the Asian population, this entry discusses the health concerns, perspectives and cultural values about health, and recommendations for promoting health among Asian Americans.

Discussion

Based on the 2000 Census, the five largest Asian groups in descending order are Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Vietnamese, and Korean. Combined, they account for 80% of the Asian population. About one half of the Asian population lives in the West. While Asians reside in every state, more than half of the population lives in just three states: California, New York, and Hawaii. The cities with the largest Asian populations are New York, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, and Honolulu. The majority of Asian Americans (69%) are foreign born, except for Japanese, of whom only 40% are foreign born compared with about 75% of Asian Indians, Vietnamese, Koreans, Pakistanis, and Thai. This situation may explain why the majority of Asian Americans (79%) aged 5 and over speak a language other than English at home, and about 40% speak English less than “very well.”

Asian Culture

Asian populations are more likely to be married and their households to be family households compared with the non-Hispanic white population. Language fluency among Asian groups varies. According to the 2007 Census, Vietnamese have the highest percentage, 62%, of persons 5 years and older who do not speak English at home; the rate is 50% among Chinese. In regard to educational attainment, Asians have a larger proportion of college graduates. Fifty percent of Asians in comparison to 28% of the total U.S. population have received a bachelor's degree (Dallmayr, 2002).

A larger proportion of Asians are employed in management, professional, and related occupations. With regard to economics, Asians households have the highest median incomes. In 2007, the median income of Asian households ...