Mental Health, Intergenerational Gap, and Cultural Conflict Among South Asian Ethnic Minority Youth in Hong Kong: A Qualitative Study

Mental health of ethnic minority youth has been extensively studied. However, extant literature has been mostly focusing on Western multicultural societies, while the Asian context is largely overlooked. Among the mental health stressors, intergenerational gaps and cultural conflict between parents and children have been proven to affect youth mental health. However, nuanced exploration of how the gaps and conflicts manifest is limited. Also, the existing literature on Asian immigrants in Western societies has been discussing the contrast between collectivism and individualism in family relationships, while the cultural value conflicts of Asian immigrants in the Asian context are largely ignored. This qualitative study explores how South Asian ethnic minority youth experience intergenerational gap, cultural conflict, and related psychological distress in Hong Kong, a multicultural Asian society. Four themes were identified: (1) limited parental awareness and involvement in youth’s education; (2) conflict between homework and housework for girls' education; (3) authoritarian parenting for male children and neglectful parenting for female children; (4) taboo and stigma of mental health problems and help-seeking in South Asian family. Unlike the more explicit cultural conflicts in Western societies, the intergenerational gap and cultural conflicts of the South Asian youth in Hong Kong are more implicit, hidden, and subtle, because the South Asian culture is partially similar to the Chinese culture. This hidden conflict makes it harder to solve South Asian youth’s mental health issues. Our findings provide policy implications for policy of education, social work, and mental health services.