THE CORRELATES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN REFUGEES IN NEW YORK CITY

The study attempts to explore the adjustment of Southeast Asian refugees in their social and psychological context. Specifically, it attempts to describe the refugee\u27s social adjustment, to ascertain the refugee\u27s present emotional adaptation, and to identify factors in the refugee\u27s life situation which promote or hinder his/her psychological well-being. One hundred fifty-eight southeast Asian refugees including Vietnamese, Vietnamese Chinese and Cambodians participated voluntarily in responding to a self-administered questionnaire. The dependent variable, psychosocial adjustment, consists of three scales: the Community Adaptation scale, the Parent-Child Relationship scale and the Cornell Medical index, section M-R. One-way analysis of variance and multiple regression statistics were used. The data analysis showed that sex differences, level of English proficiency, employment and length of stay in the United States had greater influence on the psychosocial adjustment of the refugees than age, education, and marital status. The best predictors of high emotional distress were: being female, poor level of English proficiency, unemployment, being in the United States 1.5 years or less and between 2.6 and 3.5 years, being Buddhist and in poor health. The results also indicated that many Southeast Asian refugees were experiencing social, economic and psychological problems in the resettlement process