Asian American Research Journal

There is a lack of research that focuses primarily on the Iu-Mien population in America. With the lack of scholarly work comes consequences in understanding the needs of these communities. Furthermore, the studies that were conducted on the Iu-Mien caters toward the first generation, many of whom had fled from the Secret War in Laos. The first generation who came to America faced difficulty in expressing mental health concerns due to linguistic barriers and a differing cultural understanding of mental health. This research seeks to explore whether Iu-Mien youth, or the second generation and the generations after, are able to have conversations of their symptoms of anxiety and depression with their parents when they learned English as their first language. It was found that despite speaking English as their first language, many of the respondents (n=13) still struggled to speak about their symptoms due to the fear of being judged and having different beliefs as their parents.