Exploring the Effects of Intergenerational Trauma and Parenting Strategies Among Second-Generation Vietnamese Americans

Abstract

There are presently nearly 26 million refugees who have been forcibly removed from their homes as a result of war, mass violence, and political instability. These families in exile endure numerous adverse mental health effects during mass conflicts as well as after resettlement in the host country, affecting the individual and their family members and reverberating to generations. A small number of studies have begun to examine intergenerational trauma among Southeast Asian American refugee and immigrant families, including Vietnamese American families. This study sought to further explore the effects of intergenerational trauma through the second-generation Vietnamese American’s (SGVA) perspective. I employ interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as the primary inquiry method to explore SGVAs’ perceptions of parental trauma’s effect on parenting. Eleven participants (8 mothers and 3 fathers) were recruited through a purposive sampling method and were interviewed for an hour to two hours through a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis yielded six themes of silence and disclosure, multiple traumas as part of daily life, SGVAs’ lived experience, first-generation Vietnamese Americans’ (FGVA) parenting shaped by culture and war, meaning-making of their family’s experience, and SGVAs’ multiple parenting strategies. The superordinate themes include the integral role of silence, the absence and desire for affection, and the contested spaces with multiple realities. The data offer insights into the lived experiences and meaning making of both affected generations. It explores how trauma continues to live on, manifests, and metabolizes the pain and suffering along with ways to cope and spaces to navigate in the world. The themes are discussed with provisions for clinical practice, policy, and further research.