demographic profiles of asian immigrant elderly residing

Demographic Profiles of Asian ImmigrantElderly Residing in Metropolitan Ethnic

Enclave Communities

Ada C. MuiDuy D. NguyenDooyeon Kang

Margaret Dietz Domanski

ABSTRACT. This study reports the demographic characteristics of sixgroups of Asian American elders (Chinese, Korean, Indian, Filipino,Vietnamese, and Japanese) in a regional probability sample (n = 407).The findings confirm the heterogeneity of the Asian American elderlypopulation, who differ in terms of demographics, immigration and ac-culturation experiences, language proficiency, educational attainment,and financial status. Findings point to the importance of taking carefulconsideration of the specific needs of different population groups of AsianAmerican elders when planning social and support services. Additionally,cultural competence training for health and social service professionals

Ada C. Mui, PhD, is Professor; Duy D. Nguyen, MSW, LCSW, and DooyeonKang, MSW, are doctoral students at School of Social Work, Columbia University,New York, NY.

Margaret Dietz Domanski, PhD, is Research Director of Domanski & AssociatesLLC, Key West, FL.

The authors would like to thank the Asian American Federation of New Yorkand Brookdale Center on Aging of Hunter College for their collaboration with thisresearch.

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and should not attrib-ute to the collaborating organizations.

Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, Vol. 15(1/2) 2006Available online at http://ecdsw.haworthpress.com

© 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1300/J051v15n01_09 193

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is needed in order to address the special needs, variability, and differ-ences among these Asian ethnic populations. doi:10.1300/J051v15n01_09[Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Ser-vice: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <[email protected]>Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc.All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Asian elderly demographics, Asian immigrant elders,Asian within group differences

INTRODUCTION

The Asian American population is one of the fastest growing minori-ties, representing 4.2% (11.9 million) of the total U.S. population (U.S.Census Bureau, 2004). By 2050, this ethnic minority population isprojected to grow 213% to 33.4 million and represent about 8% of the to-tal U.S. population. According to the 2000 Census, Chinese, Filipino,Asian Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese are the largest Asian populations,representing approximately 80% of the total U.S. Asian population (U.S.Census, 2004). Chinese Americans, the largest group representing about24% of all Asians, are followed proportionately by the Filipino, Asian In-dian, Vietnamese, and Korean populations. The Japanese, Cambodian,Hmong, Laotian, Pakistani, and Thai populations together account forabout an additional 15%, and the remaining Asian ethnicities account forabout 5% of the total U.S. Asian population. These percentages varywidely based on geographic regions of the U.S. What doesn’t vary is theprediction that the population growth rate among Asian American elderlyover age 65 is expected to rise faster than the population growth amongthe Asian American population as a whole (Choi, 2001).

The Asian American population is a diverse and heterogeneous one,representing more than 43 different ethnic groups and speaking morethan 100 different languages (U.S. Department of Health and HumanServices, Office of the Surgeon General, 2001). Accordingly, manycultural variations exist among Asian subgroups in terms of familyvalues, beliefs, norms, language, health-seeking behaviors, and otherareas (Mui, 2001). This is particularly the case among the elderlypopulation that is more culturally diverse than other age groups. Suchcultural variation comes from a large proportion of Asian elders who areforeign-born, the first-generation immigrants. As immigrants, the el-derly tend to cleave to their culture of origin more than their U.S. bornoffspring (Ryan, Mui, & Cross, 2003).

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With the growing number of Asian American elderly in the UnitedStates, research in gerontology has addressed the need for more studieson cross-cultural issues (Mui, 1996a, 2001). Nonetheless, there is a lackof data that provides an accurate picture of the socio-demographic is-sues facing Asian American elderly when compared to the large data-sets that exist on non-Hispanic White and African American elderlypopulations (LaVeist, 1995; Mui, 1996a). The available data on AsianAmerican elders fail to reflect differences among the Asian ethnic sub-groups (Tanjasiri, Wallace, & Shibata, 1995). The Asian elder data setsare also not large enough to conduct rigorous analyses of the AsianAmerican elderly as a whole or to test within-group ethnic differences(Mui, 1996a, 2001; Shibusawa & Mui, 2001).

The lack of data is compounded by the reality that current research onAsian American elderly tends to focus only on one or two subgroups(e.g., Ishii-Kuntz, 1997; Lee, Yeo, & Gallagher-Thompson, 1993; Moon,& Pearl, 1991; Mui, 1996a, 2001; Pablo & Braun, 1997; Tran, 1991) orto categorize Asian Americans as one group (e.g., Moon, Lubben, &Villa, 1998; Tanjasiri, Wallace, & Shibata, 1995; Kim & McKenry,1998). The lack of empirical knowledge of the diverse and unique is-sues in the Asian American population regionally and nationally mayresult in inadequate and ineffectual service provision to these variousethnic groups (Choi, 2001). There is a great need for research that pro-vides statistically meaningful empirical knowledge of variation in thesocio-demographic profile of Asia American elderly. Such a study re-quires samples of sufficient size, geographic breadth, and ethnic repre-sentation to allow for findings to be generalized nationally, and to thespecific detailed ethnic subgroups studied. This study presents key find-ings on demographic characteristics of a regional probability sample ofsix ethnic subgroups of Asian American elders residing in New YorkCity. These analyses provide a wealth of information about the varia-tion within the Asian American elderly community and discuss theirimplications for social work policy and practice with immigrant eldersfrom the six Asian American subgroups studied here.

METHOD

Data Sources and Sample

The data analyzed here is from the Asian American Elders in NewYork City Survey, conducted during the year 2000 (Ryan et al., 2003).

Mui et al. 195

The study, sponsored by the Asian American Federation of New York(AAFNY), researched Asian American elders aged 65 and over in NewYork City who belonged to one of the following six ethnic groups: Chi-nese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. This studycollected a wide range of information on this elderly sample’s charac-teristics, including socio-demographics, health, mental health, financialwell-being, informal support system, formal service utilization, accul-turation and immigration experiences, and quality-of-life issues as theseare all related to depression and overall life satisfaction (Ryan et al.,2003). In this paper, only the socio-demographic data are analyzed forthe purpose of presenting an overall demographic picture of these sixgroups of Asian American elders. Other information on these elders canbe found in Ryan et al. (2003).

The study sample was drawn from a 1990 U.S. Census list of morethan 5,785 block groups in the five boroughs of New York City. Censusblock groups were ranked according to the percentage of Asian house-holds recorded in the 1990 Census. A cut-off was made when the censusblock groups represented 70% of all Asians 65 and older contained inthe 1990 Census data for New York City. The final sample consisted of60 block groups, or primary sample units (P.S.U.s), that met the inclu-sion criteria. This study utilized an area probability sample. Area proba-bility samples are designed to give each eligible population member orhousehold in the area a known chance of being interviewed and in-cluded. Using a street map and specially designed listing sheets, trainedbilingual interviewers went to a randomly designated point in the geo-graphic area and listed housing units. For each of the 60 selected blockgroups (P.S.U.s), 100 to 150 households were listed and then screenedfor interviews. For this study, interviewers were required to contact aselected household up to four times to determine eligibility for study in-clusion. Before the actual contact with the respondents, interviewerssent letters to elicit cooperation from the respondents and building own-ers or managers. When an interviewer identified an eligible Asian el-derly respondent, he/she was required to call back up to four times toprocure an interview. One respondent per household was interviewed.If more than one eligible respondent lived in the household, then theperson who had most recently celebrated a birthday was selected as therespondent. Due to the nature of the random sampling procedure, nohousehold substitution was allowed. A research team from Harris Inter-active Inc. conducted the sampling, data collection, and data processingon behalf of the study sample (see Ryan et al., 2003, for greater detail).


This sampling process resulted in a total of 407 Asian immigrant el-ders aged 65 and older, who were surveyed in their homes by an in-per-son interviewer. Interviewers for each subgroup of Asian immigrantelders received a bilingual interviewing manual and a set of question in-structions so as to minimize the systematic errors and to increase theinter-rate reliability. The completed survey response rate was 84.3% ofthose eligible to participate (N = 483). Interviews averaging 1 hour and30 minutes in length were conducted between February 2 and May 31,2000. The questionnaire was prepared in English and was translated andback translated into different ethnic languages by panels of bilingualprofessionals to ascertain that the items were culturally valid, and con-ceptually and linguistically consistent. The respondents were adminis-tered the questionnaire in either English or the ethnic language theypreferred. Interviews were conducted in English, Chinese, Tagalog,Hindi, Korean, and Vietnamese. Most participants used the native lan-guage questionnaire consistent with their ethnicity except the Japaneseelders, who all used the English questionnaire. Greater detail on thequestionnaire and its contents can be found in original survey reports(Ryan et al., 2003). The six Asian elderly subgroups included in thisstudy represented 94% of all Asian elderly ethnic subgroups in the 2000national U.S. Census, and 96.1% of the 2000 Census Asian populationspecific to New York City (U.S. Census, 2000).

Data Analysis

All analyses were conducted using SAS version 9.1. Bivariate analy-ses were performed to compare the six Asian subgroups. Chi-squarestatistics were obtained for all categorical variables, and Cramer’s Vpost-hoc tests were calculated to allow for inter-group comparisons.ANOVA was conducted with continuous variables, and Scheffe post-hoc multiple comparisons were used to test the differences among themeans of each subgroup. Although a complex sampling method wasused to obtain the study sample, weighted analyses were not used, be-cause of the limited sample size for several subgroups.

FINDINGS

Demographic Characteristics

Table 1 presents the detailed key demographic characteristics of age,gender, marital status, and education observed among the Asian American

Mui et al. 197

elders in the study sample. A Chi-square analysis found significant vari-ation among the six ethnic subsamples on each of these characteristics.With regard to age, the Vietnamese elders were the youngest group(M = 68.8 years) and Chinese elders the oldest group (M = 75.1 years).With the average age across all respondents being 72.4 years, theseAsian elderly fall within the “young old” category of aging overall(Mui, 1995a, 1998). It is important to note, however, that the average


TABLE 1. General Demographic Characteristics of the Study Sample (% oftotal within each group)

Asian Immigrant Group Chinese Filipino Indian Japanese Korean Vietnamese Total

Group n (% of totalsample)

n = 105(25.8%)

n = 52(12.8%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 407(100%)

Reported as % withineach group

Mean Age (SD) 75.1(7.1)

73.2(6.6)

70.3(4.2)

70.9(4.7)

72.3(6.1)

68.8(3.5)

72.4(6.2)

65-69a 29 40 51 52 44 64 43

70-74 24 17 32 24 19 28 24

75-84 36 39 17 24 34 8 29

85� 11 4 0 0 3 0 4

Genderb

Female 56 67 38 52 74 36 56

Male 44 33 62 48 26 64 44

Marital Statusc

Married 53 52 62 40 31 68 50

Widowed 43 33 33 48 62 16 42

Divorced or Separated 3 2 4 0 6 8 4

Never Married 1 12 1 12 0 8 3

Educationd

Less than High School 1 14 9 8 10 22 9

High School 98 51 65 8 87 78 74

Post High School 1 35 26 84 3 0 17

a�

2 = 47.80, df = 15, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.20b�

2 = 33.22, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.29c�

2 = 57.42, df = 15, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.22d�

2 = 329.10, df = 10, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.64

age of the Chinese elders placed them in the “old-old” classification, in-dicating that their service needs may also vary in accordance with theirage. Whereas slightly more than half the entire sample was female(56%), nearly three-quarters (74%) of the Korean elders and 67% of Fil-ipino elders were female. Chinese and Japanese elders were almostevenly distributed between the genders, with 56% and 52% female, re-spectively. Asian Indian and Vietnamese elders were disproportion-ately male, 62% and 64%, respectively.

The literature notes that elderly who are currently married are knownto enjoy a higher likelihood of obtaining informal social support whenneeded. Conversely, those without spouses generally require more paidformal supports ranging from home care to nursing home care (Mui,1995; Mui & Burnette, 1994). The study sample demonstrated sharpwithin-group differences regarding marital status. While only 31% ofKorean elders were currently married, twice as many Asian Indians(62%) and Vietnamese (68%) were married at the time of the survey. Bycontrast, a large proportion of Chinese (43%), Japanese (48%), andKorean (62%) elders reported being widowed.

Inter-ethnic variation was observed with regard to educational attain-ment. The majority of elders (74%) had finished high school. This at-tainment varied as follows: 98% of Chinese, 87% of Koreans, 78% ofVietnamese, 65% of Filipino, and 51% of Asian Indian elders. Viet-namese (22%) and Filipino (14%) elders also reported having had lessthan a high school education when compared with the other groups.While only 17.1% of the overall sample reported having completedpost-secondary education, the Japanese elders were uncharacteristicwith 84% having attained some college education. Moderate rates ofpost-secondary educational attainment were reported by Filipino (35%)and Asian Indian elders (26%). Less than 5% of the remaining eldershad not received any education after high school.

Immigration Experiences

Table 2 reports the immigration experience of elderly Asian Ameri-cans in the study sample with significant group differences noted. Ofgreatest interest was the finding that 100% of the study sample wereAsian immigrants. Their median age at immigration ranged from 51 to62 years, indicating that immigration to the United States often occurredlater in life. The Japanese group provided the single exception, with amedian age of forty at immigration. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of all el-ders in the sample indicated that their primary reason for immigration

Mui et al. 199


TABLE 2. Immigration and Cultural Adaptation Characteristics of the StudySample (% of total within each group)

Asian ImmigrantGroup

Chinese Filipino Indian Japanese Korean Vietnamese Total

Group n(% of total sample)

n = 105(25.8%)

n = 52(12.8%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 407(100%)

Reported as % within each groupMean Length of stay inU.S. ( SD)a

26.2(14.8)b

18.9(14.6)c

21.2(12.7)d

30.8(10.1)e

16.3(8.1)c

7.0(3.0)f

20.8(13.2)

Percent not born inU.S.

100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Median age atimmigrationa

51b 57c 50b 40d 57c 62e 54

Choice to come to U.S.was mine vs. otherg

57 71 62 55 61 96 63

Immigration reasonsh

Political instability 11 8 1 4 2 72 9

Family wanted me to 66 58 53 40 85 28 62

For study purposes 0 2 5 12 1 0 2

For a job 14 19 31 32 5 0 17

Unspecified reasons 9 13 10 12 7 0 9

How coming to the U.S. worked out for you? i

Very well/pretty well 71 96 90 91 83 100 85

Neither well nor not well 19 2 10 9 14 0 12

Not so well/notwell at all

10 2 0 0 3 0 3

Wish to return to thehome country if youhad the choicej

60 45 31 72 17 38 38

Immigration statusk

U.S. citizen 67 60 19 32 54 8 46

Green card(Permanent Resident)

33 33 54 64 36 88 44

Visa 0 0 11 0 2 0 3

Refused/Don’t know 0 8 16 12 8 2 7

aANOVA statistics with Scheffe’s Post Hoc multiple comparisons were used to test the differences amongmeans.b,c,d,e,fMeans with different letters are significantly different at less than the .05 level in the same variable.g�

2 = 17.79, df = 5, p � 0.0032, Cramer’s V = 0.21h�

2 = 185.02, df = 20, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.34i�

2 = 34.22, df = 10, p � 0.0002, Cramer’s V = 0.21j�

2 = 77.80, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.44k�

2 = 102.33, df = 15, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.29

was to join family members already living in the United States; a com-parable percentage (63%) indicated that it was their choice to come tothe United States. Indicative of their history as refugees to the UnitedStates, Vietnamese elders proved to be the lone exception; 72% re-ported leaving Vietnam due to political instability, and nearly all (96%)reported that it was their choice to come to the United States.

Eighty-five percent reported that “coming to the United States hasworked out either very well or pretty well”; and only a very small mi-nority (3%) reported that immigration had worked out “not so well ornot well at all.” In terms of immigration status, nearly half of the studysample reported American citizenship (46%). A similar proportion(44%) had Permanent Residency status, and 10% reported having visasor refused to answer the question. Among the six ethnic subsamples,large differences in reported citizenship were found: two-thirds of theChinese and 60% of the Filipinos were citizens, compared to 19% of theAsian Indian group and only 8% of the Vietnamese respondents. Of in-terest in terms of acculturation and mental health was the finding that38% of all Asian elders in this sample would return to their native coun-try if they had the chance. This desire was most frequently expressedamong the Japanese (72%) and least often among the Koreans (17%).

Linguistic Acculturation Characteristics

Table 3 summarizes the level of language proficiency in the studysample. Chi-square analysis found significant between group differ-ences for each of the language proficiency measures. An inability tospeak English suggests difficulty in negotiating life outside the localcommunity where the native language may be predominant. As withother key indicators, the six groups studied vary markedly in whetherand how well English was spoken. Only 11% of respondents reportedusing English informally at home. This was true for 44% of the Japa-nese and 29% of the Filipino respondents, but for none of the Vietnam-ese, and only 2% in the Chinese and Korean respondents. Sixty-ninepercent of all respondents spoke no English or did not speak it well. Onehundred percent of the Vietnamese, 92% of the Chinese, 89% of the Ko-rean, 54% of the Asian Indian, 40% of the Japanese, and 12% of the Fili-pino elders reported their ability to speak English as either “not toowell” or “not at all.”

Given that only 15% of all the respondents reported that they were ableto speak English well, the availability of others in the same householdwho speak English well is critical. In this study, according to the percent-

Mui et al. 201

age reporting there was no one in the household who spoke English well,was 68% for the Vietnamese, 38% for the Chinese, 29% for the Korean,and less than 10% each for the Japanese, Indian, and Filipino respon-dents. Filipino elders reported the highest proportion of respondents whofelt they could speak English “Somewhat” (39%) or “Very well” (49%).It is noteworthy that Japanese elders were the only group to complete thesurvey using the English version, and, on average, had lived in the United


TABLE 3. Linguistic Acculturation Characteristics among the Study Sample(% of total within each group)




n = 105(25.8%)

n = 52(12.8%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 407(100%)

Reported as % within each groupHow well do you speak Englisha

Not at all 70 2 28 0 42 59 39Not too well 22 10 26 40 47 41 30Some what 6 39 28 36 10 0 18Very well 2 49 18 24 1 0 13How well do you read Englishb

Not at all 78 10 32 0 47 72 44Not too well 15 10 23 40 36 28 24Some what 5 37 25 36 13 0 17Very well 2 52 20 24 4 0 15How well do you write Englishc

Not at all 82 2 32 0 45 75 45Not too well 10 10 23 40 38 21 22Some what 6 39 27 36 13 4 19Very well 2 50 18 24 4 0 14Sometimes speakEnglish informallywith family/friendsd

2 29 15 44 2 0 11

No one in householdspeaks English welle

38 2 4 8 29 68 23

a�

2 = 198.14, df = 15, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.41b�

2 = 194.93, df = 15, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.40c�

2 = 206.52, df = 15, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.41d�

2 = 69.59, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.41

e�

2 = 27.59, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.32

States longer than the other groups. English is widely spoken throughoutIndia and the Philippines, former colonies or territories of Great Britainand the United States. The finding regarding these elders’ greater Englishproficiency was, therefore, not surprising.

Nearly half of all respondents reported an inability to read (44%) orto write (45%) in English. Consistent with the reported levels of Englishfluency, most of the Chinese group reported no ability to read or write inEnglish (78 and 82%, respectively), the highest such level among thesix groups. This finding exists in spite of the fact that the Chinese immi-grant elderly had lived in the United States an average of 26 years, sec-ond only to the Japanese (31 years). The Vietnamese elders were similarto the Chinese, reporting a 72% inability to read and 75% inability towrite in English. None of the Vietnamese elders, less than 2% of Chi-nese elders, and 4% of the Korean elders reported an ability to read orwrite English very well. The picture for the Filipino respondents, how-ever, is nearly the inverse-fewer than 2% reported no ability to read orwrite in English, while 52% reported reading very well, and half re-ported writing very well in English. In comparison, less than half asmany Japanese elders (24%) reported an ability to read or write in Eng-lish “very well,” while 36% were able to read and write some English.A smaller but similar proportion of Asian Indian respondents reportedan ability to read very well (20%) or somewhat (25%), and write verywell (18%) or somewhat (27%). These findings may reflect the level ofEnglish used in their countries of origin or the size of these immigrant’sethnic enclave communities in New York City.

Religiosity and Spirituality Characteristics

Table 4 summarizes the elder’s responses related to religiosity andspirituality. Once again, statistically significant between group differ-ences were found for each of these measures. To determine the compo-sition of religious affiliation in the study sample, respondents in the sixgroups were asked to describe themselves based on seven categories(Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, Protestant, Muslim, Other, or no affilia-tion). Approximately 85% of the composite sample reported an affilia-tion to an organized religion. Among all respondents, as many reportedbeing Catholic (22%) as being Buddhist (21%) and as many reportedbeing Protestant (16%) as being Hindu (17%). About 15% indicatedno religious affiliation. Among Chinese elders, 41% reported a Buddhistaffiliation, 10% a Muslim affiliation, and 38% identified themselvesas having a religious affiliation not included in the list of survey

Mui et al. 203


TABLE 4. Religiosity and Spirituality Characteristics of the Study Sample (% oftotal within each group)



Group n (% oftotal sample)

n = 105(25.8%)

n = 52(12.8%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 407(100%)

Reported as % within each group

Religiona

Buddhist 41 0 1 88 7 48 21

Catholic 4 92 0 4 24 48 22

Hindu 1 0 69 0 0 0 17

Muslim 10 0 20 0 1 0 5

Protestant 3 2 0 8 50 4 16

Other 38 6 6 0 0 0 3

None 2 0 2 0 17 0 15

Refused toanswer

0 0 2 0 1 0 1

Religious Service Attendance b

1 time a weekor more

11 89 36 20 70 56 45

1-3 times amonth

11 6 45 40 2 8 18

1-4 times a year 15 4 16 28 1 36 13

Less than yearly 11 0 2 4 3 0 4

Never 50 2 1 4 20 0 18

Refused toanswer

2 0 0 4 4 0 2

Perceived Religion as Importantc

Very important 31 92 42 40 71 100 56

Somewhatimportant

23 6 49 56 10 0 25

Not important 43 2 9 4 15 0 17

Don’t know 1 0 0 0 4 0 1

Refused toanswer

0 0 0 0 0 0 1

a�

2 = 723.60, df = 35, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.60b�

2 = 276.40, df = 35, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.37c�

2 = 166.37, df = 20, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.32

choices. Nearly all Filipino elders (92%) were Catholic, and a substan-tial majority of Japanese (88%) identified as Buddhist. Nearly half theKorean elders were Protestants and one-quarter Catholic, while theVietnamese elders reported an even split between Catholicism (48%)and Buddhism (48%). Over two-thirds (69%) of Indian elders wereHindu, and one-fifth identified as Muslim.

There is a wide variation in the Asian elders’ spirituality. Fifty-sixpercent of the Asian immigrants surveyed felt their religion was “Veryimportant”, and another quarter (25%) of respondents said religion was“Somewhat important”. On average, slightly less than one-fifth (17%)considered their religion as “Not important”. The Chinese elders ap-peared somewhat were less spiritual than other groups, with 43% re-porting religion as not important. Attendance at religious servicesreflects the sample’s reports of religious affiliation and significance-nearly half (45%) attend services weekly or more, and 18% reported at-tending 1to 3 times a month. The same proportion (18%) reported neverattending a religious activity.

Financial Well-Being Indicators

Table 5 reflects a common phenomenon that respondents were un-willing to reveal their income information. Fewer than three-quartersreported this information among the Chinese, Filipino, and Korean re-spondents. Of those who disclosed financial information, the medianyearly household income was below $6,000 for Filipino and Vietnam-ese elders, ranging from $6,000 to $8,500 among Korean and Chineseelders, and between $10,000 and $12,500 among the Asian Indian el-ders. Japanese elders were relatively advantaged compared to others,with a reported yearly median household income of $15,000-$25,000.A subjective report of poverty (Can’t really get by) was made by 13% ofrespondents, and was most pervasive among Vietnamese elders (24%),followed by Filipino elders (18%), Chinese elders (17%), Indian elders(13%), Japanese elders (8%), and Korean elders (2%). More thanone-third of the sample reported receiving means-tested economic sup-port, either Supplemental Security Income (SSI) transfers or from theFood Stamps Program. The proportion receiving the poverty-based in-come supplement was very high among the Vietnamese (79%) and Ko-rean (64%) elders, intermediate among Chinese (36%) and Filipinoelders (36% and 27%, respectively), and relatively low among Asian In-dian and Japanese elders (8% and 13%, respectively). Receipt of foodstamps followed much the same pattern. While 34% of respondents on

Mui et al. 205

average reported receiving food stamps, this percentage is skewed bythe 84% of Vietnamese elders who reported receiving this benefitcompared to 12 to 42% for all other groups.

Only 48% of the sample received Social Security benefits, a mainsource of income among the American elderly in general, and the single


TABLE 5. Financial Characteristics of the Study Sample (% of total within eachgroup)

Asian Immigrant Group Chinese Filipino Indian Japanese Korean Viet-namese

Total


n = 105(25.8%)

n = 52(12.8%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 100(24.6%)

n = 25(6.1%)

n = 407(100%)

Reported as % within each groupHousehold incomea

�$6,000 36 48 25 0 30 48 31$6,000-10,000 35 16 20 13 51 52 30�$10,000 29 36 55 87 19 0.0 38Medianhousehold income(in $1000/year)

6-8.5 �6 10-12.5 15-25 6-8.5 �6 6-8.5

% Can’t reallyget byb

17 18 13 8 2 24 13

Health insurance (1 = yes)

Medicare Ac 87 53 16 32 54 38 51Medicare Bd 88 61 44 88 66 47 66Medicaide 58 37 24 10 38 91 41Private Insurancef 8 16 21 25 4 6 14No healthinsuranceg

8 27 25 0 15 0 15

Transfer programs (1 = yes)

SSIh 36 27 8 13 64 79 37Food Stampsi 31 21 28 12 42 84 34Social Securityj 29 51 53 78 67 0 48

a�

2 = 68.84, df = 10, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.34b�

2 = 16.79, df = 5, p = 0.0049, Cramer’s V = 0.20c�

2 = 90.64, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.52d�

2 = 44.31, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.37e�

2 = 51.53, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.40f�

2 = 14.09, df = 5, p = 0.0150, Cramer’s V = 0.23g�

2 = 18.88, df = 5, p = 0.0020, Cramer’s V = 0.27h�

2 = 88.86, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.48i�

2 = 42.14, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.33j�

2 = 39.63, df = 5, p � 0.0001, Cramer’s V = 0.38

resource preventing an official poverty status for many elderly nation-wide. Among the six groups, variation in the proportion receiving So-cial Security was large. None of the Vietnamese, 29% of the Chinese,about half of the Asian Indian (51%) and Filipino (53%), two-thirds(67%) of the Korean, and more than three-quarters (78%) of the Japa-nese respondents reported receiving Social Security. On an average,Asian American elders who immigrated recently were more likely to bepoor. Without a substantive work history in the United States, recentimmigrant elders are ineligible for Social Security or pension benefits.When one considers the median age at immigration to the United Statesand the employment numbers, it is not surprising that a much higherproportion of these Asian elderly immigrants receive SupplementalSecurity Income rather than Social Security benefits.

Similar to the patterns of Social Security and SSI enrollment, most el-ders participated in government-sponsored health care. In analyzinghealth insurance coverage, 51% of the respondents received MedicarePart A, which covers hospital, skilled nursing, and home health care andis linked with the Social Security benefit, while 66% reported supple-menting their coverage with Medicare Part B to cover physician visitsand outpatient services. Forty one percent also reported receiving means-tested Medicaid coverage, a volume only slightly higher than the report ofSSI benefits. In contrast, only 14% of all these immigrant elders reportedhaving private health insurance coverage. The concern with these figuresis the volume of respondents who reported not having health insurancecoverage. The percentage within each group who reported having nohealth insurance coverage at all ranged from 0% to 27%. It is not surpris-ing to see the variation among these groups due to the difference in theirhousehold income. It is unclear why Filipino and Indian elderly groupsreported a higher proportion of uninsured (27 and 25% respectively).

DISCUSSION

Through disaggregated analyses, the study findings confirm thesocio-demographic heterogeneity among American Asian immigrantelderly groups (Choi, 2001). Results from this representative sample ofAsian American elders are consistent with previous research done withsmall convenience samples among different Asian elderly communities(e.g., Mui, 1996a, 1998, 2001; Mui & Shibusawa, 2003). Study findingsshow that Asian immigrant elders differ in terms of ethnicity, immigra-tion history, English proficiency, educational attainment, and economic

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security. Given the diversity among the major Asian ethnic populations,practitioners working with Asian American immigrants in ethnic en-clave communities, and in the general population, can better serve theirclients by developing an understanding of the multifaceted nature of theimmigration experience of these Asian Americans.

The study findings also support the literature that Vietnamese elderswere likely to be recent immigrants, with Chinese and Japanese eldershaving longer stays in the United States (Tran, 1993). Assessing factorsthat contributed to the individual’s decision to leave their country of ori-gin, the migration experience, and the experiences since arrival in theUnited States are all influenced by the time in history when immigrationoccurred. Such knowledge will enable helping professionals to capturethe contextual aspects of the client’s experience and assess its impact ontheir personal functioning and social relationships. Variation in thelength of time since immigrating to the States may also influence Asianelder’s level of language acculturation, assimilation, and knowledge ofthe U.S. social welfare system and aging services (Mui, 1998, 2001;Shibusawa & Mui, 2003).

Literature supports the need for social workers to understand ethnicelders’ from the life course perspective in that people’s early life experi-ences affect their worldviews and development of adaptive resources(Stroller & Gibson, 1999). Understanding the diversity in the social andhistorical contexts within which today’s cohort of Asian American andAsian immigrant elders experienced significant life course events is es-sential in understanding their social reality and personal struggles intheir aging process. Accumulated stresses may become painful memo-ries, especially if the elder has linguistic acculturation difficulties, fi-nancial hardship, regrets, or family conflicts (Mui, 1996b, 2001). It isimportant for social workers to understand the historical context of dif-ferent Asian elderly groups (Mui & Kang, 2006). For example, Viet-namese elders in the United States tend to be recent immigrants, manyof whom fled from an oppressive environment and experienced manywar-related emotional traumas (Tran, 1993). By contrast, Japanese el-ders have lived in the United States for decades, and their immigrationexperience is more distant. Depending upon the length on time in theUnited States , however, the Japanese elders may well have experiencedgreater cultural resentment and anger than was experienced by otherAsian populations. Recent research suggests that acculturative stressorsaccumulate among immigrants over time as they experience discrimi-nation (Shen & Takeuchi, 2001). Knowledge about the client’s immi-gration history, acculturation stress, language barriers and language


proficiencies, and abilities to understand and to communicate in Englishwill aid social workers in developing a comprehensive view of the so-cial domains and cultural context in which the client functions. Agrounded perspective enables the helping professionals to collabor-atively work with the client to implement interventions to meet theirpsychosocial needs in culturally sensitive and meaningful ways.

The reasons that these elders immigrated to the United States variedas indicated by the data. The majority came because their family wantedthem to and most of them felt that their immigration to the United Stateshad worked out for them. However, if they had a choice, more thanone-third of the Asian elders still expressed homesickness and the wishto return to their home country. Immigration decisions and choices alsovaried by subsample, with Japanese and Chinese wanting to return totheir home country in far greater percentages than Korean elders. Theexpressed desire to go back to the home country may be an indication ofpoor quality family relationships or that the elder’s cultural displace-ment had been difficult (Mui, 1996a, 2001). The desire among these im-migrant elderly to go back to their homeland may be a proxy of theirdissatisfaction with their lives or with their families in the United States(Mui, 1996a). It is important to understand the psychological distressand loss of control in life associated with homesickness. Social workersneed to be culturally competent to understand what these elders left be-hind, and how much of their immigration decision was based more onfamily obligation or pressure than on personal choice. How the decisionto immigrate was made may well influence the immigrant elder’s desireto acculturate as well as their sense of guilt having left other family inthe country of origin. Service providers need to be informed andculturally sensitive to these issues when working with Asian immigrantintergenerational families.

With the confluence of a rapidly growing aging population and im-migration from Asian countries, the demand for culturally competenthealth and social service providers continues to increase in the UnitedStates. A significant majority of the study respondents from Chinese,Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese backgrounds had limited English pro-ficiency. This finding demonstrates the need for social service, health,and mental health programs that employ bilingual, bicultural socialworkers. Health care professionals and social workers should advocatethe need for culturally competent services in programs where they arelacking. Culturally responsive services have also been shown to im-prove service access among Asian Americans (Mui & Kang, 2006; Sue,Fujino, Hu, Takeuchi, & Zane, 1991). Collaboration between established

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senior service providers, such as nursing homes, adult day care programs,senior centers, and Asian American community-based organizations candevelop cultural competence through sharing knowledge to better meetthe needs of Asian American elders.

The study found support for the importance of religion within AsianAmerican communities, as a majority of surveyed elders believed thatreligion is very important in their lives. The literature suggests that mostimmigrants continue or rebuild their spiritual lives in their new land (Ai,Dunkle, Peterson, & Bolling, 1998; Min & Kim, 2002; Mui & Kang,2006). In this study, high religiosity was assumed when respondents re-ported that they considered religion to be very important to them. Reli-gious interpretation of stressful life events may have power to bringbelievers to a state of inner peace or acceptance of a situation that is be-yond their control (Idler, 2002). Religion is a powerful spiritual copingresource (Ai et al., 1998). Fostering relationships between formal socialservice systems and faith-based organizations will enable social work-ers to reach elders in non-traditional settings and to build up their reli-gious support network. As collaborators, social workers play a vital rolein facilitating such inter-organization sharing.

Expanding social service programs that provides English as a secondlanguage course can also improve Asian elders’ psychosocial function-ing. English proficiency improves the senior’s ability to live within thecommunity through improving access to community resources whilesimultaneously reducing social isolation. Social workers can advocatefor the development and funding of such programs when they find themlacking among the services provided to Asian immigrant elders.

Although the current study presents data on the six major Asian eth-nic population groups and addresses the characteristics of majority ofall Asian ethnic population groups in the United States , other ethnicgroups are overlooked. Smaller groups, such as Hmong and Khmerfrom Southeast Asia, are concentrated in tight communities across thenation and have particular psychosocial needs as a consequence of theirhistorical and immigration experiences. Social workers using ethnicsensitive practices are advised to assess the unique experiences of el-derly persons within these smaller Asian ethnic population groups inorder to better understand their unique culture and needs, and how toimprove their access to the health and social services.

Demographically, the study findings indicate rates of marriage andwidowhood varied among these Asian elders. There were also slightlymore Asian elders living alone than the national average (Mui &Burnette, 1994). While the married elders had the potential support of a


spousal caregiver, those who were widowed or who lived alone lackedthis resource, a key to prevent institutionalization and isolation amongseniors (Mui 1992, 1995). Coping with loss of one’s spouse and the lin-guistic acculturation process can be a major source of psychologicaldistress (Mui, 2001; Mui & Shibusawa, 2003). The high number of wid-ows and widowers in this study points to the need for social workers tounderstand stress related to these losses, the religious and cultural waysof coping, and cultural factors that shape the grieving process amongdifferent Asian ethnic elderly groups. This knowledge can be applied inworking with friends and family members to support the functioning ofelders within the community and to reduce social isolation (Mui &Kang, 2006).

Economically, about 13% of Asian elders in the sample stated thatthey “couldn’t get by.” This is a large number of elderly who subjec-tively, and probably objectively as well, are experiencing stress regard-ing financial issues. While many Asian Indian and Japanese eldersreported income levels above the poverty rate, Filipino and Vietnameseelders indicated greater economic difficulties. Given the robust rela-tionship between socioeconomic indicators and health status, elderlyliving in poverty are susceptible to many negative health outcomes(Burnette & Mui, 1999; Sorlie, Backlund, & Keller, 1995). Case man-agement and advocacy services enable elders living in or near povertyto access public benefit programs, healthcare, and affordable housingthat will have lasting psychosocial effects. Providers in all personal so-cial service, health, and mental health settings are advised to be awarethat economic needs among Asian American seniors vary, but that mostof them may benefit from government and private sector programs forwhich they are eligible but have not accessed.

LIMITATIONS

In terms of limitations, since the Filipino, Japanese, and Vietnameseelderly samples had less than 100 respondents in each, findings relatingto these populations should accordingly be viewed as suggestive andrequiring further research to ascertain the degree to which the survey re-sults may be generalized. Percentage calculations based on these smallpopulation samples may suggest differences that are more dramaticthan warranted, and comparisons with other Asian ethnic groups maynot be appropriate. Additionally, because this study was based on AsianAmerican immigrants living in New York City’s most densely populated

Mui et al. 211

block groups, findings may be more indicative of characteristics ofthose who live in such urban ethnic enclave areas than those AsianAmericans and/or Asian immigrants who are more geographically dis-persed. Further, members of each ethnicity were often interviewed intheir native language and by different interviewers. As a result, differ-ences in translation, interpretation, understanding of questions, or will-ingness to respond in the first place are possible. This may threaten thereliability of some responses. Due to the sampling and polling limita-tions described, caution is called for when drawing inferences to thewider national population of Asian American elders or the specific na-tionality subgroups living in New York City. Because this sample wascomposed entirely of Asian immigrant elders, generalization to Asianelders born in the United States may also not be warranted. Neverthe-less, this first landmark study of Asian immigrant elders provides avaluable portrait of socio-demographic characteristics of this rapidlygrowing segment of the American elderly population.

CONCLUSION

This study’s findings reveal that Asian immigrant elders are not a ho-mogenous group. As members of uniquely different groups, America’sAsian immigrant elders have diverse cultural norms, social behaviors, im-migration experiences, and other life experiences. To group them into onelarge Asian American group is a mistake from both a clinical practice anda policy perspective. Service providers are advised to be sensitive to as-sessing this variation in planning intervention with Asian American elderlyfrom all Asian ethnic population groups. Such sensitivity will lead to cul-turally competent practice, better outcomes, and greater client satisfaction.

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demographic profiles of asian immigrant elderly residing

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