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ISSN : 2233-6710(Print)
ISSN : 2384-2121(Online)
Journal of Asia Pacific Counseling Vol.15 No.1 pp.95-116
DOI : https://doi.org/10.18401/2025.15.1.5

“Be the Good Child”: Aspirations and Challenges of Karen Youth Refugees Resettling in America

Su Chen Tan1, Susan Lahey2, Jasmine Elenore Parrott3, Colleen O’Neal4
1Department of Public Health, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
2School of Arts and Social Sciences, Graduate Counseling Program, Trevecca Nazarene University
3School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
4Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, University of Maryland, College Park
Corresponding Author
Susan Lahey, Trevecca Nazarene University, 333 Murfreesboro Road, Adams Administration Building, Nashville, TN 37210.
Email: slahey@trevecca.edu

Abstract

Starting a new life in the United States offers refugee families a renewed sense of hope. However, maintaining aspirations and opportunities can have emotional consequences on resettled youth as the collectivistic practices of Karen families often fall outside the norms of the host society. The mental health professionals serving Karen youth can tune into the narratives that connect youth with parents and between Karen communities overseas and in the United States to provide culturally responsive assessment and intervention. The qualitative research examined included: (a) refugee resettlement on Karen youth resettling and growing up in the United States; (b) individual and collective resources that promote coping ability and resilience; and (c) perceived meaning ascribed to their lived experience of refugee resettlement. Implications that emerged from a synthesis of the findings call for adopting a socioecological framework (Miller & Rasmussen, 2017) that integrates both cultural competence and developmentally informed practices with this unique population.

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