Mentoring Asian American Scholars: Stereotypes and Cultural Values

Students of color in higher education face myriad challenges that supersede the academic, including feelings of isolation, lack of belongingness, and overt discrimination that confer stress on top of their academic workload. One avenue to tackle these issues and reduce the negative outcomes associated with these stressors is the effective mentoring of scholars of color. Research has typically focused on African American and Latino scholars. Asian American scholars have received less attention despite studies showing high levels of anxiety, depression, isolation, and reported experiences of targeted microaggression and discrimination among this population. This article highlights the cultural issues that need to be raised and considered in the mentorship of Asian American scholars. In particular, mentors need to be aware that stereotypes of Asian Americans are pervasive, insidious, and harmful, even those that may be thought of as positive stereotypes, and to examine their own beliefs about them. Second, mentors should be aware of the cultural values that predominate in Asian American cultures-in particular, hierarchical collectivism and a high-context communication style-that may be at odds with the mentor's cultural values or pose as obstacles that negatively influence the mentoring process. Finally, broad considerations and recommendations for mentoring Asian Americans scholars are offered.