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Past research reveals important connections between meditative practices and compassion. Most studies, however, focus on the effects of one type of meditation (vs. a no-intervention control) on a single expression of compassion (e.g. offering a seat) towards a relatable target (e.g. a person on crutches), without exploring possible mechanisms. Hence, few studies include different types of meditation, active controls, multiple ways to express compassion, unrelatable targets, and potential mediators. To this end, the present study compared the effects of mindfulness meditation with those of compassion meditation on different expressions of compassion towards a convicted murderer. Seventy-four participants were randomly assigned to a mindfulness meditation, compassion meditation, or active control class, or a no-class control. After an 8-week programme, we assessed compassion by giving participants the option of fulfilling a murderer's request that they write him and then coding those letters for empathy, sympathy, forgiveness, and optimism. Participants in the compassion meditation class wrote more optimistic letters compared to participants in the other three conditions, in part because they valued positivity more. No statistically significant differences emerged for the other expressions of compassion. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of how meditation increases compassion towards unrelatable targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current investigation examined the experience of college challenges in 112 American-born, 121 early immigrant, and 110 late immigrant Chinese American students. Due to differential acculturation, it was hypothesized that late immigrants would encounter the most difficulties and American-born Chinese the least. Using the 13-domain Inventory of College Challenges for Ethnic Minority Students, we found that late immigrants reported more problems than American-born Chinese on six academic, social, and general living domains and experienced more problems than early immigrants on two academic and social domains. Additionally, early immigrants fared worse than American-born Chinese on two social and general living domains. Service implications, particularly for late immigrants, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation examined the network composition, social integration, and sense of coherence in a group of 353 Chinese American students at a public university. About half (55.5%) of the sample had a Chinese-only (ethnically same) network while the remainder had either ethnically and/or racially mixed networks. Late immigrants (arriving after age 12) were more likely to have close relationships with other Chinese only, and American-borns and early immigrants (arriving before or at age 12) were more likely to have non- Chinese Asian and non-Asian members in their network. Greater racial/ ethnic similarity among network members was associated with greater network integration. Individuals with a racially/ethnically mixed network enjoyed the highest sense of coherence, followed by those with an ethnically same network, and those with either a racially-same or mixed network reported the lowest sense of coherence. Altogether, the findings suggest ethnically/racially similar networks afford a sense of comfort, but more diverse networks offer the reward of increased competence and better person-environment fit. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Most studies of Hmong Americans focus on the cultural adjustment of refugees who arrived in the United States immediately after the Vietnam War. Few studies have examined the cultural adjustment of the children of these refugees, who have been raised primarily in the United States. This study explored whether American-born [ABH] and overseas-born [OBH] Hmong young adults differed in levels, models, and meanings of cultural orientation. Fourteen ABH and 32 OBH college students were asked what "being Hmong" and "being American" meant to them and complete were asked to the General Ethnicity Questionnaire (American and Hmong versions). Both groups reported being more oriented to American culture than Hmong culture. Despite similarities in mean levels of orientation to Hmong and American cultures and in the meanings of "being Hmong" and "being American," ABH and OBH differed in their underlying models of cultural orientation. For ABH, "being Hmong" and "being American" were unrelated constructs, whereas for OBH, they were negatively correlated constructs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous findings demonstrate that people often do not feel how they want to feel, supporting the distinction between “actual affect” and “ideal affect.” But are there certain activities that reduce the discrepancy between actual and ideal affect? Based on flow theory and socioemotional selectivity theory, we examined whether the discrepancy between people’s actual and ideal positive affect would be smaller during activities that were more conducive to flow (a state of intense absorption and concentration), pleasant, and familiar. In Study 1, U.S. participants aged 17–79 (N = 393) reported their ideal affect and how they felt during activities with varying degrees of challenges and skills. For both low-arousal positive affect (LAP) and high-arousal positive affect (HAP), participants reported smaller actual-ideal affect discrepancies during flow-conducive activities (when skills matched challenges). Study 2 was a 14-day experience sampling study, in which Hong Kong participants aged 18–83 (Nindividual = 109) reported their momentary actual and ideal affect, and how pleasant and familiar their activities were (Nexperience = 3,815). Greater activity familiarity was associated with smaller discrepancies in actual-ideal LAP, while greater activity pleasantness was associated with smaller discrepancies in actual-ideal HAP. These findings provide insights on the activities that help people achieve their ideal affect more easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]