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Structural Family Therapy and its Implications for the Asian American Family
Josephine M. Kim
The Family Journal 2003; 11; 388
DOI: 10.1177/1066480703255387
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ARTICLE

10.1177/1066480703255387
THE
Kim
/FAMILY
STRUCTURAL
JOURNAL:
FAMILY
COUNSELING
THERAPYAND THERAPY FOR COUPLES AND FAMILIES / October 2003

Literature ReviewTheory

Structural Family Therapy and

Its Implications for the Asian American Family
Josephine M. Kim
Curry School of Education

Asian American families often consist of the immigrant generation

(parents) and the first generation (children). Because acculturation
experiences vary for the different generations, conflict between family members may easily occur. Structural family therapy is presented
as an approach that may be effective in helping Asian American
families overcome the difficulties caused by differing acculturation
experiences.
Keywords:

counseling; Asian American; family; structural family therapy

within the same family. The structural approach to family

therapy offers a useful perspective to family therapists working with Asian American families due to its emphasis on the
family unit rather than on individual members. In this column, Asian American cultural values and majority cultural
values are briefly reviewed. Then the structural family
approach and its application to counseling the Asian American family, whose members are experiencing differing acculturation rates, are described.
THE ASIAN AMERICAN POPULATION

I live the tension between a Chinese ideal of filial piety and

the American way of self-assertion and independent thinking. . . . I am both, and I value both. . . . I extinguish the conflict
for today, because I am Chinese American, and I do flow
effortlessly between the two worlds, because in my world
there is only one. (Ying & Lee, 1999, p. 201, as cited in Chae,
2002)
Starting in elementary school, I began to feel the obvious difference between myself and the other students, who were . . .
mostly white. It was then I began to feel very lonely; with my
classmates, because I didnt look like them; with my own
race, because I was not what I looked like. (Ying & Lee, 1999,
p. 200, as cited in Chae, 2002)

Structural family therapy (Minuchin, 1974) is presented as

an ideal approach for working with Asian American families
whose members consist of the immigrant generation (the parents) and the first generation born in the United States (the
children). These families present unique challenges because
of the way the intersection of Asian cultural values and the
majority cultural values affect the different generations
Authors Note: I would like to thank Dr. Kathleen May of the University of Virginia. Without her support, I would still be nameless. I
dedicate this article to my parents, who successfully raised three bilingual and bicultural Korean American children by doing everything right. You taught us that kim-chi and Big Macs can, and, in
fact, do go together.

Asian immigrants comprise the second-largest incoming

group to the United States (Dinh, Sarason, & Sarason, 2002),
and it is predicted that Asians will grow from approximately
4% of the present United States populace to nearly 9% by the
year 2050 (Yeh & Drost, 2002). This prediction postulates
that about one in every 11 Americans will be Asian American
by the middle of this century (Yeh & Drost, 2002). The majority of Asian Americans are first generation (Dinh et al., 2002);
they were born in the United States, but their parents are foreign born. Although both the immigrant generation and the
first-generation family members experience the intersection
of the Asian way of being and the American way of being,
their reactions to these two opposing worldviews may differ.
CULTURE
Culture is a set of guidelines that is passed on to individuals from generation to generation by ways of symbols, language, art, rituals, and social practices (Helman, 1990). These
guidelines are the cultural lens through which individuals see
the world and learn how to live within it. Not only do these
guidelines provide a moral and ethical lens through which
individuals understand the social world, but they are also
aimed at maintaining social harmony and unification within
societies (Donnelly, 2002). During the acculturation process,
this cultural lens becomes altered, and consequently, the indi-

THE FAMILY JOURNAL: COUNSELING AND THERAPY FOR COUPLES AND FAMILIES, Vol. 11 No. 4, October 2003
DOI: 10.1177/1066480703255387
2003 Sage Publications
388
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388-392

Kim / STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY

viduals guidelines and understanding of the social world

become modified.
Traditional Asian Values
Despite the differences within the Asian culture, there are
basic values that may be operating among most Asian Americans. A core value, filial piety, is the value of high respect for
parents as well as obedience to parents, and this is reflected in
the rituals and propriety of the Asian people. Asian children
are expected to comply with family wishes, even if it means
sacrificing their own dreams and ambitions. The multigenerational family is the arena of the practice of filial piety. It is
considered essential to harmonize relations between one generation and another (Sung, 1995). A filial child must be able
to uphold his or her responsibility to the family; hence, every
person from an early age learns to think of family first. An
important attribute to family piety is the ability to carry out
the wishes of ones father and to carry forward his unfinished
undertakings of carrying on the past of the family (Sung,
1995). A persons love and reverence alone for ones parents
is not enough. It must be shown through fulfilling responsibility for continuing the life and culture of the family.
Cultural emphasis on interdependence, interrelatedness,
and filial piety fosters a sense of self that is oriented to the
group and not the individual (Tang, 1992). Identity occurs in
ones relation with others and is embodied in the family, and
self-interest yields to the family (Yu, 1982). Carrying on the
family name and conforming to the expectations of parents
are the way of life, and children are faced with the challenge
of resolving primary issues related to the existence of two differing worldviewsthose of their own culture and those of
the dominant culture (Chae, 2002).
Dominant Cultural Values
The dominant or majority cultural values, often referred to
as WASP values, may be seen as being in opposition to traditional Asian values. Sue et al. (1998) described these values
as rugged individualism, competition, mastery over nature, a
unitary and static conception of time, religion based on Christianity, [and] a separation of science and religion (p. 19).
These values encourage autonomy and individual accomplishment while considering separation and individuation
from the family as necessary and healthy.
NEED FOR FAMILY THERAPY
Certain stressors accompany the daily functioning of an
Asian American family whose members are from both the
immigrant generation and first American-born generation.
These stressors pose a dire need for culturally sensitive family
therapy. The stressor emphasized in this column is the acculturation conflict that occurs between parents and children.
Parents often feel bewildered, overwhelmed, and at a loss for

389

what to do as they see their children adopting American ways

and rejecting their traditional values.
As parents try to maintain the cultural values and customs
of their homeland, the children have greater exposure to the
norms of the new culture through school and peer friendships.
Children may quickly acquire the English language and adopt
Western ways of thinking and behaving, whereas their parents are striving to pass on traditional Asian values and
language.
Because clear lines of authority, respect for the status of
others, and the subordination of self to the good of the family
(Tang, 1992) are among the core foundational roots of the
Asian culture, parents may fear losing control over their children. They experience their children as beginning to communicate independence; express individual desires, choices, and
thoughts; and convey parity in their relations with older generations (Liu, 2002). The childrens growing self-assertions
and self-reliance make parents anxious, as they think this will
result in selfishness and indifference to them. Parents commonly view such behaviors as a loss of the Asian heritage and
tradition (Yu, 1982). Asian parents may overreact to American influence and become afraid that their family ties may
sever or weaken as a result of the childrens Americanization (Liu, 2002). Therefore, they often preside with demands
of great authority, which often result in escalated conflicts
(Yu, 1982). Children, on the other hand, are often frustrated,
angry, or counterreceptive toward their parents for their
inability or unwillingness to learn a new lifestyle.
Asian parents make almost superhuman sacrifices to give
their children the American Dream, yet they never expect
their children to become Americans in the process. The parents encourage their children to learn as much as they can
about Americawithout changing who they are. As a result,
children and parents live in different social worlds, this being
the direct result of the acculturation discrepancy between parents and children in their expectations about cultural
socialization.
STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY
Minuchins (1974) structural approach to family therapy is
well suited for counseling the Asian American family,
because it focuses on the family unit rather than on the individual. The structural approach to family therapy envisions
families with a set of systems and subsystems, roles and rules,
boundaries, power, and hierarchy (Aponte & VanDeusen,
1981). This approach is congruent with the Asian American
familys experience, paralleling the familys culture of subordination to rules and power of the parental hierarchy. According to structural family therapy, a functional family is one that
has clear boundaries between individuals and subsystems,
facilitates individual growth while preventing intrusion, promotes generational hierarchies, and provides flexible rules
and roles that are adaptable to the internal and external

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390

THE FAMILY JOURNAL: COUNSELING AND THERAPY FOR COUPLES AND FAMILIES / October 2003

changes of an evolving family (Figley & Nelson, 1990). This

definition of functionality is appropriate for the Asian American family.
The primary goal of Minuchins (1974) structural model is
assisting the family to change its structure or its organizationspecifically establishing a structure in which members
and subsystems are clearly differentiated from one another
and hierarchically integrated (Navarre, 1998). Minuchin and
Fishman (1981) stated that a family has not only an organizational structure but also a set of cognitive schemas that legitimatize and validate the familys organization. Both the familys organizational structure and the familys belief structure
support and justify each other (Navarre, 1998). Consequently,
any change in the familys structure will change the familys
worldview, and any change in the familys worldview will
ultimately be followed by a change in the familys structure.
This approach reiterates the Asian American familys emphasis on the interrelationship of the whole family and the premise that individuals cannot be separated from the whole.
INTERVENTIONS
Structural family approaches rely on joining, enactment,
restructuring, and reframing to bring about change in the
structure of the family system, thereby resolving the presenting problem and symptomatic behavior of the family members. The way this process might unfold when working with
an Asian American family whose members are experiencing
acculturation differences is demonstrated. The presenting
problem, from the perspective of the parents, is the disobedience of their child or adolescent.
Joining
Through joining, the counselor establishes a leadership
position, which is essential for introducing change within the
family system. Jung (1984) noted that joining is a fundamental and essential part of structural family therapy, because it is
an ongoing process in which the therapist demonstrates
understanding and support for each individual. Because the
family therapist is in the expert role, it is crucial that he or she
does not impose his or her own values but rather is flexible,
perceptive, and sensitive to the cultural values of the family
(Jung, 1984). Joining is experiencing reality as the family
members would experience it (Napoliello & Sweet, 1992).
A structural family counselor attempting to join with the
Asian American family who is experiencing acculturation
conflicts between the parents and children will honor the family hierarchy and cultural values. For example, the father
would be spoken to first, followed by other adults, and finally
the children. The therapist would ask the family to explain the
cultural context in which these problems were occurring. The
therapist may ask the family to articulate how families in their
native country would deal with the problem of a child who
disobeys his or her family. Through this type of questioning,

the children may learn of their parents fear that the children
will forget their Asian heritage. By focusing initially on the
concern that the parents identified as the presenting problem, the family therapist is not only initiating the therapeutic
relationship but is also simultaneously honoring the Asian
tradition of respecting parental authority. This strategy is
important to establishing trust, especially when the therapist
is not Asian American.
Enactment
The family members are encouraged to interact with one
another in the therapy session, which allows the family counselor to observe sequences of behaviors that furnish valuable
information about the familys structure (Carpenter &
Treacher, 1982). Again, when the counselor is of another ethnic background, it is especially important to track the content
of these interactions far enough to understand the underlying
structure to determine the consequences of symptomatic
behavior (Weiselberg, 1992). Enactment is used to redirect
communication so that it occurs among family members
instead of between the family and the therapist. Enactment
allows the counselor to lend support and power to the Asian
American child in confronting the authority of his or her parents. Enactments are intense and emotional occurrences that
allow the family therapist to begin restructuring the family
(Navarre, 1998).
In our example, talking about perceived disobedience, the
adolescent family member would be encouraged to explain,
in the most respectful way possible, the struggles he or she is
experiencing in trying to balance two cultures. Adolescents
could share how they are trying to find connection with peers,
stay connected with the family, and be comfortable with their
identity as Asian American adolescents.
Restructuring
Restructuring of the family occurs when the family therapist suggests and uses directives to reframe and modify the
familys perceptions. The therapist confronts and challenges
the familys perceptions of reality by leading them to develop
alternative interactional patterns in the family. Through exaggerating and deemphasizing, this change in the effects of the
symptom allows family members to band together in handling a new problem. This symptom focusing encourages the
Asian American family to loosen its rigid rules. Asian American family members frequently identify one member as the
problem; the counselor believes, however, that the problem is
interactional and results from a structural problem within the
family system (Yaccarino, 1993). Therefore, instead of blaming, an effective therapeutic strategy is to reframe the family
dilemma positively, which may promote change through
alternative methods of behavior (Wieselberg, 1992). Through
restructuring, the family may begin to recognize many factors
that have been affecting all of them in varying ways and to
varying degrees. Each family member is struggling with the

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Kim / STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY

acquired status of an ethnic minority and the differing rates

and meanings of acculturation. Feelings of anger, guilt, and
confusion are now seen as imposed by immigrant status and
acculturation difficulties rather than as negative feelings
about the family.
Reframing

391

hierarchy with differentiation and assertiveness, while

allowing me to practice respect and mutuality in my American existence. I am now a part of a bicultural sphere, and
it is now a part of me. It arms me with an advantageous
edge, for many are colored by one, whilst I am colored by
two.
Josephine M. Kim

Through the use of reframing, perceptions are altered,

allowing for new frames to develop, thus permitting more
functional alternatives to emerge (Szapocznik et al., 1986).
Because the Asian American family is highly structured with
clearly defined generational boundaries and roles for all family members, the family therapist assists the family shift from
rigid boundaries to more flexible margins through reframing.
In our example, reframing the conflictual relationships
between the parents and children would be emphasized. The
therapist would speak to the difficulty of becoming an adolescent in a majority school and how peer approval is so crucial
for survival and acceptance. The Asian American adolescent
may seek to win approval from peers by adopting many of
their values. Prior to reframing, the parents interpreted these
behaviors as turning against the family and its values, as they
equated the misbehavior with disrespect. Reframing the misbehavior as an acculturation conflict and a healthy striving for
acceptance not only promotes greater understanding between
the parents and children but also eventually brings about an
alternative interaction pattern. Conflicts between parents and
children are viewed as generational struggles in response to
two different cultures coming together in the family. Conflict
framed in cultural terms rather than in terms of disobedient
children and unreasonable, overbearing parents allows the
family to incorporate positive values from the Asian American culture and the dominant culture.
CONCLUSION
Structural family therapy provides an appropriate treatment approach for the Asian American family. Its useful concepts, such as hierarchy and its advocacy for a parental executive system, boundaries, and subsystems make it ideal for and
compatible with Asian American cultural and family values.
Because the family is viewed as the most important unit over
the individual, this model provides the opportunity for the
entire family to participate in becoming a more productive
family system. Structural family therapy allows for acculturation by supporting the Asian American family in adapting
flexible boundaries, which permits members to flow in and
out from the cultural patterns of both worlds. This strategy
decreases acculturation conflicts while promoting healthy
integration and biculturalism.
I am a permutation in the overlie of two worlds. Acculturation permits me to embrace my role in the Korean

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Josephine M. Kim received her masters degree in counseling at

Liberty University. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in counselor
education at the University of Virginia. Her clinical and research
interests include multicultural and spiritual issues in counseling and
supervision, childhood and adolescent psychopathology, development and adjustment in children of alcoholics, and acculturation
and ethnic identity evolvement of Asian Americans and their
families.

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