Experience of discrimination against new arrivals as a condition for the necessity of family counseling

Family counseling is a way to help immigrants adapt to a foreign society. It helps ease the pain of discrimination usually experienced by immigrants, according to the thesis of need fulfillment. To provide evidence for this thesis, the present study conducted a survey among immigrants newly arrived from Mainland China to Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. The sample of the study consisted of 1,305 students and 665 non-students aged 15-50 years. Each of the respondents reported their experiences of receiving family counseling by professional counselors, discrimination in public places, their adjustment to living in Hong Kong, and others. The design allowed a comparative analysis between students and adults. Findings revealed that discrimination significantly slowed down the adaptation of students, but not of adults. Meanwhile, family counseling significantly lessened the negative effect of discrimination on the pace of adaptation among adults, but not among students. Family counseling mobilizes family or spousal support to mitigate the negative impact of discrimination on the adaptation of adults. However, family counseling cannot help the students resist discrimination, likely because of the lack of support from their spouses or from close family members. This lack may explain the vulnerability of individuals to the negative impact of discrimination while in the process of adaptation. © 2013 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.