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SunHerald.com: Cultures clash for Asian teens
Dating during your teen years can be exciting, stressful and hopefully in most cases positive. For Asian teens it can prove a bit more difficult.
“While worries about young love - along with grades, popularity, and clothes - are common for many young people, some Asian-American teenagers often are faced with an additional pressure: immigrant parents who insist their second-generation children adhere to the more restrictive moral values of the home country.”
Some young people come to embrace their parents’ culture. Ferah Munshi, a freshman at UC Berkeley, has accepted the rules set up by her first-generation Indian Muslim parents.
In high school, she couldn’t be in social settings where boys were present, even if they were only friends. She is not permitted to date, and after she graduates, her parents plan to present men to her as options for an arranged marriage.
“For a long time I was so angry at them about not being able to date or even go out with friends when guys were there, and I’d fight with them,” says Munshi, 17. “But I realize my parents grew up that way in India and they are trying to bring me up that way. I can’t imagine rebelling against them at all because I’ve been brought up with the cultural and religious belief that respecting your parents should be the most important thing to you.”
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