Negotiating with agency: Towards an intersectional understanding of violence and resilience in young Southeast Asian men

Research regarding Southeast Asian youth violence and delinquency often employs segmented assimilation theory within a risk and protective factors framework, portraying such behavior as a problem of maladaptation. However, violence also holds meaning for the youth who experience it. Cultural and gender theorists posit that violence is a tool young people use to construct their gender and racial identities. As adolescence is a key period of identity formation, understanding youth's constructions of their gender and racial identities may inform appropriate violence prevention strategies. We conducted focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews with a diverse group of young Southeast Asian men ages 13-17 (n=21) recruited from a community clinic for Asian youth. Interviews elicited the role violence plays in their understanding of what it means for them to be both Southeast Asian and young men. Data were analyzed using an extended case method approach. Our findings document that violence is ubiquitous in the lives of these young men. Furthermore, resilience and identity formation should be understood as complex processes through which relations of power are mediated and navigated, as opposed to static traits that youth possess. Thus, our findings suggest that violence prevention frameworks and theories of assimilation expand their scope to include different pathways within the complex life course of young people.