Childhood anxiety in ethnic families: Current status and future directions

Australia is a culturally diverse country with many migrant families in nee d of support and assistance from clinical psychologists. Yet, surveys indic ate that migrants do not feel comfortable in accessing community mental hea lth services, due to the lack of cultural sensitivity and understanding of our current practices. Despite this finding, there remains a paucity of res earch on migrant families, their different values and needs, and how they a djust to the Australian culture. The present article reviews research on mi grant children, their characteristics, and the factors that help or hinder healthy adjustment to a new culture. This review focuses particularly on an xiety, which is not only the most common form of childhood psychopathology, but also frequently coincides with stressful life events such as migration . Our review concludes with recommendations for the development of assessme nt and intervention protocols, and areas of future research.