Abstract
This qualitative study aimed to understand the experience of Chinese Jamaican immigrants in the U.S. and how they construct their identity. Participants were 15 immigrants who self-identified as Chinese Jamaican or other variations of the term (e.g. Jamaican Chinese, Jamaican with Chinese heritage) who participated in qualitative interviews with this researcher. A grounded theory approach was used to conduct an inductive analysis of the interview data. Results revealed five themes: (1) Flourishing, but pushed and pulled to leave for various reasons, (2) Feeling safer and better off, but missing home, (3) Key community values influence us and our views on how to deal with common struggles we faced, (4) Assimilating an American identity, but needing our community too, and (5) Finding our identity unique and complex. Clinical implications and future research directions based on the findings were discussed.