SAN MARINO >> The pressure for Asian students to do well in school and college admission tests could lead to “a lot of shame and guilt,” a Pasadena-based expert said.

Dr. Thomas Miklusak, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst with 38 years of experience, said many Asian cultures emphasize excelling and working hard all the time. This parenting style could be detrimental to children’s emotional well-being if they don’t feel validated for who they are or for trying, he said.

“The children and adolescents often want to be perfect so that A’s are expected and anything less than A’s are a failure. There’s often an attitude that the children can do better — they can work harder,” said Miklusak, who estimates about 25 percent of his patients are Asian.

“There’s often a hiding of true feelings like depression or fears,” he added. “Those negative feelings and conflicts and perceived failures are often not discussed in a healthy way so that they’re not resolved. Resolutions in the family is often meant to be to work harder to get ideal grades or to be perfect.”

Two weeks ago, rather than take the SATs, a 16-year-old Chinese student from San Marino High School ran away from home for a few days. She texted her brother to tell him she was drowning under the pressure of classes and the test.

In 2011, author Amy Chua roused the nation to the idea of tiger mothers with the memoir “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” She explained how she raised her daughters in the “traditional Chinese” way: Strict discipline, emphasis on academic success and music lessons followed by tons of practicing. Computer games, TV, playdates and sleepovers existed only in her daughters’ dreams.

Statistics back up stereotypes about Asians. The average Asian high school student spends 13 hours a week studying and doing homework compared to a white counterpart who spends about 5.5 hours, according to a 2011 report by Valerie Ramey, an economics professor at UC San Diego. Ramey also found that Asians spend less time on sports and socializing than any other ethnic group.

In the San Gabriel Valley, after-school tutoring companies catering to the Asian community abound. After a full day at school, students might spend another three hours or so in class on additional English, math or science training.

Jordan Ng, a rising junior at San Marino High School, recalls summers at Little Harvard Academy in Arcadia, where she stayed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. learning material for next year. That’s what awaited her from kindergarten to the 7th grade, she said, noting that she had fun.

Not all Asian cultures place such importance in academics, but it is a widespread problem in “the 626,” where many immigrant parents want their children to become successful and win prestige, Miklusak said.

“Often the parents have gone through a lot of suffering themselves, and they’ve had pressures to survive, and they’ve worked long hours in difficult environments,” Miklusak said. “At the core, they want their children to have better lives and they believe that that comes in excelling in school so that they could get better jobs and make more money and not suffer in the way that the parents have suffered.”

Janice Wan, 15, said she is friends with Mira Hu, the girl who temporarily ran away from home. In fact, Janice took a biology SAT II test the same day Hu reportedly jumped aboard a Greyhound bus headed for San Francisco. Janice said she felt really stressed after the test because she didn’t think she did well, so she understood the desire to run away from academic pressure. Yet she said she would never act on that desire.

“For me (the pressure) comes from my parents, but there’s also my friends who also are in all honors and have A’s, and that makes me feel kind of not as good,” Janice said. “My parents expect me to get A’s because my brother is exceptionally smart. He’s like a genius: He has a 4.75 GPA. … It’s like I’m not allowed to not be exceptionally smart, so if I try hard and I get a B, they’re like you didn’t try hard enough.”

But not all Asian parents are super strict. Kin Hui, CEO of Singpoli, said he encourages his four children to be themselves. He emigrated from Hong Kong when he was 17, yet his parenting style is anything but traditional Chinese, he said.

“I really let them do whatever they like,” he said. “I think academics is important, but personality is important too in the future. For me, it’s not just academics. To be successful, you have to be involved in leadership, working with people, teamwork.”