Acculturation, Discrimination, and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese American Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study (original) (raw)
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Acculturation, Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Korean Immigrants in New York City
Community Mental Health Journal, 2011
Immigrant mental health issues, especially depression in relation to discrimination and acculturation, are reported to be serious problems in the United States. The current study examines the prevalence of depressive symptoms among Korean immigrants in New York City (NYC) and its relation to self-reported discrimination and acculturation. A sample of 304 Korean immigrants residing in NYC completed a survey utilizing the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-Korean version, Discrimination Scale, and Acculturation Stress Scale. Results indicated that 13.2% of the sample population demonstrated some symptoms of depression and that variable such as living alone, marital status, education, years in US and income impact high depression scores. Results also indicate that higher self-reported exposure to discrimination and lower selfreported language proficiency were related to higher depressive symptoms. In a regression analysis, discrimination and English language proficiency were significant predictors of depression, but acculturation stress was not significantly related to depression.
Factors Associated With Depression Experience of Immigrant Populations: A Study of Korean Immigrants
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 2005
A correlational, cross-sectional study with multivariate analysis was conducted to identify factors that influence the depression experience in 154 Korean immigrants. Based on the stress-health outcome framework, four variables (i.e., sense of mastery, socioeconomic status, social support, and acculturation) were tested for their mediating effects between stress and depression experienced by Korean Americans. Path analyses showed that the negative effect of life stress on depression was buffered by higher levels of sense of mastery and social support in the Korean sample. Implications for future cross-cultural depression research and preventive strategies against depression in immigrant populations are discussed. D
Acculturation and Depressive Symptoms in Korean Immigrant Women
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2009
Depression is one of the most prevalent health problems for immigrants in the United States (U.S.) and it has been associated with the process of acculturation. A cross-sectional study was conducted to identify subgroups of Korean immigrant women based on their Korean as well as American acculturation levels using cluster analysis and to determine whether these subgroups differ on depressive symptoms in 200 Korean immigrant women aged 20-64. Cluster analysis identified four as the most appropriate number of subgroups: they were designated as Korean cluster (45%), Marginalized cluster (26%), American cluster (22%), and Bicultural cluster (7%). Korean cluster had high scores on Korean acculturation and low American acculturation, Marginalized had low for both, American had high scores on American acculturation, low for Korean acculturation, and Bicultural had high scores for both. Women in the Marginalized subgroup reported significantly higher depression scores than women in the American and Korean clusters. It is important to identify immigrants who do not relate to either their heritage culture or the new host culture and address their mental health risk issues.
Depressive Symptom Severity and Immigration-Related Characteristics in Asian American Immigrants
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2020
The study examined immigration factors associated with depressive symptom severity among Asian American immigrants. Participants were 458 Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese adults. Depressive symptom severity was measured by PHQ-9. Overall, the likelihood of being moderately to severely depressed was significantly increased among immigrants living in the US for < 10 years and Korean Americans compared to Chinese Americans. However, mild level of depressive symptoms was not associated with any immigration-related factors. The positive impact of shorter duration of living in the US and a younger age at immigration (≤ 17) on depressive symptoms was evident among women but not among men. For men, marital status and education level were significant predictors of being moderately to severely depressed. Differentiating immigrant factors and identifying depressive symptom severity can help drive community and clinical interventions to detect and treat depression early among Asian American immigrants.
This study of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean immigrant junior high and high school students (N = 319) investigated the association between age, acculturation, cultural adjustment difficulties, and general mental health concerns. Hierarchical regression analyses determined that among all of the independent variables, age, acculturation, and cultural adjustment difficulties had significant predictive effects on mental health symptoms. Implications for theory, research, and practice are addressed, particularly as they relate to developmental issues among immigrant youths.
Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology, 2018
Few studies have investigated ethnic differences in discrimination and depressive symptoms, and the link between them among foreign-born Asian Americans. This study identifies if depressive symptoms and perceived discrimination differ by Asian ethnicity, and if perceived discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms among foreign-born Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans. This study uses data from the Asian American Liver Cancer Prevention Program (N = 600). Using nonprobability sampling, foreign-born Asian American adults (58% female, Mage = 47.3 years, SD = 11.82) were recruited from the community in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Perceived discrimination was defined using everyday and major discrimination scales; the Centers for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale defined the outcome of depressive symptoms. Multiple logistic regressions were conducted to determine if this association exists. A high prevalence of depressive symptoms (one third to one...
A Structural Model of Acculturation and Mental Health Status Among Chinese Americans
American Journal of Community Psychology, 2001
This study examined the role of acculturation and its direct and indirect impact on depressive symptom severity through various correlates, including socioeconomic status (SES), stress, social support, personality negativity, and physical health perception. Using structural equation modeling, the proposed model was tested with 983 employed Chinese Americans from a representative community sample, the majority of whom were immigrants. The results demonstrated that acculturation, correlated with SES, contributed to depressive symptom severity only through indirect pathways. Higher acculturation was found associated with higher stress that in turn contributed to more elevated depressive symptoms. On the other hand, higher acculturation was also found strongly correlated with higher SES, which was associated with lower depressive symptoms directly or indirectly through several mediators. Better support, lower personality negativity, better health perception, and lower stress were found mediating the relationship between higher SES and lower depressive symptom severity. The simultaneous multigroup analysis showed that the final model was comparable for both men and women with very few differences.
Perceived Ethnic Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Biethnic Adolescents in South Korea
Objectives: This study investigated the association between perceived ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms among bieth-nic adolescents in South Korea. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 4141 biethnic adolescents using data from the 2012 National Survey of Multicul-tural Families. Perceived ethnic discrimination was measured using the question " Have you ever been discriminated against or ignored because either of your parents is not a Korean? " with an assessment of depressive symptoms over the past 12 months. Logistic regression was applied to examine potential associations between perceived ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms. Results: Among 4141 biethnic adolescents, 558 (13.5%) reported having experienced ethnic discrimination. The most common discriminatory perpetrators were friends (n=241, 5.8%), followed by strangers (n=67, 1.6%). Depressive symptoms were related to experience of ethnic discrimination (odds ratio [OR], 3.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.89 to 4.98) after adjusting for potential con-founders. In an analysis focusing on the perpetrators of discrimination, depressive symptoms were found to be associated with perceived ethnic discrimination from friends (OR, 3.95; 95% CI, 2.75 to 5.68), teachers (OR, 4.53; 95% CI, 2.16 to 9.51), family members and relatives (OR, 3.89; 95% CI, 1.59 to 9.48), neighbors (OR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.14 to 5.38), and strangers (OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.30 to 4.79). Furthermore , the OR for depressive symptoms among those exposed to 1, 2, or 3 or more discriminatory perpetrators were 3.61 (95% CI, 2.49 to 5.24), 3.61 (95% CI, 1.68 to 7.74), and 6.69 (95% CI, 2.94 to 15.22), respectively. Conclusions: According to our findings, friends were the most common perpetrators of discrimination and the experience of ethnic discrimination was associated with depressive symptoms among biethnic adolescents in South Korea.
Overt and Subtle Racial Discrimination and Mental Health: Preliminary Findings for Korean Immigrants
American Journal of Public Health, 2007
Objectives. We examined differential effects of overt and subtle forms of racial discrimination on 2 dimensions of mental health-positive affect and depressive symptoms, and explored the mediating roles of emotional arousal and cognitive appraisal. Methods. Cross-sectional survey data were collected through face-to-face interviews with a sample (N = 180) of adult Korean immigrants living in Toronto, Ontario. Maximum likelihood estimates of path coefficients were obtained using structural equation models. Results. Perceived racial discrimination was associated with both the erosion of positive affect and depressive symptoms. Overt discrimination was associated with the erosion of positive affect, and subtle discrimination was associated with depressive symptoms. Effects of subtle discrimination on depressive symptoms were mediated through cognitive appraisal. Conclusions. The results emphasize the salience of subtle discrimination for the mental health of Asian immigrants. Experiences of overt racial bias seemed to be of little importance for the levels of depressive symptoms among those in our sample, although the experience of blatant discrimination tended to reduce positive mood.
International Journal for Equity in Health, 2019
Background: Previous studies demonstrated a positive association between perceived discrimination and mental health problems among immigrants in countries that traditionally host immigrants. Recent trends in international migration show that there has been a significant increase in immigrant populations in East Asian countries. These newer host countries have different social contexts from traditional ones, yet mental health among these immigrants and its relationship to discrimination are under-researched. Thus, this study aimed to examine the association between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms among immigrants in one of the newer host countries, South Korea. Moreover, we investigated if differentiated social support (ethnic, host or other support) serves as a moderator of discrimination for depressive symptoms. Methods: This study used survey data from the 2012 Korean Social Survey on Foreign Residents (N = 1068), restricted to adults 20 years or older. Multiple linear regression models were conducted to estimate the association between perceived discrimination, social support, and depressive symptoms among immigrants in South Korea. Results: Perceived discrimination showed a strong positive association with depressive symptoms among immigrants, and ethnic and host support was directly positively associated with depressive symptoms. Furthermore, ethnic support moderated the effects of perceived discrimination on depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Community-level interventions providing immigrants opportunities to increase social networking members from the same country as well as the native-born in a host country may be helpful resources for improving mental health among immigrants in South Korea. Also, raising awareness of racial discrimination among members in South Korea would be crucial.