Purpose: Bronfenbrenne's ecological model postulated the home and school to be key microsystems in fostering development and well-being in adolescents. In the case of adolescents of immigrants, the literature has shown that they were at risk of suffering from intergenerational conflict at home and racial discrimination at school which negatively impacted their mental health. However, little is known about the phenomenon with Southeast Asian American (SEAA) adolescents. Gaps also exist within the literature on immigrant children's mental health; previous research has been limited mainly to early and middle adolescents. The current study does extend the literature by examining the effects of intergenerational conflict and school-based racial discrimination on SEAA late adolescent's depression, as mediated by adolescent's sense of coherence (SOC). Specifically, it was hypothesized that intergenerational conflict and racial discrimination would decrease the late adolescent's sense of coherence and increase their depression; sense of coherence would increase the development of depression; and sense of coherence would mediate the negative effect of intergenerational conflict and racial discrimination on depression.

Method: A combination of convenient and snowball samples of 188 SEAA undergraduates in Northern California were recruited through SEA student organizations, via flyers, and by word of mouth. Students completed a ‘paper and pencil' survey. Of these, females accounted for 67% of the sample. In terms of ethnicity, the majority was Vietnamese (52.2%), followed equally by Cambodian (23.9%), and Laotians (23.9%). More than two thirds of the participants (75.5%) reported an annual family income below $50,000. Intergenerational conflict was measured by Asian American Family Conflict (AAFC), racial discrimination was measured by four items that inquired whether the adolescent had been discriminated against by other students, faculty, and staff at school, sense of coherence was measured by the Short Form Sense of Coherence, and depression was measured by Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale.

Results: Using multiple regression analysis and controlling for ethnicity, gender, age, and family's socioeconomic status, all hypotheses were supported. More extensive intergenerational conflict and racial discrimination were negatively associated with adolescent's competence (Standardized Beta =-.42, p=.001 and (Standardized Beta = -.20, p <.001, respectively) but positively associated with depression (Standardized Beta = .41, p <.001 and Standardized Beta = .190, p=.001, respectively). Lower sense of coherence fostered the development of depression (Standardized Beta = -.66, p <.001). Finally, the mediating role of sense of coherence was supported; sense of coherence fully mediated the effect of racial discrimination on depression (Standardized Beta =.07, p=ns) and partially mediated the effect of intergenerational conflict on depression (Standardized Beta =.19, p=.04).

Implications: The findings demonstrated the negative consequences of intergenerational conflict and racial discrimination on SEA late adolescent's competence and depression. These findings hold implications for practitioners serving SEA American families. Clearly, culturally competent interventions to ameliorate this discord and to strengthen the intergenerational relationship are needed. In light of the significant effect of discrimination on mental health, interventions aimed at reducing racism are also needed.