The Impact of Ethnic Identity On Depressive Symptoms Among Korean American Adolescents: The Role of Social Support as a Mediator

Background and Purpose: Despite the model minority stereotype, many empirical researches showed that depression rates among Asian American youth are higher than or comparable to those of whites (Petts & Jolliff, 2008; Gee, 2004; Lorenzo et al, 2000; Okazaki, 1997). Especially, Asian American adolescent girls have the highest rates of depressive symptoms of all racial and gender groups (Schoen et al, 1997). The “model minority” myth by the dominant culture may lead to ignoring the great diversity among Asian American youth in terms of academic achievement, rates of risk behaviors, and mental health outcomes (Leong et al., 2007). Despite high rates of depressive symptoms, many ethnic and racial minorities adapt and succeed in life, showing a high degree of resilience (Lee, 2003). Among a variety of coping strategies, a strong sense of ethnic identity has emerged as a critical psychological resource that protects youth from risks. Strong ethnic identity has positive effects on a variety of psychosocial and mental health outcomes for Asian Americans (Williams et al., 2005; Mossakowski, 2003; Yip & Fuligni, 2002; Crocker et al., 1994). Also, perceived social support is associated with better physical and mental health. This study aims to elucidate predictors of Korean American adolescents' depressive symptoms such as ethnic identity and social support and understand the processes of those factors. Specifically, this study tests the predictive relationship between ethnic identity and depressive symptoms among Korean American adolescents. This study also examines a mediating role of social support in the relationship between ethnic identity and depressive symptoms.

Methods: We used the data from the Korean American Families (KAF) Project. The KAF Project surveyed Korean American adolescents in middle school and their parents living in Chicago and surrounding areas in 2007 and 2008 with a total sample size of 657. The current analyses used data from youths of Time 1 only. A total 220 adolescents (115 boys and 105 girls) were interviewed with an average age of 12.97 (SD = 1.001) at the time of the first interview. Based on Baron and Kenny (1986), three regression equations were run to test a mediation model for social support variable. To figure out the mediating role of social support, we tested three steps of paths—path from ethnic identity to social support, path from ethnic identity to depressive symptoms, and path from ethnic identity and social supports to depressive symptoms.

Results: Analyses indicated Ethnic identity negatively predicted depressive symptoms (p=.018). Specifically, when adolescents report higher level of ethnic identity, they were more likely to report depressive symptoms. This study also found that social support plays a mediating role in the relationship between ethnic identity and depressive symptoms.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings so far challenge the myth that Asian American youth experience little mental health problems such as depressive symptoms. Also, the results highlight the importance of targeting social support and ethnic identity in working with Korean American youth and in improving their mental health.