Asian American Mental Health: Longitudinal Trend and Explanatory Variables Among Filipino and Korean Americans

Purpose: Although data on mental health problems among young Asian Americans are mixed, we can conclude that the vulnerability to mental distress is at least comparable to Whites or much worse among Asian Americans. This is in a stark contrast to the “model minority” myth that they are problem-free. Overcoming several methodological challenges in existing data (i.e., small sample sizes, cross-sectional data, and subgroup variability), this study, using a longitudinal, community based samples of two major Asian American subgroups, reports the rates of mental distress from adolescence to young adulthood and further investigates possible sources of mental distress. This study included predictors to encompass (1) universal factors (e.g., parent-child conflict and peer relationship) that are applicable to all young people regardless of race/ethnicity and (2) group-specific factors (e.g., ethnic identity, and racial discrimination) that are particularly relevant to Asian Americans. We further examined whether these associations vary over time and by ethnicity.

Methods: Data are from the Midwest Longitudinal Study of Asian American Families (ML-SAAF) project, a longitudinal survey of Filipino American (FA) and Korean American (KA) youth and their parents living in a Midwest metropolitan area. This study used three waves of youth data. The first wave was collected in 2014 from 378 FA youth and 408 KA youth (N=786). The retention rates were 77% at Wave 2 in 2016 (N=604) and 82% of Wave 1 at Wave 3 in 2018 (N=641). Stepwise mixed-effects regression models first examined (1) unadjusted rate trend of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideations and attempts (2) each predictor one at a time, after adjusting demographics (3) two-way interactions (a) predictor×wave and (b) predictor×ethnicity and (4) by clusters of variables (i.e., universal and group specific) and (5) all predictors together.

Results: The results were that mental distress among the study participants not only increased but also became more serious, as indicated by substantial increase in suicidal ideations. A comprehensive list of predictors shows that both clusters of explanatory variables were indeed significant predictors of mental distress, e.g., antisocial peers, intergenerational cultural conflict, and racial discrimination. Moreover, family (e.g., parent-child bonding), peer (e.g., having friends) and self-identity (i.e., American and ethnic identities) were sources of support. The results of interactions showed that peer impact became weaker during young adulthood and these associations were mostly similar across FA and KA youth. When all variables were considered, intergenerational cultural conflict and racial discrimination were a significant and detrimental factor to both depressive symptoms and suicidal ideations.

Conclusions and Implications: This study provided crucial findings that may explain the heightened vulnerability among Asian Americans. That is, intergenerational cultural conflict and racial discrimination emerged as the powerful detrimental sources of mental distress among this growing group of Americans and the importance of bicultural identity as a protective factor of mental health. Clinical interventions should target these areas to reduce mental distress. Given the surge of racist and anti-immigrant sentiments for the past few years, it is especially critical to address racial discrimination in serving Asian American young people.