Stress and Coping: Exploring Mental Health Resilience in Asian American Adults

Background: Asian American communities, particularly Korean Americans, often face unique sociocultural and structural challenges that influence mental health outcomes and help-seeking behaviors (Bernstein et al., 2021). Previous research has documented a persistent underutilization of mental health services among Asian Americans, which may be attributed to stigma, limited access to culturally responsive care, and reliance on alternative support systems such as faith communities or family networks (Jang et al., 2008; Park et al., 2013). Despite high educational attainment, mental health disparities remain significant in this population, particularly regarding depressive symptoms and stress.

This study sought to examine the psychological well-being of Asian American adults—primarily Korean Americans—by exploring the role of mental health status, stress levels, social support, and coping strategies, including faith-based and problem-engagement coping. The study also considered contextual factors such as counseling experiences and perceived financial barriers to accessing care.

Methods: Participants were 114 Asian American adults (78.9% female, 89.5% Korean American; M age = 35.25, SD = 7.53) who had received mental health services. Most were born in the U.S. (60.5%) and highly educated (95.7% had a college degree or higher). Participants completed an online survey assessing demographics, counseling experiences, psychological well-being (MHC-SF), stress, mental health status, depression (CES-D), support, faith-based coping, and problem-engagement coping strategies. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analysis in SPSS.

Results: Participants reported moderate levels of stress (M = 3.31, SD = 0.94; range 1–5), fair-to-good mental health (M = 2.50, SD= 0.78; range 1–4), and high reliance on faith-based coping (M = 4.24, SD = 0.92; range 2–5). Depression scores averaged 22.26 (SD = 8.34), with 79.4% scoring ≥16, indicating a high prevalence of significant depressive symptoms among the sample. Most participants rated counseling as moderately to extremely helpful (77.5%), although nearly half (45.4%) received fewer than 10 sessions. A substantial majority viewed financial subsidies as either extremely important (56.1%) or very important (28.6%) in their decision to seek counseling.

Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that higher psychological well-being was significantly predicted by better mental health status (β = .26, p = .002), lower stress (β = –.19, p = .008), stronger reliance on faith-based coping (β = .21, p = .002), higher perceived social support (β = .35, p < .001), and more frequent use of problem-engagement coping strategies (β = .23, p = .002). Annual income initially predicted psychological well-being (β = .27, p = .005), but this association became non-significant when controlling for mental health, stress, and coping variables.

Implications: Findings from this study underscore critical factors that contribute to psychological well-being among Asian American adults. Notably, mental health status, stress reduction, social support, and adaptive coping strategies (faith-based and problem-focused) were significant predictors of well-being, highlighting the multifactorial nature of mental health resilience in this group. The strong association between faith-based coping and psychological well-being suggests that mental health interventions may benefit from integrating culturally and spiritually relevant frameworks.