Journal Article

Acculturation, Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Korean Immigrants in New York City

Shin, Jinah, Park, Yeddi, Bernstein, Kunsook Song, Cho, Sunhee, Park, So-Youn

2011

Overview

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 self-reported 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.

• Publisher: Springer US,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Acculturation / Adolescent / Adult / Adult and adolescent clinical studies / Aged / Alienation / Asian - psychology / Asian - statistics & numerical data / Asian Americans / Asian Cultural Groups / Asian people / Asian People - psychology / Asian People - statistics & numerical data / Biological and medical sciences / Child / Cities / Community and Environmental Psychology / Competence / Cross-Sectional Studies / Cultural identity / Culture / Depression / Depression - epidemiology / Depression - ethnology / Depression - psychology / Discrimination / Discrimination, Psychological / Emigrants and Immigrants - psychology / English language / English proficiency / Epidemiology / Ethnicity / Female / Filipino Americans / Gender / Humans / Immigrants / Korea - ethnology / Language / Language proficiency / Living alone / Male / Marital Status / Measures / Medical sciences / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental depression / Mental disorders / Mental Health / Middle Aged / Minority & ethnic groups / Mood disorders / New York City - epidemiology / New York City, New York / Noncitizens / Original Paper / Population / Prevalence / Proficiency / Psychiatry / Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry / Psychopathology. Psychiatry / Race / Racial discrimination / Self Report / Sex roles / Socioeconomic Factors / Stress / Surveys and Questionnaires / Symptoms / United States of America / Young Adult