An empirical evaluation of social support and psychological well-being in older Chinese and Korean immigrants.
OBJECTIVE
To examine, among older Chinese and Korean immigrants: (1) the concept and measurement of perceived social support; (2) levels of social support and psychological well-being by living arrangement; and (3) whether social support is positively related to psychological well-being.


METHODS
A convenience sample of 200 self-identified Chinese and Koreans, aged 65 years and older, were interviewed. Psychometric analysis was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of a new social support measure. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine the relationship between social support and psychological well-being.


RESULTS
Factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution of social support and adequate psychometrics of all social support scales was found. Multivariate results suggest that Koreans have more depression than Chinese (p < 0.01). Those who lived with their spouse and adult children had lower overall psychological well-being (p < 0.05) and lower positive affect (p < 0.05) compared to those who lived alone. Having more emotional/companionship support significantly (p < 0.001) contributed to better overall psychological well-being, having less depression and higher positive affect.


CONCLUSIONS
A new multidimensional social support measure for use with older Chinese and Koreans could be useful upon further validation. These results suggest that older Chinese and Koreans' psychological well-being may be negatively affected when they live with their adult children. More depression in Koreans may be related to difficulties in expanding their social network beyond Korean-speaking people.
Wong
Sabrina T
ST
University of British Columbia, School of Nursing, Culture, Gender, and Health Research Unit, Vancouver, BC, Canada. wong@nursing.ubc.ca
Yoo
Grace J
GJ
Stewart
Anita L
AL
D000069:Acculturation; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000208:ethnology; D002170:Canada; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012944:Social Support