Acculturation, discrimination and depressive symptoms among Korean immigrants in New York City.
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.
Bernstein
Kunsook Song
KS
Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, The City University of New York, Long Island, New York, USA. Kbernst@hunter.cuny.edu
Park
So-Youn
SY
Shin
Jinah
J
Cho
Sunhee
S
Park
Yeddi
Y
D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D057566:Self Report; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult