title: Pre-migration Trauma Exposure and Psychological Distress for Asian American Immigrants: Linking the Pre- and Post-migration Contexts.
abstract: Drawing on the life course perspective and the assumptive world theory, this paper examines whether pre-migration trauma exposure is associated with psychological distress through post-migration perceived discrimination for Asian American immigrants. The study is based on cross-sectional data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (N = 1639). Structural equation model is used to estimate the relationship between pre-migration trauma, post-migration perceived discrimination, and psychological distress. Additional models are estimated to explore possible variations across ethnic groups as well as across different types of pre-migration trauma experience. Pre-migration trauma exposure is associated with higher levels of psychological distress, both directly and indirectly through higher level of perceived discrimination, even after controlling for demographic/acculturative factors and post-migration trauma exposure. This pattern holds for the following sub-types of pre-migration trauma: political trauma, crime victimization, physical violence, accidental trauma, and relational trauma. Multi-group analyses show that this pattern holds for all Asian immigrant subgroups except the Vietnamese. Studies of immigrant mental health primarily focus on post-migration stressors. Few studies have considered the link between pre- and post-migration contexts in assessing mental health outcomes. The study illustrates the usefulness of bridging the pre- and post-migration context in identifying the mental health risks along the immigrant life course.
authors: Department of Sociology, Purdue University, 700 W Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47905, USA. tonylimiao@gmail.com.
authors: Miao
authors: M
authors: Li
authors: Department of Sociology, Purdue University, 700 W Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47905, USA.
authors: James G
authors: JG
authors: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D003415:Crime / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011057:Politics; D000067073:Psychological Trauma / Q000208:ethnology*; D063505:Racism / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology*
keywords: Asian American immigrant; Mental health; Perceived discrimination; Post-migration stress; Pre-migration trauma