title: Perceived Ethnic Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Biethnic Adolescents in South Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated the association between perceived ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms among biethnic adolescents in South Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a cross-sectional study of 4141 biethnic adolescents using data from the 2012 National Survey of Multicultural Families. Perceived ethnic discrimination was measured using the question "Have you ever been discriminated against or ignored because either of your parents is not a Korean?" with an assessment of depressive symptoms over the past 12 months. Logistic regression was applied to examine potential associations between perceived ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 4141 biethnic adolescents, 558 (13.5%) reported having experienced ethnic discrimination. The most common discriminatory perpetrators were friends (n=241, 5.8%), followed by strangers (n=67, 1.6%). Depressive symptoms were related to experience of ethnic discrimination (odds ratio [OR], 3.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.89 to 4.98) after adjusting for potential confounders. In an analysis focusing on the perpetrators of discrimination, depressive symptoms were found to be associated with perceived ethnic discrimination from friends (OR, 3.95; 95% CI, 2.75 to 5.68), teachers (OR, 4.53; 95% CI, 2.16 to 9.51), family members and relatives (OR, 3.89; 95% CI, 1.59 to 9.48), neighbors (OR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.14 to 5.38), and strangers (OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.30 to 4.79). Furthermore, the OR for depressive symptoms among those exposed to 1, 2, or 3 or more discriminatory perpetrators were 3.61 (95% CI, 2.49 to 5.24), 3.61 (95% CI, 1.68 to 7.74), and 6.69 (95% CI, 2.94 to 15.22), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to our findings, friends were the most common perpetrators of discrimination and the experience of ethnic discrimination was associated with depressive symptoms among biethnic adolescents in South Korea.
authors.affiliation: Social Insurance Research Department, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Sejong, Korea.
authors.forename: Gum Ryeong
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0696-9421
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Asiatic Research Institute, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Inseo
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9507-1324
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Son
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Korea University, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.|Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Seung-Sup
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1830-0282
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010465:Perception; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D063505:Racism / Q000208:ethnology*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Depression; Discrimination; Republic of Korea