Asian American Mental Health Brief

Dr. David Takeuchi, Sociologist and Associate Dean of Research at the University of Washington School of Social Work provides an overview of socio-cultural factors associated with mental health problems of Asian Americans.  Dr. Takeuchi's research focuses on racial, socio-economic, and cultural factors associated with health problems, the initiation of care, and the results of health care.

 A consistent finding is the U.S. born individuals seem to have higher rates of mental disorders than people born in another country. This pattern seems to hold true for blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans. Among Asian Americans, for example, nearly 17% of U.S. born Asian American women had experienced major depression in their lifetime compared to 8% of women who immigrated. In the NLAAS, we also are able to better understand the complexities of the immigrant experience. The age when Asian immigrants arrive in the U.S. is associated with the distribution of mental disorders. Asian immigrants who arrived before the age of 12 have similar rates of major depression, suicidal behaviors, and substance abuse disorders as U.S. born Asian Americans. 

Why is age of immigration an important factor among Asian immigrants? The age a person immigrates into the U.S. poses unique opportunities and challenges because the social institutions that affect people’s lives, such as schools, colleges, and workplaces, vary by age of immigration. Different social institutions provide access to unique types of social networks and relationships. Social networks can be seen as opportunity structures because when a person's social ties have access to societal resources and opportunities, the person has greater access to those resources and opportunities. The number of social groups and institutions (e.g., schools, clubs, friendship networks, and family ties) geared toward teaching the child about the new society is far greater than those available for adults. These social groups, in turn provide children with a greater access to the opportunities in a new culture. Conversely, immigrant children may have a larger set of social groups available to them and, as a result, they could also experience a greater amount of negative stressors and influences that can lead to detrimental social and health outcomes as they mature.

At the national level, there has been speculation that Asian Americans do not access quality care for their mental health problems. In the past, we have not been able to answer this question because the absence of sufficient data. In NLAAS, we provide evidence about this issue. As a context, substantial numbers of people with a depressive disorder do not access mental health treatment. For example, 40% of non-Latino whites who had a depressive disorder did not access mental health treatment in the past year. Among Asian Americans with a depressive disorder, a substantial majority (69%) did not receive mental health treatment during the past year. Among non-Latino whites with depression, 33.5% received both treatment and quality depression care compared to only 14% of Asian Americans.

Below are some citations to the studies reported in this brief. We also have made these data available to the other researchers and the general public through the Inter-University Consortium for Political for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the following website (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/CPES/index.html). 

Selected References

Alegria, M. et al. (in press). Disparity in Access to and Quality of Depression Treatment  among Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the U.S. Psychiatric Services.

Takeuchi, D., N. Zane, et al. (2007). Immigration-related factors and mental disorders among Asian Americans. American Journal of Public Health, 97:84-90.

Abe-Kim, J., D. Takeuchi, N. Zane, et al. (2007). Use of mental health related services among immigrant and U.S. born Asian Americans: Results from the National Latino and Asian American Study. American Journal of Public Health, 97:91-98.

Takeuchi, D., M. Alegria, J. Jackson, and D.R. Williams. (2007). Immigration and mental health: Diverse findings in Asian, black and Latino populations. American Journal of Public Health, 97:11-12.

Takeuchi, D., S. Hong, K. Giles and M. Alegria. (2007). Developmental Contexts and Mental Disorders: Findings from the National Latino and Asian American Study. Research in Human Development, 1-2:49-69.