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Social Anxiety and Mental Health Service Use Among Asian American High School Students

Child Psychiatry & Human Development volume 46, pages 693–701 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Asian American adults endorse more symptoms of social anxiety (SA) on self-report measures than European Americans, but demonstrate lower prevalence rates of SA disorder in epidemiological studies. These divergent results create ambiguity concerning the mental health needs of Asian Americans. The present study is the first to investigate this issue in adolescents through assessment of self-reported SA in Asian American high school students. Parent and self-ratings of impairment related to SA and self-reported mental health service use for SA were also measured. Asian American students endorsed a greater number of SA symptoms and scored in the clinical range more frequently than other ethnic groups. Also, Asian American and Latino students endorsed more school impairment related to SA than other ethnic groups. No differences in parent-reported impairment or service utilization were identified. Implications for future research and treatment for SA among Asian American adolescents are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a NIMH Grant (R01MH081881) awarded to Dr. Masia Warner.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Study Center, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Chad Brice, Carrie Masia Warner, Amanda Sanchez, Petra Esseling & Chelsea Lynch

  2. Psychology Department, William Paterson University, 300 Pompton Road, Wayne, NJ, 07470, USA

    Carrie Masia Warner & Pei-Wen Winnie Ma

  3. Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA

    Carrie Masia Warner

  4. Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Sumie Okazaki

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  1. Chad Brice
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  2. Carrie Masia Warner
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Correspondence to Carrie Masia Warner.

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Brice, C., Masia Warner, C., Okazaki, S. et al. Social Anxiety and Mental Health Service Use Among Asian American High School Students. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 46, 693–701 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0511-1

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