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A Structural Model of Acculturation and Mental Health Status Among Chinese Americans

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

This study examined the role of acculturation and its direct and indirect impact on depressive symptom severity through various correlates, including socioeconomic status (SES), stress, social support, personality negativity, and physical health perception. Using structural equation modeling, the proposed model was tested with 983 employed Chinese Americans from a representative community sample, the majority of whom were immigrants. The results demonstrated that acculturation, correlated with SES, contributed to depressive symptom severity only through indirect pathways. Higher acculturation was found associated with higher stress that in turn contributed to more elevated depressive symptoms. On the other hand, higher acculturation was also found strongly correlated with higher SES, which was associated with lower depressive symptoms directly or indirectly through several mediators. Better support, lower personality negativity, better health perception, and lower stress were found mediating the relationship between higher SES and lower depressive symptom severity. The simultaneous multigroup analysis showed that the final model was comparable for both men and women with very few differences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California

    Biing-Jiun Shen

  2. Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington

    David T. Takeuchi

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  1. Biing-Jiun Shen
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  2. David T. Takeuchi
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Shen, BJ., Takeuchi, D.T. A Structural Model of Acculturation and Mental Health Status Among Chinese Americans. Am J Community Psychol 29, 387–418 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010338413293

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