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Immigration-Related Factors and Depression Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Older Chinese Americans
Dexia Kong1, Man Guo2, Melissa Simon3
1Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Clinical Gerontologist
|May 2, 2024
Summary
Older Chinese Americans with depression often use informal support. Lower acculturation and living in Chinatown are linked to formal help-seeking for depression in this group.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Mental Health Services Research
- Sociology of Health and Illness
Background:
- Asian Americans exhibit the lowest mental health service utilization rates among racial/ethnic groups.
- Understanding depression help-seeking behaviors in older Chinese Americans is crucial due to low service utilization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how immigration-related factors influence depression help-seeking behaviors among older Chinese Americans.
- To identify specific factors associated with formal and informal help-seeking for depression in this demographic.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from the Population-based Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (n=907) on depressive symptoms.
- Multinomial logistic regressions to examine associations between immigration factors and help-seeking behaviors (no help, informal only, informal/formal, formal only).
Main Results:
- Older Chinese Americans with depressive symptoms primarily utilized informal help sources, either exclusively or in conjunction with formal sources.
- Lower acculturation (OR=0.88) and residing in Chinatown (OR=2.34) were associated with increased likelihood of seeking formal help only, compared to no help.
Conclusions:
- Informal support networks are central to how older Chinese Americans cope with depressive symptoms.
- Targeted interventions leveraging existing informal support and culturally specific resources are recommended to improve mental health service engagement.
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