Adherence to Asian and European American cultural values and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help among Asian American college students.

Possible relations among enculturation and acculturation to cultural values and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help were examined among 146 Asian American college students. In addition, possible relations between various dimensions of Asian values and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help were examined. As hypothesized, the results indicated a significant inverse relation between enculturation to Asian values and professional help-seeking attitudes, above and beyond that of the association with having previous counseling experience. Although bivariate correlational results suggested possible inverse relations between the Asian values dimensions of collectivism, emotional self-control, and humility and professional help-seeking attitudes, these associations were not confirmed with a hierarchical multiple regression model. Contrary to expectation, a significant relation was not observed between values acculturation and professional help-seeking attitudes. Also, the interaction between enculturation and acculturation to cultural values was not significantly predictive of professional help-seeking attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acculturation, enculturation, psychological distress and help-seeking preferences among Asian American college students.

We examined the relationship between Asian American college students' levels of acculturation, enculturation, and psychological distress. We also explored the methods Asian American college students prefer when seeking help for psychological concerns. The sample included 601 Asian American students from a large public university in Southern California. Respondents completed an online questionnaire, which included instruments assessing acculturation and enculturation levels as well as psychological distress and help-seeking preferences. Regression analyses indicated that when Asian American students hold a greater degree of European values they are less likely to experience psychological distress. A repeated-measures ANOVA found that Asian American students prefer more covert approaches to mental health treatment. These findings both compliment and contradict previous studies of acculturation, enculturation, psychological distress and help-seeking among the Asian American college student population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes toward professional counseling among Asian-American college students: Acculturation, conceptions of mental illness, and loss of face.

The present study attempted to examine the influence of culture-bound barriers such as acculturation status, loss of face, and conception of mental health on the attitudes of Asian American college students (n = 134) toward seeking professional psychological help. An adapted Acculturation Attitude Scale (AAS; U. Kim, 1988), Zane's (1991) Loss of Face Scale (LOFS), a 10-factor Conception of Mental Health Scale (CMHS; Nunnally, 1961), and a modified version of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPHS) with four subscales (Fischer & Turner, 1970) were used in this study. Results support the hypothesis that acculturation and conceptions of mental health were significantly correlated with attitudes toward mental health services. Loss of face was also significantly correlated with attitudes of being open to professional counseling. Implications for mental health professionals working with Asian Americans are highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acculturation, enculturation, parental adherence to Asian cultural values, parenting styles, and family conflict among Asian American college students.

The present study examined the relations between perceived parenting styles and family conflict with data from 149 Asian American college students. Ratings of parenting styles were highest for authoritarian style, followed by authoritative and permissive styles. Tests of mediation revealed that authoritarian parenting significantly explained why parents’ adherence to Asian cultural values was associated with increased family conflict. Tests of moderation showed that as permissive parenting increased, more acculturated participants reported lower family conflict, although the reverse was true for their less acculturated counterparts. When authoritarian parenting increased, integrated, separated, and assimilated participants reported increased family conflict, whereas the marginalized group reported lower family conflict. Finally, assimilated participants reported less family conflicts at higher levels of authoritative parenting in comparison to the integrated, separated, and marginalized groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral enculturation and acculturation, psychological functioning, and help-seeking attitudes among Asian American adolescents.

The study examined behavioral enculturation to Asian culture and behavioral acculturation to the dominant European American culture and their possible relations to positive psychological functioning among Asian American adolescents. Positive psychological functioning was operationalized using measures of general self-efficacy, cognitive flexibility, collective self-esteem, and attitudes toward seeking help. Based on data from 112 Asian American high school students in Hawaii, the results did not support the hypothesis that both high behavioral enculturation and acculturation would be related to positive psychological functioning. However, post hoc examination of the results revealed that enculturation was positively associated with general self-efficacy, cognitive flexibility, and the collective self-esteem dimensions of membership, private, and importance-to-identity. Also, acculturation was negatively associated with the importance-to-identity dimension. Implications for research and practice with Asian American adolescents are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' attitudes toward seeking help for their children from school and private psychologists.

What inhibits parents from seeking psychological help for their children? This study examined the attitudes of mothers of school-age children toward seeking psychological help from school psychological services and from private psychologists. Mothers express greater and more intense worries in relation to seeking help from school psychological services as compared to private psychologists. Hypothetical vignettes about a problematic child also showed that mothers prefer to refer both their own child and that of a friend to a private psychologist. Reducing the threat aroused by public sector psychologists should increase the utilization of psychological help for children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental illness stigma as a mediator of differences in Caucasian and South Asian college students' attitudes toward psychological counseling.

Previous research has established that Asian Americans use mental health services less frequently and hold poorer attitudes toward psychological counseling than Caucasians. The authors directly tested whether stigmatizing beliefs regarding mental illness might explain such differential attitudes toward counseling in a South Asian and Caucasian student sample. Using mediation analyses, the authors examined 2 aspects of stigma posited to affect help-seeking attitudes: personal stigmatizing views and perceptions of the public's stigmatizing views directed toward persons with mental illness. First, the authors found that Caucasian (n = 74) college students revealed more positive attitudes toward counseling than did South Asian (n = 54) students. Second, in terms of mediation, increased personal stigma, but not perceived stigma, expressed by South Asians partially mediated and accounted for 32% of the observed difference in attitudes toward counseling services. These findings support a long-standing conjecture in the literature regarding the increased significance of stigma processes on disparities in majority-minority help-seeking attitudes. They also suggest that efforts to reduce disparities in attitudes toward counseling for South Asian students specifically should incorporate interventions to reduce the increased stigma expressed by this community, particularly related to a desire for social distance from persons with a mental illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Test of Cramer's (1999) Help-Seeking Model and Acculturation Effects With Asian and Asian American College Students.

The generalizability of K. M. Cramer's (1999) help-seeking model was examined for Asian and Asian American college students. The construct of acculturation was then added to Cramer's model to determine if it would improve the model fit. Asian and Asian American (n=202) students completed help-seeking measures and behavioral and value-based measures of acculturation. White (n=336) students completed only help-seeking measures. Although path analyses showed that Cramer's model fit both samples, structural invariance analysis indicated differential model functioning between groups that can be primarily attributed to self-concealment, a concept central to understanding Asians' and Asian Americans' attitudes toward help seeking. The addition of acculturation, especially adherence to Asian value, to Cramer's model improved model fit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Asian international students' intentions to seek counseling: Integrating cognitive and cultural predictors.

This study integrated several cognitive and cultural predictors of Asian international students' intentions to seek counseling. Data from 295 Asian international students were used to determine whether help-seeking intentions could be predicted by a combination of cognitive variables (i.e., counseling attitudes and stigma concerns) and cultural factors (i.e., acculturation, Asian values, and loss-of-face concerns). Data supported a partially mediated model, such that participants who endorsed more traditional Asian values reported less positive counseling attitudes and lower help-seeking intentions. Contrary to expectations, however, loss-of-face and stigma concerns were associated with stronger intentions to seek counseling, which may have been due to participants' fears of sharing psychological problems with significant others and preference for the confidential nature of the counseling relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public attitudes toward mental health professions.

"The study reported here involves the application of opinion sampling methods to public attitudes toward mental health professions." The following titles were employed: doctor, physician, nurse, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, psychologist, clinical psychologist, research psychologist, mental hospital attendant, social worker. The Semantic Differential was used. The sample of respondents was obtained from the Opinion Panel of the Institute of Communications Research; 207 of 239 panel members returned questionnaires on time. "A very high, positive, public attitude was found for the professions as a whole." Virtually no distinction is made between the concepts doctor and physician. "No distinction is made… among the concepts Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst, Clinical Psychologist, and Research Psychologist on the Semantic Differential… . There are large and significant differences between the concept Doctor and Physician and the cluster of concepts whose titles start with the morpheme 'Psych-.' " The mental hospital attendant is held in relatively high esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural and contextual influences in mental health help seeking: A focus on ethnic minority youth.

In this article, a mental health help-seeking model is offered as a framework for understanding cultural and contextual factors that affect ethnic minority adolescents' pathways into mental health services. The effects of culture and context are profound across the entire help-seeking pathway, from problem identification to choice of treatment providers. The authors argue that an understanding of these help-seeking pathways provides insights into ethnic group differences in mental health care utilization and that further research in this area is needed, (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religious beliefs of Catholic college students and their attitudes toward minorities.

"There was a very significant tendency… for those scoring high on the religion scale to be less favorable toward Jews and Negroes and to favor segregation of Negroes in their own parishes, while those who scored low on the religion scale were significantly less prejudiced and were opposed to segregation." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The mental health of Asian Americans.

Reviews the book, The mental health of Asian Americans by Stanley Sue and James K. Morishima (1982). In The Mental Health of Asian Americans, Sue and Morishima assess the current status of theory and research strategies in this field and initiate dialogue regarding future directions for our investigative energies and service delivery efforts. They are largely successful at this ambitious mission. Their work represents one of the best and most comprehensive texts on the special issues related to Asian-American mental health. Although this book was published in 1982, the theories presented and issues discussed remain extremely pertinent to the problems encountered today in providing services to this population. The authors' major intent is not to demonstrate how to deal with cross-cultural issues in treating Asian-American clients, although therapeutic techniques with a particular client may be extrapolated from their discussion and numerous case examples. Instead, the authors focus on strategies for improving research and delivery of mental health services, and attaining a theoretical understanding of treatment issues within the cultural context. The content is aimed at those who are in training or currently participating in mental health research and service delivery to persons of Asian descent. Yet, this book is of interest to all professionals who are seeking a well-researched text which is grounded in theory and describes the importance of cultural factors in developing mental health services to an ethnic minority population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An exploration of Asian American college students' civic engagement.

This is an exploratory study of civic engagement among Asian immigrant college students. Fourteen students participated in semistructured interviews. This study found three categories of facilitators and barriers to civic engagement: (a) relational factors, (b) identity factors, and (3) acculturation gap factors. Findings also suggest that civic engagement is related to positive social and academic development among participants. Results highlight the importance of cultural and social factors in supporting Asian immigrant college students' civic engagement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist multicultural competence, Asian American participants' cultural values, and counseling process.

Asian Americans drop out of mental health treatment at a high rate. This problem could be addressed by enhancing therapists' multicultural competence and by examining clients' cultural attitudes that may affect the counseling process. In the present study, we used a video analogue design with a sample of 113 Asian American college students to examine these possibilities. The result from a t test showed that the session containing therapist multicultural competencies received higher ratings than the session without therapist multicultural competence. In addition, correlational analyses showed that participant values acculturation was positively associated with participant ratings of counseling process, while the value of emotional self-control was negatively correlated. The results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis did not support any interaction effects among the independent variables on counseling process. All of these findings could contribute to the field of multicultural competence research and have implications for therapist practices and training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An information-processing model of the decision to seek professional help.

Despite the presence of quality mental health care in many communities, people tend to avoid seeking help and wind up languishing in their problems unnecessarily. For the professional to better understand how to reach these individuals, an information-processing model is presented that examines the effects of people's interpretation of their environment and their symptoms on their decision to seek mental health services. Using the model as a guide, suggestions are presented for practitioners who wish to provide services to those who are in need of professional help, yet are hesitant to obtain it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of help seeking for emotional distress among Chinese Americans: Family matters.

Using data from the Chinese American Psychiatric Epidemiological Study, the authors examined longitudinal predictors of help seeking for emotional distress in a community sample of 1,503 Chinese Americans. Specifically, they assessed the relative contribution of family relational variables (e.g., levels of family support and family conflict) in predicting help seeking for medical, mental health, and informal services. After traditional need, predisposing, and enabling factors were controlled for in hierarchical logistic regression analyses, family conflict predicted both mental health and medical service use, whereas family support was not predictive of help seeking. In addition to family conflict, mental health service use was predicted by negative life events, emotional distress, and insurance coverage. Implications of the findings for assessing and treating Asian American clients are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A bilinear multidimensional measurement model of Asian American acculturation and enculturation: Implications for counseling interventions.

Several unilinear and bilinear dimensional measurement models of Asian American acculturation and enculturation were tested with confirmatory factor analysis. Bilinear models of acculturation consistently outperformed the unilinear model. In addition, models that articulated multiple dimensions (i.e., values and behavior) exhibited a better fit to the data than did unidimensional models. The degree to which Asian Americans adhered to the values and behavior associated with each culture differed. Specifically, there was a small relationship between values and behavior in the Asian cultural orientation, whereas there was a moderate relationship between values and behaviors in the Western cultural orientation and between Asian behavior and Western behavior. Present findings suggest that the way in which Asian Americans negotiate the acculturation and enculturation process is likely nuanced and complex. Implications for working with Asian Americans and future directions for research are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Asian and European American Cultural Values, Collective Self-Esteem, Acculturative Stress, Cognitive Flexibility, and General Self-Efficacy Among Asian American College Students.

Asian American college students' adherence to Asian and European American cultural values and their relations to collective self-esteem, acculturative stress, cognitive flexibility, and general self-efficacy were examined. On the basis of data from 156 respondents, the results supported the hypothesis that adherence to Asian and European American values are positive predictors of membership and private dimensions of collective self-esteem. However, contrary to the authors' hypotheses, no relations were observed between adherence to Asian and European American values and other criterion variables. It is interesting that post hoc examination of the results indicated that adherence to Asian values was a positive predictor of the importance to identity dimension of collective self-esteem. Also, adherence to European American values was a positive predictor of cognitive flexibility and general self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of racial identity, ethnic identity, Asian values, and race-related stress on Asian Americans and Asian international college students’ psychological well-being.

The present study investigated the direct and moderating effects of racial identity, ethnic identity, Asian values, and race-related stress on positive psychological well-being among 402 Asian American and Asian international college students. Results revealed that the racial identity statuses Internalization, Immersion-Emersion, Dissonance, Asian values, and Ethnic Identity Affirmation and Belonging were significant predictors of well-being. Asian values, Dissonance, and Conformity were found to moderate the relationship between race-related stress on well-being. Specifically, individuals in low race-related stress conditions who had low Asian values, high Conformity, and low Dissonance attitudes started high on well-being but decreased as race-related stress increased. These findings underscore the importance of how racial identity statuses, Asian values, and ethnic identity jointly and uniquely explain and moderate the effects of race-related stress on positive well-being. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)