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We examined the impact of acculturation on attitudes toward gay men and lesbians in the Vietnamese American community. We recruited 114 Vietnamese American participants at a large community organization. The Suinn–Lew Asian Self‐Identity Acculturation Scale (Suinn, 1992) was used to measure participants' acculturation levels, while the Attitudes Toward Lesbian and Gay Men Scale (Herek, 2004) was used to measure participants' attitudes toward homosexuality. It was hypothesized that Vietnamese Americans with higher levels of acculturation would have more positive attitudes toward homosexuality. The results supported this hypothesis. Additionally, we found a complicated pattern of results explaining attitudes based on acculturation level, age, and gender.

By observing factors that predict depressive symptoms, this study examines the need to identify whether the perception or the reality of being married helps Asian Americans in same-sex partnerships improve their mental health. In a Texas sample (N = 1,840) of respondents to a survey on needs and hardships of Asian ethnic communities, 163 individuals (n = 9%) reported having a same-sex partner; this subsample reported a 24.5% depression rate as measured by the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist. Logistic regression results from those with a same-sex partner show 3 findings: having a perceived status of being married may reduce the likelihood of having depressive symptoms by 73.4%; those with discrimination concerns may be 2.7 times more likely to experience depressive symptoms; and those with domestic violence problems may be 2 times more likely to experience depressive symptoms.

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A conceptual framework is built for teaching research and assessing mental health needs and help seeking of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) Vietnamese-American population. To be sensitive to cultural needs, mindfulness is used as a theoretical starting point for examining self-acceptance in this population. The framework first describes how acceptance or rejection of one's sexual orientation/identity by self and others predicts mental health outcomes. Second, it analyzes how the intent to seek help and actual help seeking is affected by internal (i.e., self-blame, selfconcealment, denial) and external (i.e., environmental, acculturation, economic) factors. The framework provides a step-by-step process for understanding the interconnection between a theoretical concept and the consequences when the studied variables interact.