A Survey of Depressive Symptoms among Vietnamese-American Men in Three Locales

Abstract

Vietnamese are one of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of high depression scores among Vietnamese men in three locales. Computer assisted telephone interviews were conducted with adult Vietnamese men in San Francisco/Alameda Counties, Santa Clara County, and the city of Houston. Telephone numbers of households with Vietnamese surnames were chosen randomly from area telephone books. Depression was assessed using a previously validated Vietnamese language depression screening instrument with 86% sensitivity and 96% specificity for major depression. Between 8.2% and 9.8% of the men scored above the cut-off. Logistic regression analysis revealed that men who were the least proficient in English, poorer, unemployed or disabled, veterans, and those living in Houston were more likely to have a high depression score. Based on the characteristics of the screening instrument, rates of clinical depression among Vietnamese men may be modestly higher than rates for men in the general population. However, high-risk subgroups identified by our analyses may suffer from substantially higher rates of clinical depression. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to show that community context or locale is an independent predictor of high depressive symptoms in this population. These findings have important implications for prevention and intervention approaches to depression among Vietnamese men.

Mental Disorders Following War in the Balkans

“…5 Furthermore, we identified individual risk factors for ongoing mental disorders after war, ie, older age, female sex, and lower educational level, that are in line with findings in other settings and historical contexts. 5,8,[10][11][12][13]16,17,27 Also consistent with previous research is the association of socioeconomic adversities after war, in particular unemployment 6,11,12 and being separated or divorced 6,13 as well as postwar potentially traumatic experiences, 5,41 with unfavorable long-term outcomes. Factors associated with anxiety and mood disorders are similar, whereas other factors, in particular male sex and living alone, are linked with substance use disorders.…”

Depressive Symptoms in Chinese-American Subjects with Cognitive Impairment

“…Other studies of US minorities have also suggested a relationship between depression and factors that could represent acculturation. For instance, a study of Vietnamese people living in the US showed that clinical depression rates are elevated in those who are relatively poor and not proficient in English, among other factors (7). …”

“…In the elderly, the effects of depression can be superimposed on cognitive impairments, leading to increased disability and mortality, shortened time until nursing home placement, worsened caregiver burden, and greater health care costs (1–6). It is also being recognized that ethnic, racial and socioeconomic factors influence the rates of depression, as well as other neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with and without cognitive impairment (7, 8). Ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic barriers also affect the rates of treatment and discontinuation of treatment for depression (9, 10).…”

Personal Goals and Depression Among Vietnamese American and European American Young Adults: A Mediational Analysis

“…Accompanying the influx in migration is Downloaded by [University of Illinois Chicago] at 21:02 18 November 2014 recent research that indicates that major depression is a common mental problem among Vietnamese immigrants who present for care in psychiatric settings (Hinton et al, 1993;Hinton et al, 1998;Hinton et al, 1997). In accord with the foregoing research, we found that, like their immigrant parents, the present Vietnamese American young adults reported high levels of depression compared with their European American peers (Felsman et al, 1990;Tran, 1993;Webb, McKelvey, & Suobel, 1997).…”

“…In that spirit, they have developed a large literature examining connections between ethnicity and wellbeing outcomes (e.g., Hinton et al, 1993;Hinton et al, 1998;Hinton et al, 1997). Such connections can help identify at-risk populations.…”