Perceived Discrimination and Depression: Moderating Effects of Coping, Acculturation, and Ethnic Support

Abstract

The authors evaluated the effects of cultural norms and social contexts on coping processes involved in dealing with perceived racial discrimination. Cross-sectional data derived from personal interviews with Korean immigrants residing in Toronto were analyzed. Among the respondents, active, problem-focused coping styles were more effective in reducing the impacts on depression of perceived discrimination, while frequent use of passive, emotion-focused coping had debilitating mental health effects. The present findings lend greater support to a social contextual explanation than to a cultural maintenance explanation of coping processes. They also suggest that, when empowered with sufficient social resources, racial minority individuals of diverse cultural heritages are more likely to confront than to accept racial bias.

Positive Affect and Adjustment to Perceived Racism

“…Depression was chosen as an indicator of psychological distress because it is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in the United States (Kessler, 1997(Kessler, , 2002 and because of its well-established association with perceived racism and discrimination (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996;Noh & Kaspar, 2003). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977).…”

Low mental health treatment participation and Confucianist familial norms among East Asian immigrants: A critical review

“…These protective effects are further documented in intervention studies with non-immigrants (Dobkin et al, 2002;Thompson et al, 2001), and while similar results can be observed with immigrant populations (Agudelo-Suarez et al, 2009;Noh & Kaspar, 2003), the effect is much more variable (Tsai & Thompson, 2013).…”

The Myth of Discovering Absolute Truth through Science:How Szasz Mistook Scientific Evidence for Absolute Truth in An Attempt to Deny the Existence of Mental Illness, and Invalidated Experiences of Those Affected by Mental Disorders

“…For example, it has been shown that gender and racial discrimination is associated with hypertension (e.g., Krieger, 1990), perceived discrimination with depression (e.g., Noh & Kaspar, 2003), and that there is association between stressful environment and changes to corticoids levels (e.g., Pennington, 2002), and yet Szasz invalidates experiences of the oppressed and existence of mental illness. He does so from the point of privilege: able-bodied, White male, of upper-middle socioeconomic status (SES) and of aristocratic background.…”