The Expression of Depressive Symptomatology in Korean American Undergraduates: Sex and Generational Differences

Abstract

This study examined the influence of acculturation and perception of the university environment on the depressive symptomatology of 228 Korean American undergraduates, with a focus on sex and generational differences. Perceptions of the university environment and perceived barriers were positive predictors of depressive symptomatology in respective regression equations by sex and generation. Study limitations and counseling practice implications are discussed.

Indian American undergraduates’ well-being: A psychosociocultural understanding of a culture-specific approach to congruity of values.

“…Unexpectedly, differences by gender were not evidenced for the culture-specific approach and in particular enculturation. Given the strong gender-informed roles based on customs and expectations of Indians (Chandra et al, 2016), it is unclear as to why differences did not emerge and are in contrast to Castellanos et al’s (2014) study where Korean American female undergraduates reported higher perception of barriers, both withdraw and stay, than their male counterparts. Although a different Asian ethnic group, it is possible that being in context of higher education equally challenges or even takes precedent to the cultural process of gender-informed norms and expectations for Indian Americans given their high educational focus (Mehra, 2003).…”

“…Items are based on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( Strongly Disagree ) to 5 ( Strongly Agree ). Sample questions include “If I withdrew from college it would be because of not fitting in” and “If I stay in college, I will probably experience negative family attitudes.” Used to examine the expression of depressive symptomatology for 228 Korean American undergraduates, both withdraw (α = .75) and stay (α = .81) had adequate internal consistency (Castellanos et al 2014).…”

The role of Asian American values for Korean American undergraduates’ well-being: Emphasizing values within a psychosociocultural approach.

“…As literature for Korean American undergraduates by groupings is in nascent stage by gender and college generation, our findings are generally aligned with extant findings. Specifically, gender findings emerged for Korean American undergraduate where men reported lower congruity and help-seeking (Gloria et al, 2008) and university environment was a central and more negative predictor for depressive symptomatology (Castellanos et al, 2014) than their women peers. Yet this study’s findings revealed similar patterns with other Asian American ethnic-specific undergraduate research such that differences by groupings emerged by college generation and student standing (Guan, Gloria, et al, 2020).…”

“…Increased scores indicate higher perception of barriers prompting withdrawal (e.g., "If I withdrew from college, it would be because of not fitting in"). Castellanos et al (2014) reported adequate subscale Cronbach's α of .75 (withdraw) for Korean American undergraduates.…”

“…It is clear however, that noncognitive elements such as personal considerations, values, and resources are consistently overlooked (Kiang et al, 2017) and need to be centralized as part of the college experience. In particular, Korean American undergraduates experience unique educational barriers, feelings of unwelcome (Castellanos et al, 2014), normlessness from a lack of access to others who share the same values and engage them in such values (Museus & Maramba, 2011), and sense of discrimination given that others hold inaccurate stereotypes about them (Cheng et al, 2017)—experiences that may undermine students’ sense of well-being.…”