Unmet need for mental health care: Disparities between non-Hispanic Asian Americans and non-Hispanic Whites

Objective: To examine disparities in unmet needs for mental health care between non-Hispanic Asian Americans and Whites. Methods: A nationally representative sample of 3, 572 Asian Americans and 75, 486 Whites aged 18 years and older from the 2002-2004 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health was used for analyses. Perceived unmet need and evaluated unmet need for mental health care were estimated. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine the independent effect of race/ethnicity and other predisposing and enabling factors on unmet needs for mental health care. Results: Asian Americans had lower perceived unmet need (OR=0.33, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.24, 0.46) but higher evaluated unmet need (OR=4.03, 95% CI: 2.40, 6.78) for mental health care than Whites after adjusting for predisposing and enabling factors. Female gender, younger age, higher education, lower household income, being unmarried, and no health insurance were associated with higher perceived unmet need. Younger age, lower education, never been married, no health insurance, and being employed full time were associated with higher evaluated unmet need. Conclusions: Asian Americans were less likely to perceive a need for mental health care than Whites. Among people who were screened positive for serious mental illness, Asian Americans were less likely to use mental health services than Whites. More research and policy efforts are needed to identify and eliminate potential barriers to mental health service utilization among Asian Americans and meet their needs for mental health care .