Serious mental illness by gender and national origin among Asian adults in California

Background: Although Asians generally have lower mental illness rates, statistics are based on limited population-level data not separating Asians by national origin; partly, because few national surveys are translated into multiple Asian languages.

Objective: Present serious mental illness rates by gender and seven Asian national origins and examine socio-demographic correlates.

Method: The California Health Interview Survey oversamples Asian residents and is translated into several Asian languages. Serious mental illness (SMI; alternatively labeled serious psychological distress) was defined as Kessler 6 scores of 13 or higher. Surveys from 2005 (Asian adult n = 3,941), 2007 (n = 4,381), and 2009 (n = 4,874) were merged and analyses conducted with Stata/IC 11.2.

Results: Among California adults, 2.9% of all men and 2.1% of all Asian men had Kessler 6 scores of 13 or higher, as did 4.0% of all women and 3.2% of Asian women. SMI was highest among Korean (5.3%) and Vietnamese women (4.8%) and Filipino men (3.7%). Regression analyses revealed that Korean and South Asian women had a higher likelihood of SMI compared to Chinese. Other significant predictors were not married, currently smoking, low income, limited English proficiency, and 45 - 64 years of age. Among men, no Asian nationality had an increased likelihood of mental illness; the only significant predictor was not working (among ages 18 to 64).

Discussion: Among Asian California adults, there are SMI rate differences by gender and national origin. Socio-demographic factors explain much of the variation among women but little among men.