Physical health and psychological distress among Asians and Whites in California

Purpose: While a significant association between physical health and psychological distress has been identified, no studies have investigated the difference between Asian and Whites in terms of how physical health influences their psychological distress.

Methods: The 2011/2012 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) public-use data was used for this analysis. Study samples are self-reported Asians (including Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, and other Asian American) and Whites (Asians, n=4,343 ; Whites, n=30,789). Multiple regression was used to determine the extent to which physical health (having chronic illness, disability and self-rated health status) explained psychological distress, while controlling for socio-demographic factors.

Results: Both self-rated health and having a disability were the significant predictors explaining psychological distress. Ethnicity was also a significant predictor for psychological distress. Overall, psychological distress of Asian subgroups except Korean was lower than distress levels of Whites. Within Asian subgroups psychological distress also varied; for example, compared to Chinese Americans, Korean Americans had higher psychological distress while Vietnamese Americans showed lower psychological distress.

Conclusions: Physical health status was strongly associated with psychological distress. Levels of psychological distress varied between Asians and Whites and varied between Asian ethnic subgroups. Hence, these study findings suggest that physical health status, race, and ethnicity should be considered when planning interventions for psychological distress.