Mental Health Status among Asian American Subgroups in NYC

Background/Significance: Asian Americans are rapidly growing in the U.S. and New York City (NYC), yet Asian subgroups are often aggregated in research. Little research has investigated poor mental health within Asian immigrant populations.

Methods: Community health needs assessments are currently being administered using community-based sampling strategies in 10 Asian immigrant subgroups in NYC, and will be completed in Spring 2015. Approximately 100-200 surveys will be collected per subgroup. Mental health risk is determined using the PHQ-2 scale; a score of ≥3 is considered at-risk. Socio-demographics (age, education), acculturation (time in U.S. and English proficiency), and health-related variables (self-reported BMI and cardiovascular disease risk factor outcomes) will be run by at-risk/not at-risk for poor mental health among each subgroup. A model predicting at-risk for poor mental health will be run for the entire group, adjusting for subgroup.

Results: Preliminary analyses (n=1134) found that Cambodians had the greatest percentage of at-risk scores (39%), followed by Bangladeshi (19%) and Vietnamese (16%); Lower risk was found in Asian Indians (3%), Koreans (6%), Filipinos (8%), and Himalayans (8%). Further analyses will examine subgroups separately focusing on socio-demographics, acculturation, and health-related variables; a final model will predict at-risk for poor mental health for the entire group, adjusting for subgroup. Additional analyses will be run for those considered at risk (the PHQ-9 scale).

Discussion/Conclusions: Mental health status differed by Asian subgroup. It is necessary to identify factors associated with poor mental health among Asian Americans, so that health professionals can better target limited resources within these communities.