Depression among Korean American Immigrants

Depression is the predominant mental health problem facing Americans of all demographic and ethnic groups. Although there is ample research devoted to explaining depression, as well as treatment and prevention strategies, most studies focus on dominant cultural groups. Relatively few studies exist that focus on depression among ethnic minority groups and even fewer involving new immigrant groups such as Korean American (KA) s. Because there is a lack of systematic surveillance research on the mental health status of KAs and an overall underutilization of mental health services by KAs, it is difficult to understand the mental health needs of this population. Consequently, culturally relevant prevention or intervention strategies are rarely available for the population. The overall purpose of this symposium paper is to enhance the understanding of the depressive experience of KAs on both theoretical and empirical levels. First, we will report findings from the most recent depression prevalence study of KA seniors conducted by our community partnered research team (n=1118, 2015). Our findings reveal a high prevalence of depression (30.3%) among KA seniors and a low level of mental health service utilization. We also identified several predictors of depression among them including living arrangement; presence of a chronic condition; years of education; and having report of cognitive impairment. Second, utilizing published research on the KA population , this paper focuses on the following three specific areas: 1) best estimates of the most current prevalence of depression among KAs by different age groups, 2) identification of significant predictors or correlates of depression among KAs in various age or other relevant group categories such as KAs with chronic illness, or limited health literacy, and 3) discussion of potential depression  interventions or prevention strategies for KAs with depression in order to improve overall  mental health for this understudied ethnic minority group .