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Asians who immigrated to US before age 25 have poorer mental health than older immigrants |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Asian-American immigrants who came to the United States before they were 25 years old have poorer mental health than their compatriots who came to this country when they were 25 or older, according to data from the first national mental health survey of Asian-Americans. The study is noteworthy because it shows that using traditional measures of socio-economic status -- number of years of school and household income -- to predict health outcomes is not accurate for individuals who immigrate when they are children or young adults, according to Janxin Leu, a University of Washington assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study. Leu and the other researchers found that what is called subjective social status was more accurate in predicting mental health outcomes than income or education. To calculate this, they told the people surveyed to imagine a ladder with 10 rungs containing individuals who had achieved the most on the top rung and those who were least successful on the bottom. "The under-25 group experiences a lot of stress, the so called 'long-reach of childhood' that comes at a formative time of development," she said. "As adults, the under-25 group is doing better with English language skills and has higher levels of education and income, but it is experiencing more disease as adults. The survey included data from more than 1,400 foreign-born Asian-Americans who were at least 25 years of age. Leu said the age of 25 was used as a marker to distinguish between immigrants who experienced disruption during their formative childhood, adolescent and early adult years and those who did not.
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