�A new study of Chinese-Caucasian, Filipino-Caucasian, Japanese-Caucasian and Vietnamese-Caucasian individuals concludes that biracial Asian Americans are twice as likely as monoracial Asian Americans to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder.
The study by researchers at the Asian American Center on Disparities Research at the University of California, Davis, was reported in a bill session, "Clinical, Counseling, and Consulting," on Sunday, Aug. 17, at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.
"Up to 2.4 per centum of the U.S. population self-identifies as mixed subspecies, and nearly of these individuals name themselves as biracial," aforesaid Nolan Zane, a prof of psychology and Asian American studies at UC Davis. "We cannot underestimate the importance of discernment the social, psychological and experiential differences that may increase the likelihood of psychological disorders among this fast-growing segment of the population."
Zane and his co-investigator, UC Davis psychology calibrate student Lauren Berger, launch that 34 percent of biracial individuals in a national survey had been diagnosed with a psychological disorder, such as anxiousness, depression or substance abuse, versus 17 percent of monoracial individuals. The higher rate held up regular after the researchers controlled for differences between the groups in age, grammatical gender and life stress, among other factors.
The study included information from 125 biracial Asian Americans from across the U.S., including 55 Filipino-Caucasians, 33 Chinese-Caucasians, 23 Japanese-Caucasians and 14 Vietnamese-Caucasians.
The information was obtained from the 2002-2003 National Latino and Asian American Study, the largest nationally representative survey always conducted of Asian Americans. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the landmark survey involved in-person interviews with more than 2,000 Asian Americans nationwide. The surveil yielded a wealth of raw data for researchers to psychoanalyse for insights into Asian American mental health.
Zane and Berger did not look at the mental health of non-Asian Americans.
Future research should investigate the factors that explain the higher rate of diagnosed psychological disorders among biracial Asian Americans, Zane said. Possibilities include influences of heathen identification and experiences of ethnic discrimination.
Source: Claudia Morain
University of California - Davis
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