Everyday Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms among Gujarati Adults: Gender Difference in the Role of Social Support

Mieko Yoshihama, Jun Sung Hong and Yueqi Yan
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Mieko Yoshihama: School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Jun Sung Hong: School of Social Work, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
Yueqi Yan: Health Science Research Institute, University of California Merced, Merced, CA 95343, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-13

Abstract: Discrimination against Asians in the USA and its impact on their mental health are urgent public health concerns. Most research on discrimination against Asians has used aggregated Asian group samples. Focusing on Gujaratis, a specific subgroup of Asian Indians, the second-largest Asian group in the USA, this study examined the relationships between everyday discrimination and psychological distress and how they vary by gender. Data were collected via computer-assisted telephone interviews with a representative sample of 553 Gujaratis aged 18 to 65 years residing in a Midwestern state. Negative binomial regression analyses were conducted to examine how exposure to unfair treatment and three types of social support, respectively, was associated with depressive symptoms. For both women and men, unfair treatment was positively associated with depressive symptoms, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. For women, but not for men, the incidence rate ratio became non-significant when adding social support measures to the model. All three social support measures for women, and only satisfaction with social support for men, were significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms. The findings highlight the need for further research on the role of different types of social support and gender differences, which can inform gender- and socioculturally-relevant intervention efforts.

Keywords: racial discrimination; depressive symptoms; Asian Indian; gender difference; social support; sociocultural difference; Asian immigrants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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