Living in a Different World: Acculturative Stress Among Korean American Elders

Yuri Jang and David A. Chiriboga

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2009, vol. 65B, issue 1, 14-21

Abstract: Using a sample of Korean American elders, this study examined internal mechanisms by which the level of acculturation influences mental health outcomes. We hypothesized that the impact of five domains of acculturation on mental distress (depressive symptoms and anxiety) would be mediated by individuals' subjectively appraised acculturative stress. The latter was indexed by measures of task-oriented and emotion-oriented stress. The results from structural equation modeling with 472 Korean American elders in Florida (M age = 69.9, SD = 7.04) provided support for the mediation model. Findings demonstrate that acculturation exerts an influence on mental health and that acculturative stress functions as a mediator in the linkage between the level of acculturation and mental distress. Findings suggest avenues for facilitating immigrant elders' positive adaptation and promoting their mental well-being. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbp019 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:65b:y:2009:i:1:p:14-21

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().