Acculturative heterogeneity among Asian/Pacific Islanders in the United States: Associations with DSM mental and substance use disorders.

Acculturative heterogeneity among Asian/Pacific Islanders in the United States: Associations with DSM mental and substance use disorders. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2015 Jul;85(4):362-70 Authors: Salas-Wright CP, Lee S, Vaughn MG, Jang Y, Sanglang CC Abstract Extant studies on the links between acculturation and mental and substance use disorders among Asian/Pacific Islanders have been based on the assumption that acculturation is a homogeneous construct. However, emerging evidence suggests that the various components of acculturation do not manifest independently, but rather cluster in ways that reflect distinct profiles. We employ data on Asian/Pacific Islanders from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (n = 968). Latent profile analysis is used to identify acculturation subgroups on the basis of indicator variables related to cultural identification, language ability and preference, and social engagement. Subsequently, the distribution of outcome variables in the domains of DSM disorders (lifetime history of clinical, personality, and substance use disorders) is examined across latent subgroups. We identified a 5-class solution: Class 1: Separated (12.91%), Class 2: Partial Bilingual/Bicultural (30.06%), Class 3: English Dominant/Asian Oriented (12.29%), Class 4: Full Bilingual/Bicultural (19.42%) and Class 5: Assimilated (25.31%). The highest rates of clinical disorders were observed among members of the...
Source: The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Am J Orthopsychiatry Source Type: research