Article

Correlates of depression in the Korean American elderly: focusing on personal resources of social support.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, 525 N. Wolfe St., Room 448, Baltimore, MD 21205-2110, USA.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 03/2007; 22(1):115-27. DOI:10.1007/s10823-006-9022-2 pp.115-27
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Today's Korean American elderly are predominantly first-generation immigrants who face stern challenges of acculturation, which is often associated with depression. Social support has been identified as an effective personal resource for alleviating acculturative stress and achieving better mental health outcomes. The purposes of this study were to describe available sources of social support utilized by Korean elders and to examine the relationships among acculturative stress, social support, and depression. In particular, social support was operationalized as an integrative concept encompassing the size of the social network, satisfaction with the support received, and appraisals of the level of social support. This study was a secondary data analysis of an existing survey of 205 elderly Korean immigrants (>or=60 years) in a major metropolitan city on the East coast. Adult children were found to be the main source of support utilized by elders, even when the elder had a living spouse. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that higher acculturative stress and lower social support were associated with higher depression scores after demographics and health status were controlled for, whereas network size and satisfaction with support were not. Future interventions should address the cultural/social needs of these immigrants, not only by reinforcing their existing social network but also by providing additional support for their family members to prevent social isolation and depression in the population.

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Keywords

205 elderly Korean immigrants
 
acculturative stress
 
additional support
 
Adult children
 
available sources
 
effective personal resource
 
existing social network
 
family members
 
Hierarchical multiple regression analysis
 
higher acculturative stress
 
integrative concept encompassing
 
lower social support
 
major metropolitan city
 
mental health outcomes
 
network size
 
secondary data analysis
 
social isolation
 
Social support
 
social support utilized
 
support utilized