Influence of racial identification and gender on the mental health outcomes of "Asian American Pacific Islander" college students.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to improve models of mental health outcomes for Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) undergraduates (n = 48,516). Participants: Participants were Asian American, NHOPI, and White undergraduate adult students in the United States. Methods: Using data from the national 2018-2019 Healthy Minds Study,¹ depression, anxiety and psychological well-being were analyzed using multivariate logistic and linear regression models. Both additive and interactive model assumptions for race and gender were tested. Results: 1) Compared to White students, Asian Americans experienced depression and psychological well-being disparities and NHOPIs experienced marginal depression disparities; 2) Asian American and NHOPI students experienced different health inequities compared to Whites, and 3) modeling race and gender using interactions did not significantly improve model fit for depression, anxiety, or psychological well-being. Conclusions: Mental health disparities among Asian American and NHOPI undergraduates should be further studied to facilitate mental health promotion and prevention.