Discrimination and Mental Health-Related Service Use in a National Study of Asian Americans

Objectives We examined the association between perceived discrimination and use of mental health services among a national sample of Asian Americans Methods Our data came from the National Latino and Asian American Study the first national survey of Asian Americans Our sample included 600 Chinese 508 Filipinos 520 Vietnamese and 467 other Asians (n=2095) We used logistic regression to examine the association between discrimination and formal and informal service use and the interactive effect of discrimination and English language proficiency Results Perceived discrimination was associated with more use of informal services but not with less use of formal services Additionally higher levels of perceived discrimination combined with lower English proficiency were associated with more use of informal services Conclusions The effect of perceived discrimination and language proficiency on service use indicates a need for more bilingual services and more collaborations between formal service systems and community resources (Am J Public Health 2010 100 2410-2417 doi 10 2105/AJPH 2009 176321)