Psychotherapy utilization, presenting concerns, and outcomes among Pacific Islander and Asian American Students

Historically psychological research has combined Asian Americans (AA) and Pacific Islanders (PI) into one ethnocultural group (AA/PI), thus obscuring important group differences. We evaluated group differences in terms of psychotherapy utilization, presenting concerns, reported distress levels, and psychotherapy outcomes using archival data collected at a large university counseling center. Results indicated that 443 AA clients were more likely than 415 PI clients to remain in therapy during the first eight sessions and 100 days of treatment. Although AA and PI clients reported equivalent levels of distress at intake, PI clients reported more concerns related to their family of origin - and we found some evidence of differential item functioning on the Outcome Questionnaire-45. Both groups experienced similar positive outcomes from therapy. We discourage the practice of combining AA and PI individuals and recommend that psychology research disaggregate data from distinct ethnic groups whenever feasible.