Mental Health Symptom Profiles and Treatment Parameters Among Asian Indians: Latent Profile Analyses

• Published in: International journal of mental health and addiction 2023-03, Vol.22 (5), p.3149-3169
• Main Authors: Jin, Ling, Compton, Sidonia E., Sameen, Durr-e, Cornish, Michelle V., Contractor, Ateka A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Asian Americans; Community and Environmental Psychology; Cultural values; Drug use; Health Psychology; Health services; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Mental health care; Minority & ethnic groups; Oppression; Original Article; Post traumatic stress disorder; Primary care; Psychiatry; Psychology; Psychosis; Public Health; Rehabilitation; Suicidal behavior; Suicidal ideation
• ISSN: 1557-1874; 1557-1882
• DOI: 10.1007/s11469-023-01040-y

The present study examined subgroups of Asian Indians in the USA based on endorsed mental health symptoms and their relations with mental health treatment parameters (treatment history, internal/institutional barriers to mental health treatment seeking, and treatment preferences [therapist directiveness, emotional intensity, past orientation, and support]). The sample included 296 Asian Indians (60.10% females; M age  = 34.12) recruited from the community. Latent profile analyses indicated a best-fitting three-class solution: Low Mental Health Symptom Severity (Class 1), High Mental Health Severity: Predominantly Internalizing Symptoms (Class 2), and High Mental Health Severity: Predominantly High-Risk Symptoms (Class 3). Multinomial logistic regressions indicated that (1) internal barriers to mental health treatment seeking significantly associated with being in Class 2 vs. 1 and 3; (2) preferences for therapist directiveness and for past orientation significantly associated with being in Class 3 vs. 1; and (3) institutional barriers to mental health treatment seeking and preference for past orientation significantly associated with being in Class 3 vs. 2. Our findings highlight heterogeneity in mental health symptom patterns, disparities in mental health treatment utilization, internal/institutional barriers to seeking mental health treatment among individuals reporting more mental health symptom severity, and cultural-specific treatment preferences. Culturally adapted mental health treatments need to be tailored to the heterogeneous subgroups of Asian Indians based on their mental health symptom patterns.