Abstract
Vietnamese are one of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of high depression scores among Vietnamese men in three locales. Computer assisted telephone interviews were conducted with adult Vietnamese men in San Francisco/Alameda Counties, Santa Clara County, and the city of Houston. Telephone numbers of households with Vietnamese surnames were chosen randomly from area telephone books. Depression was assessed using a previously validated Vietnamese language depression screening instrument with 86% sensitivity and 96% specificity for major depression. Between 8.2% and 9.8% of the men scored above the cut-off. Logistic regression analysis revealed that men who were the least proficient in English, poorer, unemployed or disabled, veterans, and those living in Houston were more likely to have a high depression score. Based on the characteristics of the screening instrument, rates of clinical depression among Vietnamese men may be modestly higher than rates for men in the general population. However, high-risk subgroups identified by our analyses may suffer from substantially higher rates of clinical depression. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to show that community context or locale is an independent predictor of high depressive symptoms in this population. These findings have important implications for prevention and intervention approaches to depression among Vietnamese men.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 677-683 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease |
| Volume | 186 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1998 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
Cite this
A survey of depressive symptoms among Vietnamese-American men in three locales : Prevalence and correlates. / Hinton, W Ladson; Jenkins, Christopher N H; McPhee, Stephen; Wong, Ching; Lai, Ky Q.; Le, Anh; Du, Nang; Fordham, Don.
In: Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Vol. 186, No. 11, 1998, p. 677-683.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - A survey of depressive symptoms among Vietnamese-American men in three locales
T2 - Prevalence and correlates
AU - Hinton, W Ladson
AU - Jenkins, Christopher N H
AU - McPhee, Stephen
AU - Wong, Ching
AU - Lai, Ky Q.
AU - Le, Anh
AU - Du, Nang
AU - Fordham, Don
PY - 1998
Y1 - 1998
N2 - Vietnamese are one of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of high depression scores among Vietnamese men in three locales. Computer assisted telephone interviews were conducted with adult Vietnamese men in San Francisco/Alameda Counties, Santa Clara County, and the city of Houston. Telephone numbers of households with Vietnamese surnames were chosen randomly from area telephone books. Depression was assessed using a previously validated Vietnamese language depression screening instrument with 86% sensitivity and 96% specificity for major depression. Between 8.2% and 9.8% of the men scored above the cut-off. Logistic regression analysis revealed that men who were the least proficient in English, poorer, unemployed or disabled, veterans, and those living in Houston were more likely to have a high depression score. Based on the characteristics of the screening instrument, rates of clinical depression among Vietnamese men may be modestly higher than rates for men in the general population. However, high-risk subgroups identified by our analyses may suffer from substantially higher rates of clinical depression. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to show that community context or locale is an independent predictor of high depressive symptoms in this population. These findings have important implications for prevention and intervention approaches to depression among Vietnamese men.
AB - Vietnamese are one of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of high depression scores among Vietnamese men in three locales. Computer assisted telephone interviews were conducted with adult Vietnamese men in San Francisco/Alameda Counties, Santa Clara County, and the city of Houston. Telephone numbers of households with Vietnamese surnames were chosen randomly from area telephone books. Depression was assessed using a previously validated Vietnamese language depression screening instrument with 86% sensitivity and 96% specificity for major depression. Between 8.2% and 9.8% of the men scored above the cut-off. Logistic regression analysis revealed that men who were the least proficient in English, poorer, unemployed or disabled, veterans, and those living in Houston were more likely to have a high depression score. Based on the characteristics of the screening instrument, rates of clinical depression among Vietnamese men may be modestly higher than rates for men in the general population. However, high-risk subgroups identified by our analyses may suffer from substantially higher rates of clinical depression. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to show that community context or locale is an independent predictor of high depressive symptoms in this population. These findings have important implications for prevention and intervention approaches to depression among Vietnamese men.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032419370&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0032419370&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/00005053-199811000-00003
DO - 10.1097/00005053-199811000-00003
M3 - Article
C2 - 9824169
AN - SCOPUS:0032419370
VL - 186
SP - 677
EP - 683
JO - Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
JF - Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
SN - 0022-3018
IS - 11
ER -