Social Engagement and Mental Health Symptoms Across Asian American Ethnic Groups During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: To examine social engage­ment and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic across Asian American (AA) ethnic groups.Methods: Data from three waves of the nationally representative COVID-19 House­hold Impact Survey (4/20/2020-6/8/2020) were used to describe social engagement and mental health symptoms during the pandemic. Associations between mental health and social engagement were assessed via multinomial logistic regression.Results: In this sample of 312 AAs (36.9% Chinese American, 30.9% South Asian American, 20.1% Filipino/Vietnamese American, and 12.0% Japanese/Korean American), daily communication with neighbors declined for Chinese, South Asian and Filipino/Vietnamese Americans but increased for Japanese/Korean Americans (P=.012) whereas communication with friends/family increased only for Filipino/ Vietnamese, Japanese/Korean and South Asian Americans (P<0.001). Differences in self-reported symptoms of anxiety, depres­sion, loneliness, and hopelessness were observed across AA ethnic groups. In ad­justed models, lower social engagement was associated with frequent (3-4 days/week) depressive symptoms during the preceding week (cOR:3.26, 95%CI:1.01-10.5). This association was heightened for Asian men (cOR:14.22, 95%CI:3.62-55.8).Conclusions: Heterogeneity of social engagement and mental health symp­toms across AA ethnicities was observed. Understanding associations between social engagement and mental health within dif­ferent communities is necessary to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health treatment and care.Ethn Dis. 2022;32(2):131-144; doi:10.18865/ed.32.2.131