The Importance of Family and Friend Relationships for the Mental Health of Asian Immigrant Young Adults and Their Nonimmigrant Peers

Abstract

This study investigates how the quality of family and friend relationships relates to depressive symptomatology among immigrant Asian and nonimmigrant young adults. The analyses focused on three cultural groups of college students to examine whether these processes vary with immigrants' generation and ethnicity. Results showed that family and friend relationships uniquely contributed to all students' mental health. Students who experienced less family conflict had lower levels of depressive symptoms regardless of their ethnicity or immigrant status. In addition, friend support emerged as a protective factor against the effects of family conflict on depressive symptoms, but only for first-generation immigrants.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Jacobs Foundation to Drs. Janxin Leu and Jelena Obradović, and a grant from the University of Washington Royalty Research Fund to Dr. Janxin Leu. Preparation of this manuscript by Nicole Tirado-Strayer was supported in part by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education, through Grant #R305B090016 to Stanford University. The authors thank Jennifer Truong, Rika Reid, and many other helpful students who assisted with the data collection.