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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in racist acts against Asians and Asian Americans. Given this troubling reality, it is important to identify how non-Asians, such as White individuals, can better understand the racialized experiences of their Asian and Asian American peers during this time. As such, we set out to examine White college students' ethnocultural empathy toward Asians and Asian Americans during the pandemic. Specifically, based on theorizing on normative influence, we examined how peer support might be associated with increased ethnocultural empathy toward Asians and Asian Americans. Additionally, leadership support and gender were included as covariates. Participants were recruited from a predominantly White institution located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Results based on hierarchical regression analyses indicated that ethnocultural empathy was predicted by gender and peer support. We also explored the moderating role of gender in the association between peer support and ethnocultural empathy, and we found that the positive association between peer support and ethnocultural empathy was greater for men compared to women. The findings of the present study have implications for advancing the research and practice around helping non-Asian students better understand and support their fellow Asian and Asian American students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement This study found that White students' empathy toward Asian and Asian American experiences of racism during COVID-19 was related to how their peers spoke about and responded to this issue, and this was especially true for White men compared to White women. The findings suggest some practical ways to help non-Asian individuals to better understand the experiences of racism among Asians and Asian Americans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

This study investigated Korean Protestants’ beliefs about psychological services (BAPS) and their associations with religiosity and church climates. Using responses of 254 Protestants from 18 different churches in South Korea, we employed three multilevel analyses to explore whether participants’ etiology beliefs, religious coping, and perceived church climates in relation to psychological services were associated with the subscales of the BAPS scale: Expertness, Stigma Tolerance, and Intent to Seek Psychological Help. The results indicated that attributions of mental illness to psychological factors were associated with stronger beliefs in the expertise of psychological services. In terms of religious coping, the deferring style was negatively associated with stigma tolerance, the self-directing style was negatively associated with expertness and stigma tolerance, and the collaborative style was positively associated with intent to seek help. Finally, church climates related to psychological services, which we considered a church-level factor, were associated with all BAPS subscales. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The severity or impact of racial microaggressions can differ based on an individual’s contextual factors. Specifically, people of color in a Christian context face unique racialized experiences tha...

International students make up 5.5% of all university students in the United States. In addition, international students consist of approximately 4% of the student population in Christian higher education. Although there is a significant number of international students enrolled in faith-based institutions, this population remains underrepresented in multicultural psychological literature. Thus, applying the intrapersonal-interpersonal-spiritual framework, we interviewed 15 international students from a Christian university to investigate their unique and shared experiences with the general international student population in the United States. The Consensual Qualitative Research method (CQR) was employed, and seven principal domains were identified: (a) religiousness, (b) reactions toward international students, (c) social support and acceptance, (d) hopes and expectations, (e) cultural adaptation, (f) cultural differences, and (g) international student identity. Similar themes to those present in the existing international student literature were established, but differential themes related to religiousness were discovered as well. Implications for Christian campuses are discussed.

It is challenging to teach about racism well. One of the reasons for this difficulty is that the topic of racism is sometimes met with resistance from students. Therefore, it is important for psychology instructors to continue to identify and practice effective ways to teach about racism. I contend that the study abroad experience is a valuable opportunity for this type of teaching. Drawing from my experience as a Korean American educator teaching Cross-Cultural Psychology to American students studying abroad in South Korea, I provide some concrete examples of pedagogical tools and approaches that I have found helpful in deepening White students’ understanding of racism. My hope is that instructors who lead study abroad programs will be inspired to try some of these ideas and also implement new ones that will help White students to understand racism.

Insufficient research has compared the impact of subtle and overt discrimination on somatic symptom disorder (SSD) among young adults with immigrant backgrounds in South Korea, a country that is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. Therefore, this study seeks to examine this. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in January 2022 involving 328 young adults aged 25 to 34 years who had at least one foreign-born parent or were foreign-born immigrants. We used ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with SSD as the dependent variable. The results showed that subtle and overt discrimination were positively associated with SSD among young immigrant adults. Subtle discrimination seems more strongly related to SSD among Korean-born immigrant adults (N = 198; beta = 0.171, P < .05) than foreign-born immigrant young adults (N = 130; beta = 0.031, P > .05). This result partially supported the theory that both forms of discrimination were differently related to increased SSD tendencies by place of birth.

Limited research examines how people of color view Jesus’s race and the influence of culture on such a view. We investigated the relationship between views of Jesus’s race and implicit bias when viewing images of Jesus (e.g., positive words associated with White Jesus, negative words associated with non-White Jesus) among Asian American students ( N = 103) from a Christian university. We predicted that (a) a small percentage of participants would view Jesus as White; (b) participants would demonstrate implicit bias; and (c) beliefs about Jesus’s race, racial colorblindness, ethnic identity, and internalized model minority stereotype would predict implicit bias. Participants were more likely to view Jesus as non-White but favor images of White Jesus over images of non-White Jesus, especially participants who endorsed White Jesus. Racial colorblindness was associated with beliefs about Jesus’s race and implicit bias. These findings highlight how inaccurately portraying prominent figures’ race as White perpetuates White standards such that race is obliviated and biases are internalized.

The blend of traditional and contemporary culture in South Korea offers study abroad students a valuable setting to learn about psychological constructs. Despite South Korea’s potential as a study abroad destination, the body of literature on teaching psychology abroad in the country remains undeveloped. An immersion experience can be a valuable way to teach study abroad students about culture-specific constructs. The present article highlights how I attempted to teach three culture-specific constructs (han, jeong, and chemyon) during a short-term, intensive study abroad experience in South Korea, utilising various excursions and activities. Examples of learning activities discussed in this article are The War and Women’s Human Rights Museum to learn about han, Baby Box to facilitate discussion of chemyon, and dining out experience to learn about jeong. As appropriate, I integrate student written assignments and results from a survey to illustrate how the learning of the culture-specific constructs took place.

How much someone finds a racial microaggression to be acceptable can vary. We focus on the acceptability of racial microaggressions among Asian American college students, in relation to cul...

In this study, we investigated empirical associations between others’ stigma regarding seeking psychological help (predictor), self-stigma regarding seeking help (mediator), loss of face concerns (moderator), and professional help-seeking attitudes (outcome) among 485 South Korean college students. We also explored the dimensionality of close others’ stigma and public stigma using a bifactor analysis. We recruited participants from several universities in South Korea. They completed an online survey containing demographic questions and study measures. Bifactor analysis results indicated that close others’ stigma and public stigma may be better treated as a unidimensional construct (i.e., others’ stigma). Mediation and moderated mediation analyses indicated that others’ stigma predicted self-stigma, which in turn predicted help-seeking attitudes. Furthermore, this mediation model was moderated by loss of face, in that as loss of face increased, the negative indirect effect of others’ stigma on help-seeking attitudes through self-stigma became weaker. We discuss implications for research and practice.

Despite the prevalent belief to the contrary, Asian Americans are susceptible to experiencing contemporary forms of racism and their deleterious influence on mental health. The present study is an empirical investigation of Asian Americans' experience of racism, its association with mental health, the different religious coping strategies that might be utilized, and the mediating roles of religious coping in a sample of Christian Asian American college students. The current study revisits and extends a prior study (P. Y. Kim, Kendall, & Webb, 2015) by using a more nuanced conceptualization and assessment of religious coping, examining religious coping as a mediator instead of a moderator, and examining mental health outcomes multidimensionally (anxiety, depression, and well-being). Results indicated that Asian American participants tended to rely on certain types of religious coping over others, and that some highly endorsed religious coping strategies had a deleterious effect on mental health (e.g., positively associated with racism and distress symptoms), whereas other endorsed strategies had a facilitative role on mental health (e.g., positively associated with racism, but inversely associated with psychological distress). The findings point to the complex roles religious coping might play in the association between racism and the mental health of Asian American college students.

The present study is a qualitative investigation of the psychological experiences of children of Korean missionaries, through the eyes of Korean missionary kids (MKs) and missionary workers. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 MKs and MK workers, and data were analysed using the Consensual Qualitative Research method. Several domains emerged: challenges associated with the MK experience, resiliency of MKs, intrapersonal and interpersonal coping skills, mental health concerns, religion and spirituality, a complex cultural identity, preparation for college transition, and hopes for MKs and their missionary parents. Categories corresponding to the domains are highlighted. The present study addresses a need for more attention paid to the non-American MK experience, and it presents some implications for the church and higher educational institutions.

Mental health disparities impacting Korean Americans are multifaceted. Although encouraging developments have been made in the knowledge of mental health prevalence and professional help-seeking behaviours of Asian Americans, Korean Americans continue to experience many challenges and unique needs that require more ethnic- and culture-specific knowledge. Given the prominent role that religion, particularly Christianity, plays in the Korean American context, we conducted exploratory interviews with 10 Korean American pastors regarding their perspectives on mental health issues impacting the Korean American community. Using consensual qualitative research, we found four salient domains: (a) Barriers to seeking mental health services, (b) Challenges that pastors experience, (c) Pastor’s assessment of church’s current climate in approaches to mental health issues, and (d) What is needed. Implications for research and practice in addressing mental health disparities are discussed.

The present study is a cross-sectional investigation of emotional self-control, interpersonal shame, and subtle racism as predictors of Asian American attitudes toward professional helpseeking in a sample of Asian American college students (N = 153). The authors applied and extended P. Y. Kim and Lee’s (2014) intrapersonal-interpersonal framework of Asian American help-seeking to include racism as a sociocultural correlate. It was hypothesized that emotional self-control (intrapersonal correlate), interpersonal shame variables of external shame and family shame (interpersonal correlates), and racism (sociocultural correlate) would incrementally predict professional help-seeking attitudes, controlling for previous counseling experience. Participants completed an online survey containing the demographic and study variables. Hierarchical regression analyses (Step 1: counseling experience; Step 2: emotional self-control; Step 3: interpersonal shame [external and family]; Step 4: racism) indicated that emotional selfcontrol and racism were negative predictors of favorable attitudes, whereas external shame was a positive predictor of favorable help-seeking attitudes. The findings have implications for advancing the Asian American literature pertaining to professional help-seeking correlates and for practitioners working with Asian American students to favorably impact mental health service utilization.

The present study is an empirical investigation of cultural mistrust as a mediator in the association between racial microaggressions and mental health (anxiety, depression, and well-being) in a sample of Asian American college students. In addition, we explored the role of cultural mistrust as a mediator in the association between racial microaggressions and attitudes toward seeking professional help. Asian American participants (N = 156) were recruited from 2 institutions located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Participants filled out an online survey consisting of measures assessing the study variables. Bootstrapped results indicated that cultural mistrust was a significant mediator in the relation between microaggressions and well-being, such that racial microaggressions was significantly and positively associated with cultural mistrust, which, in turn, was significantly and inversely related to well-being. Mediation models involving anxiety, depression, and help-seeking attitudes as outcome variables were nonsignificant. The significant mediation finding (microaggressions → mistrust → well-being) has implications for improved understanding of Asian American students' reactions to modern day racism and how it relates to their sense of well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record

Objectives The present study had two primary aims: (a) to test the mediating role of anger regulation in the relation between family processes and externalizing problems; (b) to test the moderating role of culture (specifically, independent and interdependent self-construals) in the relation between anger regulation and symptomatology via a moderated mediation model. Design The sample comprised 166 Korean American adolescents (54.2% male), who were recruited from the Midwestern region of the United States. Adolescents’ ages ranged from 11-15 years old (M = 13.0 years; SD = 1.2). Cross-sectional data were collected via adolescent self-report questionnaires. Results Results indicated that the anger regulation variables (either individually or collectively) mediated the influence of family processes (i.e., family conflict, family cohesion, and father-adolescent communication) on externalizing problems. Moreover, 2 indirect effects on externalizing problems were conditional upon adolescents’ independent self-construal. Conclusions These findings suggest that clinical intervention efforts for addressing externalizing problems may benefit from targeting anger regulation strategies. However, such interventions should be tailored to consider cultural context, since mediation effects may be moderated by cultural factors such as self-construal.

Using an ecologically informed, developmental psychopathology perspective, the present study examined contextual and intrapersonal predictors of depressive symptoms and externalizing problems among Korean American adolescents. Specifically, the role of cultural context (self-construals), family processes (family cohesion and conflict), and anger regulation (anger control, anger suppression, and outward anger expression) were examined. Study participants were N = 166 Korean American adolescents ranging from 11 to 15 years old (M = 13.0, SD = 1.2). Results showed that depressive symptoms were significantly associated with lower levels of perceived family cohesion, higher levels of perceived family conflict intensity, and higher levels of anger suppression. Externalizing problems were associated with male gender, a weaker interdependent self-construal, higher levels of perceived family conflict, lower levels of anger control, and higher levels of outward anger expression. The distinction between specific versus common factors associated with depressive symptoms and externalizing problems was discussed with an eye toward prevention or intervention strategies targeting specific coping mechanisms (e.g., generating alternatives to anger suppression) or developing psychoeducational approaches to facilitate family processes.

To identify correlates of Asian American professional help-seeking, we tested a mediation model describing Asian American help-seeking (Asian value of emotional self-control → help-seeking attitudes → willingness to see a counselor; Hypothesis 1) in a sample of Asian American college students from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States (N = 232). We also examined biological and spiritual etiology beliefs as moderators of the mediation model (Hypotheses 2a and 2b). Our findings indicated that help-seeking attitudes significantly mediated the relation between emotional self-control and willingness to see a counselor, consistent with our mediation hypothesis. Furthermore, biological and spiritual etiology beliefs moderated this mediation model, providing partial support for our moderation hypotheses. Our findings suggest that researchers can contribute to the Asian American literature by investigating conditions in which established Asian American help-seeking models may or may not hold. In addition, the findings suggest additional nuanced ways for counselors to reach out to Asian American students to increase their mental health service utilization.

The present study examined cultural factors underlying help-seeking attitudes of Asian American college students (N = 106). Specifically, we explored internalized model minority myth as a predictor of help-seeking attitudes and tested an intrapersonal-interpersonal framework of Asian values as a mechanism by which the two are related. Results indicated that internalized model minority myth significantly predicted unfavorable help-seeking attitudes, and emotional self-control mediated this relationship. Interpersonal values and humility were nonsignificant mediators, contrary to our hypotheses. The findings suggest that the investigation of internalized model minority myth in help-seeking research is a worthwhile endeavor, and they also highlight emotional self-control as an important explanatory variable in help-seeking attitudes of Asian American college students.

The present study had two primary aims: (a) to test the mediating role of anger regulation in the relation between family processes and externalizing problems; (b) to test the moderating role of culture (specifically, independent and interdependent self-construals) in the relation between anger regulation and symptomatology via a moderated mediation model.The sample comprised 166 Korean American adolescents (54.2% male), who were recruited from the Midwestern region of the United States. Adolescents' ages ranged from 11-15 years old (M = 13.0 years; SD = 1.2). Cross-sectional data were collected via adolescent self-report questionnaires.Results indicated that the anger regulation variables (either individually or collectively) mediated the influence of family processes (i.e., family conflict, family cohesion, and father-adolescent communication) on externalizing problems. Moreover, 2 indirect effects on externalizing problems were conditional upon adolescents' independent self-construal.These findings suggest that clinical intervention efforts for addressing externalizing problems may benefit from targeting anger regulation strategies. However, such interventions should be tailored to consider cultural context, since mediation effects may be moderated by cultural factors such as self-construal.

Adapting the theory of reasoned action, the present study examined help-seeking beliefs, attitudes, andintent among Asian American college students ( N 110). A multiple mediation model was tested to seeif the relation between Asian values and willingness to see a counselor was mediated by attitudes towardseeking professional psychological help and subjective norm. A bootstrapping procedure was used to testthe multiple mediation model. Results indicated that subjective norm was the sole significant mediatorof the effect of Asian values on willingness to see a counselor. The findings highlight the importance ofsocial influences on help-seeking intent among Asian American college students.Keywords: Asian American, help-seeking attitudes, theory of reasoned action (TRA), social influenceson help-seeking