Social Determinants of Health and Mental Health Among Asian Americans in the United States

Abstract

Although Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States, research on this population continues to lag behind that on other minorities. In this article, we take factors recognized as critical elements to the physical and mental health outcomes of Asian Americans and apply the social determinants of health (SDH) framework to reconceptualize these factors as structural or intermediary factors. This study uses a nationally representative sample of Asian Americans from the National Latino and Asian American Study (N = 2,067) to examine the relationships between the SDH factors and 4 physical and mental health outcomes (chronic conditions, diagnosable mental health disorders, self-rated physical health, self-rated mental health). Negative binomial, logistic, and ordinary least squares regression analyses are modeled to estimate these associations. The results show that structural and intermediary factors are significantly associated with all 4 health outcomes. The ass...