재미 한민족 여성의 갈등과 삶 - 중년이민 1세 여성건강을 중심으로 -

The Correlates of Depressive Symptomatology in Korean-American Women in the U.S.

This study was designed to determine the correlates of depression among Korean-American immigrant women between the ages of 35 and 55 who have resided in the U.S. for 10 years or less. A convenience sample of 180 such women was employed from six cities; LA, Chicago, New York, Philadephia, Miami and Washingto D.C. Depression was measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977). The predictors of depression included acculturative stress, measured by the Acculturative Stress Scale(Salgado de Snyder, 1986); utilization of social support, measured by the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (Barrera, 1981); and Self-Esteem, measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1979). Also assessed were Socio-economic Status, age, length of residence in the United States, religion, level of education, marital status, and occupational level. Results indicated that depression was related positively to acculturative stress (r=.25, p<.05) and negatively to self-esteem (r=.20, p<.001) and socio-economic status (r=.15, p<.001). However depression was not related to social support. (r=-.09, p<519) Result indicated that the pooled sample of Korean-American wome tended to manifest greater depression than nonclinical norm groups, but they were not typically as depressed as women in the same age range being treated for depression. Depression was found to be significantly related to marital status. Results were interpreted as indicating the need for policies aimed at mitigating the occurrence of depression among Korean-American immigrant women.