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David Takeuchi, PhD, University of Washington, 4101 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105-6299, (206) 543-5133, dt5@u.washington.edu, Gilbert C. Gee, PhD, Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights, Rm M5224, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, and Margarita Alegria, PhD, Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research, Cambridge Health Alliance, 120 Beacon Street, 4th Floor, Somerville, MA 02143.
A widely held proposition in the social network/social support field relates the high levels of social support leads to a lower level of seeking care from professional mental health services. The thesis posits that there is a tension between how efficiently social support networks function to "buffer" members from adversity versus "channel" them to resources beyond the confines of the network (such as professional care). Social support can provide normative agreement, efficient information flow, high trust, and effective informal social control among members--thus fostering frequent and intensive levels of mutual support. These support networks will be relatively effective at providing care for the individual in the event of a problem. Conversely, the hypothesis posits that poor social support networks will not facilitate high levels of trust, control and support among members. Members in these networks will maintain more extensive external ties, and will thus be more efficient at channeling a person to new and diverse resources beyond the network. Thus, the pathways to care for members with such support are more likely to lead more quickly to professional services. This paper examines the level of social support among Asian Americans and Latinos that is associated with differential use of mental health services. We test whether the traditional hypotheses of buffering and channeling apply to Asian Americans and Latinos, many of whom are immigrants.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Mental Health, Asian Americans
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.