Primary Submission Category: Mental health/function
Asian American & Pacific Islander LGBTQ+ Emerging Adult Mental Health: Current Trends and Next Steps
Authors: Sasha Zhou
Presenting Author: Sasha Zhou*
Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) LGBTQ+ adolescents and emerging adults are an especially high-risk group to consider in mental health research, often holding multiple marginalized statuses, and report discrimination based on race/ethnicity and immigration status at nearly double the rate of overall LGBTQ+ youth. There is a need for large, national studies that capture the experience of AAPI LGBTQ+ young and emerging adults to comprehensively elucidate the mental health burden on this often-overlooked population in the COVID-19 era. The objective of this study is to describe the national landscape of AAPI LGBTQ+ college and university student mental health using large scale data from the most recent administration of the Healthy Minds Study, conducted between September 2021-May 2022 (n=89,255) across 133 campuses in the United States. We used bi-variate analyses and cross-sectional logistic regression models to evaluate mental health symptoms, risk/protective factors, and treatment utilization across AAPI LGBTQ+ students. Preliminary findings indicate nearly 78% of AAPI LGBTQ+ respondents report the presence of one or more positive screen for depression, anxiety, eating disorder, suicidal ideation or non-suicidal self-injury. Among these students, approximately 57% report utilizing therapy or psychotropic medication. Experiences of discrimination and financial stress were the strongest correlates of mental health symptoms. Self-reported experiences of discrimination based on race, culture and sexual orientation were associated with higher odds of treatment utilization for AAPI LGBTQ+ domestic students, but not for international students. The data underscore the need to consider the adequacy of current approaches in supporting AAPI LGBTQ+ mental health, as well as unique ways to foster protective institutional and intrapersonal factors and increase investments to culturally responsive, gender affirming treatment and prevention programs that address mental health disparities already looming in minoritized communities.