The objectives of this research project are to investigate conceptualizations of mental health problems by ethnic groups, correlations among the factors of conceptions, and the influences of these factors on help-seeking behaviors. Two sub- projects are planned. The first involves the administration of the questionnaires developed by the principal investigator (PI) to samples of Chinese-American and Caucasian-American university students. The second study involves the administration of these questionnaires to adult samples of Chinese Americans and Caucasian Americans (150 in each group) in the Los Angeles community. Specifically, the subjects will be randomly selected from Chinese and general telephone books and called to request their participation if they meet the study criteria of being Chinese American or Caucasian American and between the ages of 18-60. Questionnaires will be mailed to the subjects to be returned when completed. The questionnaires will present subjects with five descriptions of clinical problems and then ask subjects to rate the problems by severity of the problem, what the major problem is, how likely it is that other symptoms are associated with the descriptions, and what kinds of causal attributions are made about the problem. Subjects will then indicate for each type of problem the personal coping strategies or sources of help that are sought in order to overcome the problems. The statistical procedures will include log-linear models, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), MANOVA with repeated measures, analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures, correlation analysis, and factor analysis.
