Multidisciplinary Mental Health Research Needs: Emotional Health in Interethnic Contexts David Rollock, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences Director of Clinical Training Purdue University

Brief Overview of Psychologists’ Roles as Health Care Professionals High costs of mental health problems –Pain and suffering –Financial costs: lost wages, mistaken med dx, etc. Distinctive roles of psychologists –Basic research –Assessment: cognitive, behavior analysis, diagnostic.. –Psychotherapy/behavior management (vs. meds) –Treatment/program evaluation My interests: Minority mental health –ALL behavior takes place in cultural context

Ethnocultural Issues in Mental Health DHHS Healthy People 2010 funding: –Increase quality & years of life –Eliminate demographic group disparities: Data: incidence/prevalence, service access, outcomes… Special attention to ethnic minority mental health Cultural-Ecological approach (cf. Ogbu, 1981, 1995) –Groups foster skills for members’ expected roles –Internal/external influences on behavior/outcomes, e.g., Globalization  impact of intercultural contact & transition?  Theories of success  Mainstream relations  Existing skills

Implications of a Cultural-Ecological Approach to Minority Mental Health Mental health status –Symptom experience & expression –Cultural contact/transition distress results from match/mismatch of skills with new context violations of expectations Mental health services –Decision to seek help –Preferred help sources—and compliance

Implications of a Cultural-Ecological Approach to Minority Mental Health Mental health research questions –Domains of culturally-developed skills & preferences that could be helpful/problematic, e.g., Language Values, beliefs –Goals of contact/transition –Situations well- or ill-matched to skill/behavioral repertoire –Within-group differences Gender, religion, generational status Confounded group distinctions (e.g., nationality vs “race”)

Research Program in Acculturation: Hispanics Fastest-growing ethnic minority group in U.S. –Voluntary minority group (Ogbu), comprised of different groups across multiple generations –Language use & demographics as predictors of depressive affect –General vs. specific competence as predictors of depressive affect

Relationships among Acculturation, Competence, & Depression (Torres & Rollock, 2007) What aspects of cultural transition contribute to depression? –Intercultural competence as best predictor of acculturative distress (> demographics, general coping, acculturation) (Torres & Rollock, 2004) –Participants: 96 adults –Predictors: coping,competence,accult. –Criterion: depressive symptoms CONCLUSION: –General coping as crucial predictor! –Specific competence as key moderator –Need to consider domains, goals

Research Program in Acculturation: South Asians Third largest/fastest-growing Asian group –Lack of research, despite group size –Perfect “laboratory” for acculturation research Ethnically distinct from mainstream English language skills Broader SES variations Investigations –Goals and expectations –Longitudinal research –Structure of standard depression measure

Culture Contact Goals as Predictors of Behavior Change & Depression (Rollock & Rahman, 2007) Do goals predict adoption of US behaviors & depressive symptoms? –Plans to remain in US should be associated with greater US acculturation –Plans to leave US should be associated with greater traditional cultural retention –Plans to leave US should be associated with greater depressive symptoms Method: –Participants: 149 SA male international students –Predictors: goals, ingroup & outgroup orientation vars –Criterion variables: traditional customs, depressive sx

Means (& SDs) and Mean Ranks of adjustment variables by cultural contact goal group (n=149)

Predicting Traditional Social Customs Acceptance from Goals & Ethnic Identity factors (n=149)

Predicting Depressive Symptoms from Goals & Ethnic Identity factors

Acculturation Research Conclusions So Far Cultural skill development & retention reflect expected place in a given culture Goals must be considered, as much as (simple) cultural exposure Mismatch of goals and context leads to distress Next steps –Identify specific preferred skills –Identify changes in goals (& skills) over time

Research Program in Interethnic Emotion: “Race”-Related Police Contact Mental health implications of contact with law enforcement in communities of color Safety & security vs oppression & disempowerment –Types of contact –Basic responses: prevention mechanism vs secondary traumatization –Implicit attitudes as action potentials –Transmission of attitudes to children, adults

Additional Opportunities for Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Clinical Psychology Connecting researchers & practitioners –Aggregating data across practitioners on “what works” –Tracking service utilization Improving assessment –Automated CPTs to assess attention (McClellan) –Technology to aid manipulation of materials Evidence-Based Interventions –Symptom sampling in hard-to-reach groups –Monitoring dose-response