Adherence to Asian Cultural Values and Cultural Fit in Korean American Undergraduates' Help-Seeking Attitudes.

As Asian American communities in the United States grow rapidly and specific ethnic groups increase at varying rates (Barnes & Bennett, 2002), the social realities of different Asian ethnic groups are becoming more diverse. This increase of individuals of Asian descent has prompted a plethora of research on personal adjustment, severity of problems, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help (e.g., Leong, 1986; Yeh & Wang, 2000), particularly because Asian Americans use mental health services two thirds less frequently than do Whites (Breaux, Matsuoka, & Ryujin, 1997). In response to Sue's (1994) call to study specific Asian American subgroups and Lee's (1996) call to examine cultural and contextual issues by ethnicity, the current study addressed some of the factors that influence help-seeking attitudes of Korean American undergraduates. The educational experiences and subsequent needs of Asian American students are generally overlooked (Osajima, 1995) primarily because Asian Americans, in general, have high educational aspirations (Nakanishi & Nishida, 1995), hold a substantial number of bachelor's degrees (Humes & McKinnon, 2000), and are often held subject to the "model minority" stereotype (Lee, 1996; Suzuki, 1995). Furthermore, the specific context-based needs and educational experiences of Asian Americans are often masked by the aggregation of different Asian American ethnicities in educational and psychological research. For example, a closer examination of current educational trends based on ethnic groups reveals a bimodal achievement structure in which some Asian Americans have limited formal education and others have high degree attainment (Gloria & Ho, 2003; Ong & Hee, 1993). In particular, Korean Americans are among the Asian Americans who have high educational enrollment and degree attainment (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2003); the majority (60.3%) of traditional college-age Korean Americans attend college (Hune C Constantine, Robinson, Wilton, & Caldwell, 2002; Gloria, Castellanos, & Orozco, 2005; Hurtado, Carter, & Spuler, 1996; Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Pedersen, & Allen, 1999). Few studies, however, have examined the educational experiences of Asian Americans in higher education, and even fewer have focused on specific Asian ethnic groups. One of these studies indicated that Asian American undergraduates perceived campus life negatively and felt strong social alienation and dissatisfaction (Bennett & Okinaka, 1990). In a study of Asian American undergraduate academic persistence, Gloria and He (2003) found that Chinese and Korean Americans reported lower cultural congruity and more negative perceptions of the university environment than did any other Asian ethnic group. Korean American undergraduates also reported the lowest perceived social support from family and friends and the lowest self-esteem and college self-efficacy of the different Asian ethnic groups. In one of the few studies that examined the role ofpsychosocial factors in depression, specifically for Korean American college students, Aldwin and Greenberger (1987) found that increased values orientation (i.e., perceived parental traditionalism of close familial ties and respectful authority relations) significantly predicted higher depression rates. More recently, Hurh and Kim (1990) found that Korean American college students reported higher depression rates than did White students, with Korean Americans having a higher prevalence of depression than other Asian American ethnic groups. …