Thesis advisor: Ramsay Liem / Underutilization of mental health services among Asian Americans is a pressing concern. It is possible that knowledge and beliefs about mental illness (a.k.a. “mental health literacy”) serve as barriers to seeking appropriate help, and that Asian cultural values plays a role in determining such attitudes. This study investigated the relationships among mental health literacy, attitudes towards mental health services, and adherence to Asian cultural values. A sample of 17 Caucasian and 22 Asian American college students completed a questionnaire including the Asian Values Scale, the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale – Shortened Version, and four vignettes portraying depression, schizophrenia, alcohol dependency, and anorexia. Results indicated that Caucasians were slightly more likely to correctly recognize and identify mental illnesses than were Asian Americans. Causal attributions varied greatly across different mental disorders, and Asian Americans showed less positive attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help, and preferred to solve problems on their own or seek help from family or friends. The greatest barriers to treatment for Asian Americans were a fear of showing personal weakness and concern about stigma. Adherence to Asian cultural values was inversely associated with willingness to seek professional help, and with willingness to take medication for psychological problems. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2005. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

The long-standing phenomenon of occupational segregation among Asian Americans in the United States has been well-documented (e.g., Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). This study will explore the validity of an existing measure on values in the context of work, among a group of Asian American college students. Furthermore, it examines the impact of work values on culturally specific factors (i.e., Asian cultural values, ethnic identity endorsement, racism-related stress) and major-related outcome variables (i.e., major choice, major satisfaction) among Asian American college students. Specifically, it is hypothesized that work values will mediate the relationships between three cultural variables (i.e., adherence to Asian cultural values, ethnic identity endorsement, and racism-related stress) and individual’s major-related outcomes (i.e., major choice and major satisfaction). Participants will include 200 Asian-American identified undergraduate college students over the age of 18, surveyed through college courses, social media, and email advertisement. Measures will include the Values Scale (VS; Super & Nevill, 1985); the Asian American Value Scale-Multidimensional (AAVS-M; Kim, Li, & Ng, 2005); the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure - Revised (MEIM-R; Phinney & Ong, 2007); the Asian American Racism-Related Stress Inventory (AARRSI; Liang, Li, & Kim, 2004); and the Academic Major Satisfaction Scale (AMSS; Nauta, 2007). Implications of this study include illuminating the role of cultural context in shaping the function of work value endorsement and major choice patterns of Asian American college students, as well as advancing vocational assessment scholarship by establishing the cultural validity of the existing Values scale in its use with the Asian American college population.

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