Mental Health - The Office of Minority Health

Mental Health

Mental Health and Asian Americans

Suicide was the 9th leading cause of death for Asian Americans, and the 10th leading cause of death for White Americans, in 2014.¹
Southeast Asian refugees are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with trauma experienced before and after immigration to the U.S. One study found that 70% of Southeast Asian refugees receiving mental health care were diagnosed with PTSD.²
For Asian Americans, the rate of serious psychological distress increases with lower levels of income, as it does in most other ethnic populations.
The overall suicide rate for Asian Americans is half that of the White population.

MENTAL HEALTH STATUS

**Serious psychological distress among adults 18 years of age and over, percent, 2009-2010**
Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
1.9	3.2	0.6

Source: CDC, 2016. Health United States, 2015. Table 46.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus15.pdf [PDF | 13.03MB]

**Serious psychological distress among adults 18 years of age and over, percent of poverty level, 2012-2014**
	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Below 100%	4.1	10.2	0.4
100%-less than 200%	2.6	6.5	0.4
200% or greater	1.4	1.7	0.8

Source: CDC. Health Data Interactive.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hdi.htm. [Accessed 06/20/2016].

**Percent of population with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, or that everything is an effort, all of the time, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2014**
	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Sadness	2.4	2.4	1.0
Hopelessness	1.4	1.7	1.0
Worthlessness	0.6	1.5	0.4
Everything is an effort	3.3	5.0	0.7

Source: CDC 2016. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2014. Table A-7.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm

**Percent of population with feelings of nervousness or restlessness, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2010**
	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Nervousness, all or most of time	2.3	4.6	0.5
Restlessness, all or most of time	3.7	6.0	0.6

Source: CDC 2016. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2014. Table A-8.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm

**Age-adjusted percent distributions of adults 18 years of age and over, with serious psychological distress, most or all of the time, 2004–2006**
Population	Serious distress	Ratio / All Asian Population	Ratio / Whites
All Whites	2.9	-	-
All Asians	1.9	-	1.7
Chinese	1.6	0.8	0.6
Filipino	2.5	1.3	0.9
Asian Indian	1.4	0.7	0.5
Japanese	1.1	0.6	0.4
Vietnamese	2.5	1.3	0.9
Korean	1.3	0.7	0.4
Other Asian & NHOPI*	2.6	1.4	0.9

Source: CDC, 2008. Health Characteristics of the Asian Adult Population: United States, 2004-2006. Table 7.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad394.pdf [PDF, 476KB]

DEATH RATES

**Age-Adjusted Death Rates for suicide, by sex, race and Hispanic Origin, 2013**
	Asian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Pacific Islander /Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	8.9	25.8	0.3
Female	3.4	7.5	0.5
Total	6.0	16.4	0.4

Source: CDC, 2016. National Vital Statistic Report. Vol. 65, Num 4 Table 17 and Table 16.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_04.pdf [PDF | 4.38MB]

**Age-adjusted death rates for suicide, by race, 2014**
Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
6.0	16.4	0.4

Source: CDC, 2016. Health United States, 2015. Table 30.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus15.pdf [PDF | 13.03MB]

**Death rates for suicide, age, race and Hispanic origin, 2014: Men**
	Asian American Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian American Men/ Non-Hispanic White Men Ratio
15-24 years	12.9	22.4	0.6
25-44 years	9.7	31.7	0.3
45-64 years	12.1	37.1	0.3
65 years and over	11.6	36.1	0.3
All ages	8.9	25.8	0.3

Source: CDC, 2016. Health United States, 2015. Table 30.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus15.pdf [PDF | 13.03MB]

**Death rates for suicide, age, race and Hispanic origin, 2014: Women**
	Asian American Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian American Women/ Non-Hispanic White Women Ratio
15-24 years	4.1	5.4	0.8
25-44 years	4.0	9.8	0.4
45-64 years	4.2	12.6	0.3
65 years and over	5.2	5.8	0.9
All ages	3.4	7.5	0.5

Source: CDC, 2016. Health United States, 2015. Table 30.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus15.pdf [PDF | 13.03MB]

ADOLESCENTS

**Death Rates for Suicide: Ages 15 - 19, 2014**
	Asian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Pacific Islander /Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	6.3	16.6	0.4
Female	5.0	4.8	1.0
Total	5.6	10.9	0.5

Source: CDC, 2016. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Accessed 06/20/2016]
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html

Suicidal ideation among students in grades 9-12, 2015
Percent of students who seriously considered suicide
	Asian	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	14.9	11.5	1.3
Women	21.3	22.8	0.9
Total	17.7	17.2	1.0

Source: CDC, 2016. High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. [Accessed 06/20/2016]
https://nccd.cdc.gov/Youthonline/App/Default.aspx

Suicidal ideation among students in grades 9-12, 2015
Percent of students who attempted suicide
	Asian	Non-Hispanic White	Asian Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	5.2	3.7	1.4
Women	11.1	9.8	1.1
Total	7.8	6.8	1.1

Source: CDC, 2016. High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. [Accessed 06/20/2016]
https://nccd.cdc.gov/Youthonline/App/Default.aspx

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

**Percent of Adults age 18 and over who received mental health treatment or counseling in the past year, 2014**
	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Total	6.8	18.0	0.4

SAMHSA, 2015. Results from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:
Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 1.22B
http://www.samhsa.gov

**Percent of Adults age 18 and over who received prescription medications for mental health treatment or counseling, 2014**
	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Total	4.9	15.7	0.3

SAMHSA, 2015. Results from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:
Mental Health Detailed Tables. Table 1.26B
http://www.samhsa.gov

NOTE: *NHOPI = Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

¹CDC, 2016. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Accessed 06/20/2016] http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html

²NIH, National Diabetes Education Program, 2006. Silent Trauma: Diabetes, Health Status, and the Refugee: Southeast Asians in the United States. http://ndep.nih.gov/media/SilentTrauma.pdf [PDF | 2.3MB]

Last Modified: 10/2/2018 1:10:00 PM

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