Mental health service use among Filipino American and Korean American young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Despite the heightened mental health challenges amid rising Anti-Asian sentiment, Asian Americans have significantly underutilized mental health services, a trend that persisted even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Although considerable efforts have been made to understand how various factors are related to mental health service use in this population, research integrating these multiple factors in a single study, with a specific focus on ethnic disaggregation, remains limited. Using a cross-sectional Study of Filipino and Korean American young adults (M_age = 21.37, US-born = 65.03%), we examined the combined impact of individual, familial, and ethnic-cultural, immigrant, and racial stereotype factors on their mental health service utilization through hierarchical logistic regressions. Depressive symptoms, being female, and less stigma associated with mental health care were significantly associated with more service use regardless of ethnicity. Notably, primarily speaking English or both English and ethnic language equally at home (as opposed to an ethnic language) was significantly associated with more service use among US-born Filipino Americans. Conversely, the internalized model minority stereotype was significantly associated with less service use among Korean Americans. This study underscores the importance of developing effective mental health interventions tailored to both shared and unique determinants within diverse Asian American populations.