PhD Candidate University of Georgia, United States
Overview: This study examined the impact of resilience and coping strategies on depression among older Korean Americans during a pandemic. The findings indicated that older Korean Americans have strong resilience and utilize coping strategies of the avoidant type. The combination of two contradict factors positively impacted the populations’ mental well-being.Proposal text: The purpose of this study is to examine how resilience and coping strategies influence depression among older Korean Americans during a pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the psychological and physical well-being of older adults. Depression is more prevalent among minority older adults than it is with non-Hispanic Whites. Among minority groups, older Korean Americans have reported an unusually high level of depression (Kim et al., 2015). Depression in later life negatively impacts one's quality of life with increased risk of cognitive decline, dementia, and suicide (Brailean et al., 2016). Recent studies found that older adults are more resilient to anxiety, depression, and stress-related mental health disorders than younger populations are during the COVID-19 pandemic (Vahia et al., 2020). As a defense mechanism, resilience helps protect individuals from mental health conditions and allows people to thrive in the face of adversity (Cheng et al., 2021; Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016). In addition, coping strategies can help avoid a stressful event before its occurrence. Older adults have more cumulative life experience, which enables them to develop strategies and to apply them in their daily life (Chen, 2020; Neubauer et al., 2019). However, it is not known how coping strategies and resilience function within depression among older Korean Americans during a pandemic. It is crucial to understand coping strategies and resilience factors that may influence older adults’ mental well-being during a crisis.
This quantitative study used survey data collected from 132 older Korean Americans to examine the impact of resilience and coping strategies on depression between June and November 2021. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed to assess the effect on depression of sociodemographic factors (age, gender, marital status, years of living in the U.S., self-rated health, financial security during the COVID), resilience, and coping strategies (problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, avoidant coping) Next, the interaction effect between resilience and coping strategies on depression was tested.
The sample consisted of 87 female and 45 male older Korean Americans between 50 and 92 years of age. In sociodemographic factors, better perception of their financial security was related to lower depression [β = -0.16, p < .05]. Avoidant coping strategies were positively associated with depression [β = 1.5, p < .01]. Although resilience lost its significance when the final model included coping strategies, resilience moderated the relationship between avoidant coping strategies and depression. Higher resilience scores lowered the aggravating effect of avoidant coping strategy on depression [β = - 0.3, p < .05].
The findings indicate that older Korean Americans have moderate-high resilience and avoidance coping strategies. Resilience buffer the negative effect of avoidant coping strategies on depression and help older Korean Americans avoid psychological harm from unexpected experiences during a pandemic. Resilience is a strength of older Korean Americans. These findings indicate we need to be culturally competent and pay attention to the avoidant coping skills used by Korean Americans in stressful situations. Understanding how Korean Americans cope will give insight into how best to support this population in a crisis in the future.
