Endorsing the Model Minority Myth: A Fine Line Between Social Support, Parental Perfectionism and Depression Among Asian College Students

Understanding the influence of social networks for Asian college students who endorse the model minority myth on mental health is the focus of this study. Asian college students (n= 118) completed measures on their endorsement of positive Asian stereotypes, depression level, professional help-seeking, coping, perceived social support, person-centered messages, family satisfaction and parental perfectionism. The findings show evidence that endorsement of Asian positive stereotypes is both a help and hindrance. General Asian stereotypes predicted family satisfaction and parental perfectionism, but self-internalized Asian stereotypes predicted less depression, family satisfaction, and perceived social support. Consistent with the minority myth, depression was positively correlated with parental perfectionism, and that family satisfaction, perceived social support and parental perfectionism were inter-related. Greater endorsement of general Asian positive stereotypes moderated the effect of perceived social support on coping; with greater endorsement there was greater attempt to cope by seeking social support. Besides the moderation effects, mediation analyses showed the importance of perceived social support, in that perceived social support completely accounted for the relation of Asian family satisfaction to depression, and partially accounted for the relation of parental perfectionism to depression. As expected, person-centered messages by parents and friends were negatively related to parental perfectionism and positively associated with coping, perceived social support, and self-internalized Asian stereotypes. Implications of these findings for research on the model minority stereotype are discussed. ; Undergraduate Student Government ; Social and Behavioral Sciences Undergraduate Research Grants ; No embargo ; Academic Major: Communication