ABSTRACT

The present study examined the role of acculturation inmanifestation of depressive symptoms among 230 Korean Americanolder adults (Mage=69.8, SD=7.05) in Florida. Given the culturalemphasis on modesty and self-effacement in the traditional Koreansociety, we hypothesized that older Korean Americans who wereless acculturated to American culture, when compared to the moreacculturated ones, would be more likely to inhibit positive affectsin depressive symptom reports. Using two validated measures ofdepressive symptoms, the short forms of the Geriatric DepressionScale (GDS-SF) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), different response patterns for low andhigh acculturation groups were identified. First, there was lowcomparability in the factor structures for both the GDS-SF and theCES-D across low and high acculturation groups. A differentialitem function analysis based on partial correlations indicated thatolder adults in the low acculturation group inhibited endorsingpositive affect items; one item in the GDS-SF (#7 feel happy) andtwo items in the CES-D (#5 felt hopeful and #8 was happy). Thefinding suggests the substantial cultural influences in expressingemotions, especially those related to positive affects. Implicationsare discussed from a cultural perspective.