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Sizhe Liu and Wei Zhang

Excellent/good 957 58.33 1.80 3.07
Religious attendance 18.56* 0.18
Weekly 529 32.24 0.53 0.76
Less than once a week 1,112 67.76 3.46 4.63
Social Support
Perceived support from family 1,641 5.41(1.94) 7.41 15.90
Perceived support from friend 1,641 5.11 (1.85) 13.43 12.85
Religious affiliation 52.90** 31.59*
Protestant/Catholics 688 41.94 1.91 2.82
No religion 358 21.81 0.92 1.41
Other religions 595 36.25 1.19 1.19
Seek comfort from religion 7.48* 0.39*
Never/rarely/sometimes 1,199 73.06 3.37 3.81
Often 442 26.94 0.62 1.57
Notes: Chi² = Chi Square; †p < 0.1, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 (two tailed tests).

Bivariate findings were also summarized in Table 1. The prevalence of the 12-month
depressive disorder among those who immigrated to the U.S. after 12 years old was
significantly higher than immigrants who arrived in the U.S. at 12 years old or younger
(Chi-square = 43.21, P < 0.05). Similar pattern was found for suicidal ideation (Chi-
square = 44.81, P < 0.01). Those who rated their English proficiency as excellent/
good are not significantly different from those with limited English proficiency in the
prevalence of the 12-month depressive disorder and suicidal ideation.
Asian-American immigrants who attended religious services weekly reported a
lower level of the 12-month depressive disorder compared to those who attended
religious services less than once a week. Compared to those who reported they never/
rarely/sometimes seek comfort from religion, those who reported they often seeking
comfort from religion show significantly lower prevalence of the 12-month depressive
disorder and suicidal ideation. Immigrants who consider themselves as Protestant or
Catholics have significantly higher percentages of 12-month depressive disorder and
suicidal ideation compared to those with other religious beliefs and those do not have
any religious beliefs.

3.2 Multivariate Analyses

3.2.1 12-Month Depressive Disorder
Table 2 summarized odds ratios (OR) and the 95% confidence intervals (CI) of
immigration-related factors and indicators of religious involvement on the 12-month
depressive disorder using weighted logistic regressions. All models are adjusted for
socio-demographic controls. As shown in Model 1, Asian-American immigrants with
limited English proficiency were significantly more likely to report higher levels of
12-month depressive disorder compared to immigrants with excellent/good English
proficiency (OR = 4.14. 95% CI = [1.87, 9.18]). Specifically, the odds of having
12-month depressive disorder for Asian-American immigrants with limited English
proficiency are 314% ({4.14-1} × 100%) higher than the odds of Asian-American
immigrants with excellent/good English proficiency. This result indicates a strong
direct effect of English proficiency on 12-Month depressive disorder. No significant
differences in the 12-month depressive disorder were found by age at immigration.
Model 2 shows the direct effect of individual religious involvement. For Asian-
American immigrants, those who attend religious services on a weekly basis were at a
lower risk of the 12-month depressive disorder than those who attend religious services
less than once a week (OR = 0.30. 95% CI = [0.11, 0.83]). No significant effects were
found for religious affiliation and religious coping. Both immigration-related stressors

International Journal of Population Studies 2017, Volume 3, Issue 1 31