The Influences of General Perfectionism, Chinese Cultural Values and Acculturation on Depression among Chinese-American College Students.

摘要

The present study investigated the influences of general perfectionism, Chinese cultural values and acculturation on depression among 122 Chinese-American college students at a state university located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. The results from a linear multiple regression indicated that the three independent variables collectively and significantly explained 22% of depression. A step-wise regression revealed that general perfectionism was the strongest significant predictor for depression, while Chinese cultural values constituted the second highest significant predictor. Acculturation, by contrast, was not found to significantly predict depression. The current study contributed to cultural research by proposing that general perfectionism has a moderately strong significant influence on depression among Chinese-American college students, while Chinese cultural values has a significantly weak influence. The current research supports the importance of clinical psychologists being attentive to factors that may influence depression (e.g., perfectionism, Chinese cultural values) among this ethnic student population, while also respecting these students by providing culturally sensitive methods of counseling. The final section reviews the limitations to the current study as well as the future research possibilities.