In the past decade, the influence of cultural factors has been examined in various forms of psychopathology. Previous research has suggested the existence of differences in depressive symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of depression among ethnic and racial groups. In particular, Asian Americans have been found to report and experience depression differently than Caucasian Americans. Using a symptom profile approach, we explored the presentation of depressive symptoms in a national representative sample of Asian Americans and compared it to that of Caucasian Americans. This study used data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), a national epidemiological household study of Latinos and Asian Americans, and the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication (NCS-R), a nationally representative survey of English-speaking household residents. Depressive symptom profiles of Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans who reported depressive experiences (i.e., at-risk for depression) and who were diagnosed with Major Depressive Episode were compared in order to analyze the phenomenology of depression in these groups. Furthermore, possible factors that may impact the expression of depression, such as gender, acculturative stress, language choice, and English language proficiency were examined among Asian Americans. Findings suggested that Asian Americans reported somatic and affective depressive symptoms equally but endorsed a variety of symptoms less frequently than Caucasian Americans. Asian American men reported several symptoms more often than Asian American women. Finally, English proficient Asian Americans resembled Caucasian Americans in their manifestation of depression.
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