“It’s a Luxury”: The Privilege of Mental Health for 1.5 and Second Generation Korean Americans

“It’s a Luxury”: The Privilege of Mental Health for 1.5 and Second Generation Korean Americans

The maintenance of mental health is becoming an increasingly popular issue (Livingston, 2018). While the importance of mental health is becoming more prominent, there should be a particular attention to Korean Americans (KAs); KAs are one of the fastest growing minority groups in the United States, and also report one of the highest levels of mental health issues as well (Oh et al., 2013). While the importance of cultural ideologies, influence of collectivist values, and the immigrant experience, have on KAs perception of mental health have been established, there needs to be more research on how KAs communicate about mental health. I then conducted interviews on nine KAs on their definition and understanding of mental health. Through coding and cultural discourse analysis on the transcripts, I found that the participants discussed mental health in two polar extremes. Moreover, they attributed their discomfort in disclosing mental health issues because of Korean norms, which was reflected in the language. Finally, I discovered that mental health is ultimately viewed as a luxury because of generational differences from an immigrants narrative. The future implications of my research call for the creation of a new hybrid identity for KAs to comfortably talk about mental health.