Self-construal and depression among Vietnamese-American adolescents

This study examined the role of self-construal and its direct and indirect impact on depression through various correlates, including family cohesion, peer support, and self-esteem. Using structural equation modeling, the proposed model was tested on 152 Vietnamese-American adolescents from a high school in Southern California. The results demonstrated that dimensions of self-construal (i.e., interdependent self and independent self) contributed to depression only through indirect pathways. Interdependent self-construal was associated with high family cohesion, which bolstered adolescents' self-esteem and, in turn, contributed to less depression. However, independent self-construal was associated with depression through peer support and self-esteem. Better peer support and high self-esteem was found to mediate the relationship between higher independent self-construal and lower depression.